U.S. Marshals Seize Tainted Heparin
After a distributor ignored repeated requests to recall contaminated heparin, the Food and Drug Administration sent U.S. marshals to the Cincinnati-based company to seize the dangerous drug.
According to an FDA press release, the marshals descended on Celsus Laboratories in early November to seize heparin sodium and heparin lithium. The sodium form is given to patients as a blood thinner. The lithium is used to coat medical devices in order to prevent blood from clotting on them.
Almost 250 deaths have been linked to raw heparin imported from China. Heparin, derived from pig intestines, is typically injected into patients to reduce the risk of blood clots in catheters or during kidney dialysis and cardiac surgery.
Baxter International, one of the largest producers of heparin in the U.S., announced the voluntary recall of nine lots of heparin on Jan. 17, 2008, after reports of allergic-type reactions in patients given the drug. A month later, the FDA released a statement indicating that some patients who received heparin injections suffered symptoms, sometimes fatal, ranging from nausea and diarrhea to shortness of breath, dangerously low blood pressure and allergic or hypersensitivity reaction.
Investigators with the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control subsequently announced that the drug had been contaminated with a chemically altered form of chondroitin sulfate at Chinese manufacturing facilities hired by Baxter.
If you have a loved one who has been injured or died after receiving heparin, contact Carey & Danis. We can help. Carey & Danis is a national law firm that represents personal injury victims and their families.
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