Korea

As a result of testing fraud, the South Korean Food and Drug Administration is looking at all generics sold in the country. An investigation of 351 generics, tested at 11 locations, revealed that 10 products checked at four sites were approved on the basis of false data, according to a report carried by Chosun Ilbo newspaper and web site, which noted that the original inquiry came after a tip to the agency that some laboratories faked test results. The KFDA also suspects that another 33 generics tested in nine laboratories produced faked data, the report added, however additional inquiries are required since the com-panies are denying the claim. Generics make up 3,907 of the total of 7,689 drugs sold in the country, the news-paper noted.

The four laboratories already identified as having faked tests are run by LabFrontier, the School of Pharmacy of Sungkyunkwan University, BioCore and the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association, the newspaper said. The nine that are denying the claims are run by the colleges of pharmacy of Kyung Hee University, Chonnam National University, Chungnam National University, Chung-Ang University and others.

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