Safety, trade concerns weigh on China biotechs

Drug safety concerns, the latest threats in the U.S.-China trade war and slowing economic growth pushed Chinese biopharma stock lower this week.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange Friday publicly reprimanded six senior executives at Changsheng Bio-Technology Co. Ltd. (SZSE:002680), which is at the center of a vaccine scandal in the country. On July 15, China's State Drug Administration found that the company's subsidiary Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology Co. Ltd. violated manufacturing quality controls by falsifying production records for freeze-dried human rabies vaccines. The exchange said Changsheng's rabies vaccines account for nearly one-fourth of rabies vaccines in the Chinese market. SDA also found that the company's diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis combined vaccine fails to meet standards for biological potency...