Yesterday more than 400 local pharmacies resumed selling cheap over-the-counter medicines such as glycerine enemas, after residents complained about their removal from shelves in Shanghai.

Pharmacies stopped selling low-cost medicines because they made too little profit.

But after an outcry from residents, the government and pharmacy authorities have moved to support low-cost medicine producers.

Shen Yaogang, an official at Shanghai Guoda Pharmacy Franchise Co, said all its outlets are now encouraged to purchase and sell low-cost medicines, giving more choices to customers and supporting cheap production.

"But growing costs and competition require all stores to improve their profits," he said.

For example, the price of glycerine enemas produced by Shanghai Winguide Huangpu Pharmacy Co is 2.7 yuan (36 US cents). Stores gain only 0.1 yuan in profit when they sell each enema.

Dr Liu Yuyang from Fudan University's Children's Hospital and a member of the local government advisory body said the government should introduce favorable policies and subsidies to encourage the production and sale of low-cost medicine.

"A reasonable profit margin is the most effective support to producers and drugstores," she said.

Officials from Shanghai Health Bureau said it has agreed with the city's pricing authority to allow 97 low-cost but good medicines to be purchased by local hospitals without setting the maximum price.

If all goes well, another 34 cheap medicines will be added to the list soon, the bureau said.

Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co, the nation's main and Shanghai's only manufacturer of cyclophosphamide, which fights malignant tumors such as leukemia and lymph cancer, stopped making the drug for two years after financial losses. The government has now set its maximum price of eight yuan.

(Shanghai Daily November 14, 2007)