China strictly bans the donation of in-hospital preparations and overseas biological products and those who donate counterfeit or shoddy drugs will be severely punished, said an official with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on Friday.

Yan Jiangying, the SFDA spokeswoman, introduced China's policies on pharmaceutical donations by domestic and overseas donors at a routine press conference.

The ineligible products include drugs without official approval by the SFDA, medical appliances without an official registration certificate and foreign drugs or medical appliances that aren't approved by authorities in the country of origin, according to the official.

Donations of drugs or equipment that had only been approved for clinical trials were also prohibited, she said.

According to the official, donated drugs or appliances must have at least six months before their expiration dates.

The only organizations that can legally accept donations are civil affairs departments and health departments at the provincial level or higher, as well as the Red Cross Society of China and the China Charity Federation and their provincial branches.

Measures have been taken by the SFDA recently on the supervision of drugs, this year in particular, as the 29th Olympic Games will be held in Beijing in August.

A record 3.7 billion yuan (about 500 million U.S. dollars) in 2006 and 2007 was put into food and drug supervision, more than the total budget from 1998 to 2005, according to China's pharmaceutical watchdog.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2008)