› $4.85 Billion settlement in drug case
Drug maker Baxter International Inc., shelled out more than $720,000 in the third quarter of the year lobbying on health care issues including government reimbursement for kidney dialysis treatment and increased funding for kidney disease education, according to Forbes/Associated Press.
Scientists at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have learned to modify the human enzyme that produces heparin, which may lead to a more effective synthetic version of the blood thinner, according to Newswise Medical News.
A lack of communication among hospital staff lead to an inappropriate injection of heparin that lead to the death of an Australian man earlier this year, according to Hawke’s Bay Today.
A Washington lawmaker is raising concerns about the FDA’s handling of the tainted heparin scandal earlier this year, claiming that the agency misrepresented deaths tied to the product and didn’t thoroughly investigate the situation, according to CNN Money.
Researchers have come up with an easy and effective method to detect contaminates in heparin, according to the Times of the Internet. A research team led from the University of Michigan and led by Mark Meyerhoff uses potentiometric polyanion sensors to detect heparin in blood. These sensors also can be used to distinguish pure heparin from heparin contaminated with small quantities of oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.
An intensive care doctor at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario, is questioning hospitals’ choice of using a newer heparin drug over another, raising concern that the choice is made not based on the quality of the drug but rather better marketing, according to The Hamilton Spectator.
Following up on a story we brought you last month about the FDA setting up offices on foreign soil to provide guidance on U.S. food and drug quality standards, the FDA announced today that the first three of its offices will open this week in China, according to the Associated Press.
A recent Time magazine story gives us a glimpse into a family affected by the contaminated heparin tragedy: Leroy Hubley’s wife of 48 years, Bonnie, suffered from polycystic kidney disease, a genetic kidney disease in which cysts grow in the kidneys, causing them to fail. She received a kidney transplant in October 2007, but her body rejected it, leaving her in need of regular dialysis treatments.
ConsumerAffairs.com is reporting that doctors are outraged that recalled batches of heparin were found in a Cincinnati, Ohio lab.
“It’s really horrible for two reasons: one, that a company that knows that their product is not a good product that should be distributed and they’ve been told so,” said Dr. Lynne Wagoner, a Christ Hospital Heart Specialist, who was quoted in the story by WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio.
A drug development company, Glycotek, is establishing a laboratory at the Hershey Center for Applied Research (HCAR) in Hummelstown, Penn., to focus on a long sought after oral alternative to heparin to treat deep vein thrombosis and other thrombotic conditions, as well as cancer, according to Business Wire.
