The Chinese Government on August 20 launched a five-month campaign to combat illegal online pharmaceutical sales.

The campaign will primarily focus on websites that have obtained Internet drug sale licenses, but were found to have been involved in the promotion or sale of fake products.

The campaign was jointly launched by the China Food and Drug Administration, the State Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

According to the statement released by the departments, both vendors who market drugs on the Internet without obtaining business licenses and those selling fake products will be targeted during the campaign.