China's drug regulators to "give up" 3.5M shares

China's State Food and Drug Administration has identified 3.5 million shares in drug firms owned by staff at the agency. These must now be sold under new rules designed to avoid workplace conflicts of interest (Marketletters passim).

In addition to the shares, Qu Shuhui, the Disciplinary Inspection head of the SFDA, told the Xinhua news agency that agency staff had registered the receipt of gifts and cash worth 2.6 million renminbi ($336,178). These have been turned in by staff following the launch of the Chinese government's latest anticorruption drive, earlier this year.

Mr Qu said: "drug officials cannot properly supervize a pharmaceutical company that they hold shares in." The Chinese authorities reported 9,582 commercial bribery cases involving more than 1.5 billion renminbi in 2006.