Researchers Agree With FDA, Confirm Heparin Contaminant

- dbtechno.com

04/25/2008 -- Researchers in the U.S. have come out and stated that they have found a chemical contaminant in the blood-thinner heparin. The contaminant found in the heparin, which came from China, has been proven to be potentially deadly.

Researchers confirmed earlier findings by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, stating that the contaminant is oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.

The contaminant has been found to cause severe allergic reactions as well as low blood pressure, and has been linked to at least 81 U.S. patient deaths thus far.

The deaths prompted Baxter International, the maker of the tainted heparin, to recall the use of the blood-thinner.

China and the U.S. have also been battling lately, as China has been fighting the notion that they are to blame for the contaminant.

This confirms what the FDA stated though, that the contaminant is indeed oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.

The report has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine