More than 2,000 bottles of fake blood protein have been discovered at 18 hospitals and 39 retail and wholesale drug outlets in Northeast China's Jilin Province, China's drug watchdog said yesterday.

Altogether 1,554 bottles of the bogus blood protein, or human albumin, have been administered to patients, while the remaining 431 bottles have been seized by investigators, said the State Food and Drug Administration.

Bogus blood protein products have also been found in other provinces including Shanxi, Qinghai, Hubei, Shandong and Liaoning, said the administration. It declined to say how many bottles had been found in those regions.

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It said more details will be provided once the investigation is completed.

Human albumin, or albumin made from human blood plasma, is used in post-operations and to treat liver or kidney failure. The fakes could be potentially lethal, experts said.

"It could lead to death if a patient is allergic to it," Jin Shaohong, deputy head of the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, was quoted by China Central Television as saying.

The products were packaged to resemble those made by legitimate pharmaceutical companies and contained Polysorbate 80, also known as Tween 80, an additive used to make tablets.

A shortage of albumin has created a market for fake blood protein. Unscrupulous vendors can make 300 yuan per bottle that costs them about 15 yuan to make.

Yan Jiangying, the administration's spokeswoman, told First Financial Daily the central government launched a nationwide investigation into fake blood products in March and is trying to find out how the products ended up in hospitals.

China has 33 companies producing blood-based products. Due to a lack of human blood plasma, they can only make 13 million bottles of human albumin each year.

Xinhua