CONTACT US   SUBSCRIBE   PREMIUM   ADVERTISING

72F Hi 76F
Lo 67F

Recent Blog Posts

Heparin Probe Examines Global Drugs Market

By Associated Press
April 14, 2008

CHANGZHOU, China — On a dusty lane in east China, a small factory sitting amid strawberry and vegetable fields processes chemicals from pig guts into heparin, a commonly used blood thinner linked to 62 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions in America and Germany.

Share Share Email

The mysterious problems with heparin from the factory and others like it — China's deadliest product quality scandal since Chinese cough syrup killed 93 people in Central America a year ago — dramatically illustrate the perils of shifting drug production offshore. With recalls of heparin products now in six countries, it is an issue that regulators are scrambling to address.

In the past month, China's drug safety agency has ordered tighter controls on heparin production. That followed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration order requiring all heparin imports to be tested. The FDA also announced plans to station eight regulators in China and hire five Chinese to work with them.


Dog Days of Summer
A New York Sun Advertorial Section

NEW YORK >

Study Sought Of Test Score Gains in N.Y.

Rochester Billionaire Targets Silver With New PAC

Crane Inspector Pleads Not Guilty

New York Moves To Defend Gun Law

Hedge Fund Scammer Tells NY Judge He Tried Suicide

Murder, Rape Numbers Mar Positive Crime Statistics

NATIONAL >

'Paradise Is Burning': Fires Prompt California Evacuations

FARC Hostages Return to America

White House Says Ruling Could Free Detainees in America

McCain Extols Free Trade in Colombia

Race Profiling Considered In FBI Terrorist Probes

Bush Vows More Troops in Afghanistan

ARTS+ >

Painting for Eternity: Pietre Dure at the Met

America's Birth Papers at the NYPL

Phillip Pearlstein, Objectifying the Nude

'Tis the Season for Big Bands

'Red Cliff' Investors Cover Costs

Movies in Brief: 'Diminished Capacity'