China's former SFDA chief executed

The former Director of China's State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed on July 10, after the country's Supreme Court endorsed the sentence which was passed for taking nearly 6.5 million renminbi ($853,000) in bribes and dereliction of duty (Marketletters June 4 and 18). Mr Zheng had pleaded guilty to both charges.

Although the disgraced former drug regulator offered information after his conviction, in an attempt to have his sentence reduced, the Supreme Court stated that no new evidence had been provided to prosecutors.

A spokeswoman for the SFDA responded to the news of Me Zheng's death and the announcement that one of his deputies, Cao Wenzhuang (who headed the agency's drug registration department), had received a suspended death sentence (Marketletter July 16). Yan Jiangying said: "we should seriously reflect and learn lessons from these cases."