Yes. Producing, selling or even providing counterfeit medicine is a crime in China under Article 141 of the Criminal Law, punishable by anything from a short prison term to life imprisonment — or death where the medicine causes a death.
What Article 141 provides
As amended by Amendment XI to the Criminal Law (in force since 1 March 2021), Article 141 provides, in substance, that whoever produces or sells counterfeit drugs is sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment or criminal detention and a fine; if the conduct seriously harms human health or involves other serious circumstances, to three to ten years and a fine; and if it causes death or other especially serious circumstances, to not less than ten years, life imprisonment or death, plus a fine or confiscation of property. Staff of a drug-use unit who knowingly provide counterfeit drugs to others are punished on the same basis.
Two points matter. First, since the old “sufficient to seriously harm human health” threshold was removed (Amendment VIII, 2011), selling counterfeit medicine is a crime even if nobody is shown to have been hurt. Second, what counts as “counterfeit” comes from the Drug Administration Law (2019 revision, Article 98) — for example, where a drug’s ingredients do not match the national standard, or a non-drug is passed off as a medicine.
How serious the case is
The SPC/SPP Interpretation on Handling Criminal Cases Endangering Drug Safety (2022) fixes the tiers. “Serious harm to human health” includes minor or serious injury and disability (Article 2). “Other serious circumstances” includes sales of RMB 200,000 to 500,000, or RMB 100,000 to 200,000 together with an aggravating factor such as targeting children, pregnant women or critically ill patients (Article 3). “Other especially serious circumstances” includes sales of RMB 500,000 or more, or severe disability (Article 4). Selling substandard rather than counterfeit medicine falls under Article 142, and operating without the required drug licence can fall under Article 142-1.
In practice the sales figure drives the tier, so invoices, order records and stock become the key evidence. A “supplement” or “health product” that is relabelled as a cure is treated as a drug, not a food.
Scenario (hypothetical): An online seller rebrands an unapproved herbal blend as a “cancer cure” and sells RMB 300,000 worth. Because the amount falls between RMB 200,000 and 500,000, the middle tier of Article 141 applies — three to ten years — even though no buyer is shown to have been harmed.
The bottom line: selling fake medicine in China is a serious offence in its own right, and the higher the sales value, the closer the case moves to the top of Article 141.
Wang Guan | Co-founder, Beijing Haolue Law Firm | +86 17813108512