Widows Testify in Front of Committee About Heparin Contamination
Widows and widowers testified in front of a congressional subcommittee on how the contaminated Heparin has affected their lives. The blood thinner commonly used in dialysis and surgery has been connected to 81 deaths and 785 severe allergic reactions so far said Rep. Bart Stupack, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations. The contaminated Heparin originates from ingredients imported from China. Baxter International and the Food and Drug Administration have blocked imports from the Chinese company at the center of the controversy. The FDA detected the drug was contaminated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, which imitates Heparin thus not being detected in routine testing. “FDA's working hypothesis is that this was intentional contamination, but this is not yet proven,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, told the panel in her prepared testimony. One month after a man’s wife died from the contamination, his son was killed by the same tainted drug at the same clinic. Baxter president Robert L. Parkinson Jr., said in prepared testimony that his company is “greatly concerned that our heparin product appears to be the target of a deliberate adulteration scheme. The complexity of the global drug supply chain creates new and emerging risks that call for new ways of thinking about, identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, and that resting on old standards — even ones that have worked for decades — is no longer enough," Parkinson said.
