Drug producer fined for claiming 140m men have ED

A Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer is being fined 1.2 million yuan ($183,574) by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for releasing false statistics that claimed one in every five men in China suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED).

The penalty comes after Hebei Changshan Biochemical Pharmaceutical, which had recently received official approval to sell its Viagra-like medication, saw its stock prices skyrocket following its claims in May that ED affects 140 million men across the nation.

Changshan had included the data in its filing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on May 15, promising tens of billions in potential market share if 30 percent of these supposed 140 million ED sufferers used the medication, Global Times previously reported.

The next day on May 16, Changshan’s stock price rose 10 percent, followed by another swell of 9.6 percent on May 17.

That same day, four major Changshan shareholders reduced their holdings equating to more than 87.7 million yuan in total.

After the CSRC announced their investigation, the company’s stock price plummeted 29 percent over the next 26 consecutive days. It was valued at 5.62 yuan as of press time.

Considering that China has a total of 708 million men, according to official figures, Changshan’s statistics suggest that one in every five Chinese men suffers from ED.

The CSRC has called this statistic false.

Gao Shuhua, the company’s CEO and General Manager, together with Wu Zhiping, the company’s deputy general manager and secretary of the board, have each been fined 300,000 yuan for the violation.

The company was also penalized 60,000 yuan.

According to a CSRC Hebei bureau notification, the company has violated Article 63 of the China’s Securities Law, which stipulates that the information as disclosed by issuers and listed companies according to law shall be authentic, accurate and integrate and may not have any false record, misleading statements or major omissions.