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Baxter Healthcare Corp. has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the deaths of two patients at a Delaware hospital following an injection of the drug maker’s blood thinner heparin. The FDA attributed the two deaths, and the illness of a third patent, to existing medical conditions. All three patients suffered intercranial bleeding following injections of heparin.
It’s like a bad dream happening all over again – people falling ill or dying after receiving doses of the blood thinner heparin. In 2007, tainted doses of heparin killed more than 80 Americans and injured hundreds more. And while investigations into the cause continue, the culprit was found to have been over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) a heparin-mimicking contaminant that made its way into batches of heparin that were manufactured in Baxter International’s China plant.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is testing batches of the blood thinner heparin after two people died and one became ill after receiving doses of the heparin, according to the Wall Street Journal.
All three incidences occurred at the Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Delaware, and all three were given heparin supplied by Baxter, the same drug company at the center of last year’s contaminated heparin scandal. That heparin, which killed more than 80 people and injured hundreds more, was manufactured in China. The latest batch was manufactured in Ohio.
Rep. Joe Barton of Texas wants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to turn over databases stemming from last year’s tainted heparin scandal that killed more than 80 Americans and injured hundreds more, according to NASDAQ.com. At a public hearing last week, Barton raised concerns that the agency doesn’t know for sure what caused the contamination.
Lawmakers’ concern over the U.S. becoming too reliant on foreign countries to produce drugs are calling for a rule to require certain drugs to be made or stockpiled in the U.S., according to the New York Times. The Times quotes Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio as saying that relying on other countries to produce our country’s medicines opens the door to “supply disruptions, counterfeit medicines, even bio-terrorism.”
Rep. Joe Barton, a ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, appears to be fed up with the FDA’s reluctance to provide details of the tainted heparin scandal that first came into public light earlier this year, according to CNN Money. That scandal resulted in the deaths of more than 80 Americans and adverse reactions in hundreds more, and led to an agency recall of lots of the blood thinner manufactured in Baxter International’s Chinese facility.
The Associated Press reported today that Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach will resign from his post effective Jan. 20, the same day president-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Von Eschenbach was appointed by President Bush in 2005 after the agency’s previous commissioner resigned due to ethical issues, the AP reports. While under von Eschenbach’s helm, the FDA has undergone scrutiny by Congress and consumer groups over issues such as the tainted heparin scandal earlier this year.
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.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued and FDA NEWS release today informing the public that it has removed 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories, Inc., in Cinncinnati, Ohio. According to the release, the FDA has determined five lots of Heparin Sodium Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and six lots of Heparin Lithium were contaminated with over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate (ASCS). The heparin products were manufactured from material imported from China.
The FDA ordered U.S. Marshals to seize the products today. Mike Chappell, acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs for the FDA is quoted as saying, “This action will help prevent this contaminated heparin from finding its way into the marketplace.”
Earlier this year, heparin manufactured by Baxter International, Inc., was found to be contaminated with OSCS. That heparin also contained components manufactured in China, which is believed to be the source of the contamination. The Baxter contamination led to hundreds of injuries and 81 deaths.
The FDA news release states that the agency has initiated 13 recalls of multiple contaminated medical products containing heparin from several companies, to date this year.
Information in the news release indicates the Celsus heparin entered the United States before the establishment of FDA import controls for the drug, and was reviewed by the FDA after it was processed at Celsus as a part of the agency’s process to implement the controls.
The release also indicates that the FDA knew about the contamination in April 2008, when it warned Celsus Laboratories during an inspection that the company’s actions to notify customers about the contaminant were insufficient. The FDA says it warned Celsus again that it needed to step up its efforts to notify customers about the potential hazard in a May 8, 2008 letter. Finally, today the FDA seized the contaminated product from the lab.
Manufacturers who may have purchased heparin from Celsus are urged to contact the company immediately to make sure they are not using any heparin from the since-seized lots. The product does not meet acceptable quality standards, the release says.
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