China's drug watchdog said on Thursday that an investigation was underway concerning the reported involvement of a Chinese drug maker in a Greek doping scandal.

Since April 9, China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has launched inquiries into the incident, together with the country's health ministry, the customs administration, sports administration and other relevant departments, Yan Jiangying, the SFDA spokeswoman, told a press conference.

A preliminary investigation indicated the facts might not be totally the same as earlier reports by foreign media, she said.

Greek media reported on April 7 that 11 lifters tested positive in a surprise inspection by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The Greek side claimed on the same day that the athletes tested positive because they had taken a dietary supplement produced by the Shanghai-based Auspure Life Science Co. The Chinese drug manufacturer apologized through a letter for adding the wrong substances in the nutritional supplement, according to the media reports.

Yan promised China would seriously deal with any law or regulation-violations in the incident.

Earlier this month, China launched a six month anti-doping campaign. The country said it would severely crack down on any illegal activities of producing, selling and using doping drugs.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2008)