This is how some people deal with undue influence.

China sentenced the former head of its FDA to death on corruption charges for accepting bribes in return for granting approvals for hundreds of medicines. The sentence by a Beijing court comes as China scrambles to assert control over its chaotic food and pharmaceutical industries following a series of public health scares from Chinese-made products.

Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, looked haggard and despondent as a pair of court security officers clapped a pair of handcuffs on him following the verdict announcement in footage aired by state television. The former director accepted $850,000 in bribes, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the court as saying.

“(Zheng’s acts) greatly undermined the uprightness of an official post and the efficiency of China’s drug monitoring and supervision, endangered public life and health and had a very negative social impact,” the court said. As a result of Zheng’s actions, the court said six bogus drugs received approval by his agency.

One Chinese firm is alleged to have bribed Zheng to grant approvals for 277 medicines, most of them high-profit antibiotics, according to previous state media reports. China’s consumer product quality-control systems have been called into serious question recently due to incidents ranging from fake drugs to chemical-tainted food.

Zheng’s downfall is a key step in reining in the country’s chaotic pharmaceutical industry, said Chen Zhonglin, a law professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chengdu. “For many years, surging medicine prices and a market awash with fake drugs have been linked to Zheng’s unlawful and disorderly time in office. “Many drug prices are now 100 times higher than production costs and many people can’t afford them. Addressing this is vital.”

It was not immediately known whether Zheng planned to appeal the sentence, but law experts said it was unlikely to change.

Source: Agence France-Presse