SHARES in Chinese vaccine makers and biotech firms fell across the board yesterday after Premier Li Keqiang slammed Changsheng Biotechnology Co. for having crossed a moral red line and called for swift action.

Changsheng Biotechnology has been found to have faked production documents related to a rabies vaccine that is given to babies as young as three months. So far there have been no apparent reports of people being harmed by the vaccine.

In a statement posted on the government’s website late Sunday, Premier Li called for an immediate investigation and urged severe punishment for the companies and people implicated. He added the public needed clear information.

The China Food and Drug Administration said that its investigation had found that Changsheng Biotechnology fabricated production records and product inspection records, and arbitrarily changed process parameters and equipment, in “serious violations” of the law.

Regulators said last week that they had halted production of a rabies vaccine made by Changsheng Biotechnology, which is based in northeastern China, after finding fabricated records and other problems during an inspection.

Changsheng Biotechnology yesterday apologized in a regulatory filing and said the suspension of its vaccine would have a significant impact on its finances. It added some regional disease control agencies had suspended some of its other vaccines.

Changsheng Biotechnology also said yesterday that the firm may face the risk of being delisted due to an investigation by China’s securities regulator into suspected violations of information disclosure. Changsheng Biotechnolog, which has a market capitalization of more than US$2 billion, said it will cooperate with the investigation.

Stocks of major domestic vaccine producers plunged yesterday, with an index tracking major health care firms slumping 3.81 percent.

In Shenzhen, Walvax Biotechnology, which makes a range of flu and other vaccines, dropped by its 10 percent daily allowable limit, as did vaccine suppliers Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products and Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products.

Changsheng Biotechnology’s shares, which resumed trading yesterday afternoon after being suspended in the morning, were down 10 percent. They have slumped 47 percent since mid July.(SD-Agencies)