Vice-Premier Wu Yi yesterday ordered a thorough review of pharmaceutical production licenses and certificates amid a widening probe into the scandal involving the former head of the national food and drug watchdog.

Production licenses for nearly 170,000 medicines will be reviewed under strict assessment procedures by the end of the year.

In a national video-conference, Wu singled out drugs which were granted national-level production licenses from 1999 to 2002 as the focus of inspection.