"Using information from the SFDA, we have been able to shut down these illegal websites but it's difficult to say where the drugs were made."

But by hosting the information in either traditional or simplified Chinese characters, "they were clearly aiming for Chinese-speaking consumers".

The focus of the campaign was not on consumers but companies hosting the websites in the US, he explained.

In most cases, the companies did not even realize that they were helping sell counterfeit products, he revealed.

But he conceded that it was difficult to totally eradicate such websites as they can change their host location almost at the flick of a switch.

"The problem is international and only through global cooperation can these websites be shut down and prevented from opening again," he said.

SFDA spokeswoman Wang Lianglan said China will always cooperate with their counterparts in the US and other countries to help ensure drug and food safety.

And the Sino-US campaign was actually part of a national crackdown on fake and illegal drugs on the mainland, she said.

That operation saw police seizing 205 million tablets designed to look like brand-name drugs for treating male impotence, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer, reports said.

The SFDA will step up operations this year with other law enforcement agencies and government departments to curb counterfeit medicine, she said.

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