› $4.85 Billion settlement in drug case
There has been yet another report of heparin being pulled off the market for fear it may harm people. This week, French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis recalled the remaining batches of its heparin medicine distributed before May 2008, Lovenox, based on a recommendation by French drug regulator Afssaps.
Heparin isn’t the only China-made product that has turned up contaminated and, in many cases, harmed others. Last March, a contaminant was found in batches of Heparin, supplied to Baxter International by its Chinese plant. The over-sulfated chondrotin sulfate in the heparin is blamed for causing more than 80 deaths and breathing problems in another 700 in the United States.
Recent scares of tainted medicines and goods from foreign countries, such as contaminated batches of heparin from China, have spurred presidential nominees Sen. Barak Obama and Sen. John McCain to review their support for individuals to import cheaper drugs from other countries, Reuters/Boston Globe reported today.
Tainted batches of heparin may have raised concerns with the general public, but a recent Reuters report suggests the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would rather focus on giving product promotion advice to companies and journal reprints to physicians than food and drug safety scares.
Recently, we reported about the development of synthetic heparin as a safer alternative to today’s heparin, which is manufactured from the intestines of animals. The work is a project of Robert Linhardt, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Recently, Linhardt presented information about his work on the synthetic heparin, as well as findings in a new project using heparin to create a “paper battery,” at the NanoBioTech forum.
The Associated Press reported today that German dialysis clinic operator Fresenius has been approved to purchase APP Pharmaceuticals. APP makes injectable drugs, including heparin, and just announced its plans to begin manufacturing heparin at its Puerto Rico facility after receiving approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
