(Yicai Global) Aug. 6 -- Tianyu Pharmaceutical has found a carcinogen in its valsartan products exported to Taiwan making it the second Chinese drug maker to encounter such an instance in the past month.

China's drug safety regulator found cancerogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in the Zhejiang-based pharmaceutical firm's high blood pressure treatment product valsartan, it said in a statement. Fellow domestic drug manufacturer Huahai Pharmaceutical recalled its own valsartan products last month after regulators found traces of NDMA.

Tianyu has suspended exports of the product to Taiwan following the revelations and will ensure that the NDMA is no longer used in the production of the drug. The company confirmed that two batches of valsartan supplied to Pharmaneer contained the ingredient, adding it would not instigate a product recall the batches concerned had not yet gone on the market.

The company made some CNY96.3 million (USD14.1 million) in profits from the drug last year, accounting for 8.1 percent of total revenue.

Editor: William Clegg