Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

As a presidential candidate, President Barack Obama said he supported individuals’ rights to import cheaper drugs from other countries provided the FDA beefed up its inspections to ensure the imports are safe. His new budget plan backs up that claim, according to Reuters. The plan, released earlier this week, says it “supports the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) efforts to allow Americans to buy safe and effective drugs from other countries.”

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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.

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Heparin may serve as a very inexpensive and effective new treatment for septic shock, according to Canada.com.

Septic shock is a serious condition that can cause multiple organ failure and death. It is the main cause of mortality in intensive care units (ICU), with a mortality rate of up to 40 percent.

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Five pharmaceutical companies are working on new medications to treat blood clots, also known as thrombosis, according to The Wall Street Journal. Thrombosis is a serious problem affecting nearly 900,000 Americans each year, and resulting in nearly 300,00 deaths annually. Currently, heparin and Vitamin K antagonists are the only two principal treatments for blood clots.

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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.

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