France, Italy and Denmark are recalling heparin after an Italian firm purchased contaminated ingredients from China, EU drug regulators said.
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FDA to test all heparin at U.S. border
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an import alert and plans to test all shipments of the drug heparin before they enter the country.
Hospital error blamed for more infant overdoses
(AP) -- The case of 14 babies who received accidental overdoses while in intensive care has raised new questions about how a common blood-thinning medication could be given to infants repeatedly in the wrong dosage.
Hospital says its pharmacy error led to infant ODs
(AP) -- A hospital in Corpus Christi said Thursday that a mixing error that led to a blood thinner overdose in as many as 17 infants was caused by its pharmacy. Two of the babies involved have died.
Boosting survival of insulin-cell transplants for Type 1 Diabetes
Researchers in Japan are reporting a discovery that could improve the effectiveness and expand the use of transplants of insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes. Their study is scheduled for the July 16 issue of ACS'
Bioconjugate Chemistry. Insulin-dependent, or Type 1, diabetes affects about 800,000 people in the United States.
New blood clot guidelines for pregnant women
Blood clot recommendations highlight challenges for pediatric and pre-surgery populations
New evidence-based guidelines address the prevention and management of thrombosis in key patient populations and reinforce recommendations related to the routine use of preventive therapies. Published as a supplement in the June issue of
CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy: ACCP Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, Eighth Edition was developed by an international panel of 90 experts and includes more than 700 of the most comprehensive recommendations related to the prevention, treatment, and long-term management of thrombotic disorders. The guidelines include chapters on the challenges in preventing and treating thrombosis in pregnant women and children, and on managing peri- and postoperative patients, while also reinforcing previous guidelines related to the routine use of preventive therapies, including aspirin.
US Pharmacopeia announces revised heparin monographs and reference standards
Standards updated in response to public health threat associated with blood-thinning drug's adulteration with over-sulfated chondroitin
The U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention announces that revised monographs for heparin sodium and heparin calcium in the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) are now available and official on the USP Web site. The revised monographs are accompanied by two new and two updated official USP Reference Standards. These public standards allow any party—and particularly the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and manufacturers—to test heparin sodium and calcium drug substances to assure their quality. All drug manufacturers who market heparin in the United States are required to meet these newly revised standards. The heparin monographs were updated in the interest of public health following the deaths of more than 200 people earlier this year. These deaths are suspected to have resulted from the adulteration of the blood thinner with over-sulfated chondroitin, which is derived from the chemical chondroitin and used in dietary supplements.
Fewer than 1 in 5 patients receive treatment to prevent life-threatening blood clots
Fewer than 1 in 5 patients received post-discharge therapy to prevent life-threatening blood clots — venous thrombosis — after hip- or knee-replacement surgery, report Rahme and colleagues in a retrospective cohort study. Venous thrombosis is one of the leading causes of death among hospital patients. However, elderly patients have a 70% lower chance of dying within 3 months if they take an anticoagulant drug to prevent blood clots.
Findings released from 1 of the largest percutaneous coronary intervention trials ever
A study led by Gregg W. Stone, M.D., professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian and chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, has shown that heart attack patients who were administered the direct thrombin inhibitor bivalirudin during primary angioplasty had a reduced rate of adverse clinical events, a lower rate of major bleeding, and a lower mortality rate than those who were treated with a regimen of heparin and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI).