(Yicai Global) Aug. 1 -- Chinese regulators have brought their nationwide investigation into fake vaccines to Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, to take a closer look at one manufacturer that failed to meet standards in a previous evaluation.

On the instruction of Premier Li Keqiang, the State Drug Administration visited Wuhan Institute of Biological Products yesterday to test the firm's diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus vaccines, known as DPT, the regulator said on its website.

The company failed an inspection late last year and came in for scrutiny after a scandal involving Changsheng Bio-Technology rocked China in past weeks. Changsheng was found to have forged production records of a rabies vaccine given to babies across the country.

The SDA found that Wuhan Institute's defects were due to the short-term failure of packaging equipment and deemed the incident an isolated case. The body sent an inspection team to conduct a comprehensive on-site inspection of the enterprise, and investigated the substandard DPT vaccines in conjunction with relevant departments.

The firm had recalled the substandard vaccines in a timely manner, the SDA said. Spot checks late last year found that the firm sold 190,500 substandard vaccines to Chongqing Center for Disease Control and Prevention and 210,000 to Hebei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Wuhan Institute recalled all unused vaccines and destroyed them on May 4 under the supervision of Wuhan's food and drug authorities.

Editor: William Clegg