Personal Injury Law

Suspension of Heparin Sales More than a Matter of Products Liability; Described as “a National Security Issue.”

Since Baxter International announced recently that it was suspending sales of its multidose vials of heparin after four patients died and 350 suffered complications including allergic reactions, many of them serious and potentially life-threatening, significant concerns have arisen as to the effectiveness of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of imported drugs.  Baxter bought the active ingredient for heparin, which is derived from an enzyme in pig intestines, from Scientific Protein Laboratories, which produces heparin’s active ingredient in its factory in Chagzhou, China.  Scientific Protein moved production to China three years ago because the country is the world’s largest supplier of pigs.

Full post as published by Legal Blog on February 17, 2008 (boomark / email).