BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese state media say a court has sentenced seven people to prison for producing chromium-tainted gel medicine capsules.

The scandal that was exposed in April 2012 was the latest to rock China's pharmaceutical industry, which suffers from abundant fakery and substandard ingredients.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday that the seven received sentences of up to 11 years for producing and selling toxic products. They were sentenced Wednesday at a court in eastern Zhejiang province.

It says three companies run by them made and sold drug capsules with industrial gelatin, which contained excessive levels of chromium, between 2010 and April 2012.

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