A man who had been treated with a tainted antibiotic in a Guangzhou hospital died of kidney failure yesterday, bringing the death toll from the fake drug to 14 since 2006.

Ren Zhenzhao, 37, died at 3 pm at No. 3 Zhongshan Hospital in Guangzhou, less than a year after he sued the hospital in March 2007, along with nine other plaintiffs, to seek combined compensation of 20 million yuan (US$2.77 million) for the hospital's misuse of the fake drug, Guangzhou Daily reported today.

The counterfeit drug, made by Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, was discovered in April 2005 when patients at the hospital developed kidney failure. Sixty-four patients at the hospital used it and 13 had died by the end of 2007.

Ren, a Hainan native, was injected with the drug for 12 days soon after he was admitted to the hospital on April 18, 2006, the report said.

He slipped into a coma and showed kidney failure after 24 shots, or 120 milligrams of the drug, the report said.

An investigation showed that the drug, called Armillarisni A, contained a chemical called diglycol that can cause kidney failure, which a vendor had passed off as a normal ingredient.

Quality inspectors at Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical failed to discover the problem. The government shut down the Heilongjiang Province-based company in 2006 and ordered its products removed from shelves.

The vendor, who made a profit of about US$900 from the deal, was arrested. Five people were tried in Guangzhou last year for allowing diglycol to be used in the production of the antibiotic. The results of the trial have not been released to the public.

To save Ren, the hospital issued an SOS to 20 organ transplant centers across the country. It found a kidney and a liver suitable for the former police officer within 48 hours, the report said.

The hospital claimed it paid 1.7 million yuan to give a free organ transplant to Ren, which made him the only survivor among the patients who suffered kidney failure because of the fake drug, the report said.

Ren admitted in a previous interview that he was grateful for the hospital's free surgery, but he had to resort to the lawsuit against the hospital as Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical had already been bankrupted, the report said.

He demanded compensation of six million yuan.

However, the transplant failed to bring Ren back to full health. He had been in poor health and suffered fevers ever since, the report said, adding that he was not able to take care of himself during daily life.

But he still insisted on attending the court hearing, wearing a mask, when his lawsuit reopened at Guangzhou's Tianhe Court on August 8.

The court hasn't reached a verdict. The Tianhe court told plaintiffs it needs at least another six months to reach a conclusion as "the case is significant," the report said.

Ren's health condition worsened last month. He was diagnosed with tumid arthritis and was unable to sleep, the report said.

"He always asked me 'When can the court reach a verdict?'" Ren Zhenchao, his older brother, told the newspaper.

Ren Zhenzhao was said to have sold his home to pay for his medical treatment and the lawsuit. He was survived by an 11-year-old son, for whom he could not afford to pay school tuition fees, the report said. It did not say anything about his wife.

In 2006, a court in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, ordered a local hospital to pay 108,848 yuan to the wife of a victim who died from the fatal drug.

The Guangzhou hospital said in previous reports that it bore no liability for the case since it "checked the drug's quality certificate and the other labels" according to the Drug Administration Law.

China is tightening inspection of pharmaceuticals to improve drug safety.

The administration's former top regulator Zheng Xiaoyu was executed on July 10 for taking bribes and allowing substandard medicines onto the market. Those medicines resulted in the deaths of at least 10 patients and severe reactions in more than 80 others in July 2006.

(Shanghai Daily January 25, 2008)