California’s B. Braun Medical announced that it is recalling 23 lots of heparin due to the possibility of contamination. Braun’s recall is yet another in a long list of heparin recalls in the past month which has left doctors and patients leery of the drug’s usage.

Braun’s recall

Braun announced that it is recalling 23 lots of heparin due to the possibility of contamination. The lot numbers are listed on its website, www.bbraunusa.com/, under press releases. So far, hundreds of injuries and several deaths have been reported due to the use of heparin – a prescription injectable blood coagulant often used in hemodialysis (the filtering of blood) and cardiac invasive procedures.

The list goes on…

In addition to Braun’s recall, American Health Packaging, a subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen Corporation, has announced that it has recalled over 1,400 units of heparin injection vials which were manufactured by Baxter International – the company that had provided the medical community with nearly half of all the heparin used in the United States. A complete list of AmerisourceBergen’s recalled units is available on their website, www.amerisourcebergen.com/, under news releases.

The raw heparin involved in the controversy is obtained by Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories who receives it from China. Until recently, the Chinese government did not monitor the factories that produced the raw heparin. However, that is changing…

China to begin monitoring heparin factories

The Chinese government announced that it will begin looking at the makers of raw heparin in China in response to the heparin controversy. According to an announcement by China’s State Food and Drug Administration, new rules will be instituted that will only allow buyers to purchase raw heparin from registered suppliers and quality control processes will be put in place.

Why heparin is more dangerous than other drugs

According to Douglass Kreis, a Florida attorney whose firm protects the rights of consumers who are seriously injured due to defective drugs, heparin is more dangerous than other drugs. He explained:

Pharmaceutical pills are ingested and metabolized. The body does some cleansing of what’s ingested and so the body has already gone through this protective process. Heparin is injected right into the blood. If a product is adulterated, a person is at great risk for an acute event because the product travels through the typical route of passage to the body before it hits the liver, so that the liver is not able to assist in cleaning out impurities, then you’ve got immediate contact with something which has harmful bacteria or other adulterated qualities with the body and its vital organs.

When pills are ingested, enzymes in the stomach work on the pill, it goes through the intestinal tract and through the liver and finally gets into the blood stream. So, with heparin, people are suffering from pulmonary episodes, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, edema and swelling, sweating, rapid blood pressure drop or rapid falling in blood pressure. These can send the body into shock and there’s evidence of deaths within the United States among consumers who have received heparin treatment.

If you’ve been injured due to heparin use, contact an attorney to discuss your situation. The consultation is free and without obligation. To contact a qualified attorney whose practice focuses in this area of law, please click here.