(Yicai Global) Dec. 19 -- Shares in Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical plunged by the exchange-imposed limit today after the traditional Chinese medicine manufacturer denied online accusations that its popular influenza medicine, which has been repurposed to treat Covid-19 infections, may cause liver injury or even liver failure.

Yiling Pharma’s stock price [SHE:002603] closed down 10 percent at CNY40.67 (USD5.83).

There is a huge amount of clinical and toxicology research that proves Lianhua Qingwen to be safe and effective, the Shijiazhuang, northern Hebei province-based company said yesterday.

Only one out of 100,000 people has had an adverse reaction to Lianhua Qingwen since the drug came onto the market almost twenty years ago, the company said, citing statistics from the National Center for Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring. There have been 217 studies on negative reactions to the drug as of last February and they all revealed no damage to the liver or kidneys.

In fact, rats receiving 453-times the human dosage or a medium-sized dog receiving 24-times the human dosage over a long period of time have shown no side-effects, it said, citing tests on animals.

Lianhua Qingwen, which is known to have anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties, has become a highly popular treatment of Covid-19. So much so, that it is getting hard to find as cases of the omicron variant surge in China and it is out of stock on a number of e-commerce platforms.

In fact, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is coordinating with drugmakers to produce more Lianhua Qingwen, Yicai Global learned. The best way to quickly hike production but maintain uniform quality is for the original drugmaker to produce concentrates which other companies can then package, experts told Yicai Global.

Editor: Kim Taylor