Posted on 6th October 2009 by gjohnson in Uncategorized
Baxter recall of heparin, China Going Green, FDA censure of Changzhou SPL Company, FDA recall heparin, heparin, heparin attorney
China exports what American’s want. Not because they do it better, but because they do it cheaper. Baxter’s Heparin debacle is the perfect example. Anyone who lives in the Midwest knows that we grow all the corn necessary to domestically raise all the pigs we need. The raw material for Heparin comes from the small intestines of pigs.
Yet Baxter and its supplier SPL went off to China to get Heparin. The reason of course was to save pennies on each dose. Somehow, someone at Baxter decided that maintaining manufacturing and quality control over this most dangerous of products wasn’t as important as those pennies per dose.
The problem for American society is that China, despite its communist political system, always seems to be motivated by the “green” in greed equation. The irony of that now is that even though China is seen as the world’s worst polluter, they appear to be poised to receive the green, for Going Green.
On Point, the NPR program/podcast did an excellent piece on China’s Going Green, “Green China & the Clean-Tech Race”. To get the Podcast from September 30th go to http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/09/green-china-and-the-clean-tech-race
The program listing begins with this teaser:
“On Capitol Hill today, the Senate introduces a bill meant to slow global warming. Meanwhile, back on the wind farm, American entrepreneurs are taking the problem seriously — as an environmental threat but also as the next great economic prize.
“In China, the government says it’s determined to become a green superpower — or risk drowning in its own pollution.
“Some say the next great global race is on — the clean-tech race — and that China’s entry is a “Sputnik moment.”
“Has America heard the wake-up call? Is there a clean-energy race to be won or lost? This hour, On Point: China, the U.S., and the clean-energy future.”
One of the guests in this podcast is Michael Splinter, whose American based firm, Applied Materials, is about to open the world’s largest privately funded solar research facility — in Xian, China. For more on Splinter and his company go to
http://www.appliedmaterials.com/about/bio_michael_splinter.htmlThe Heparin Catastrophe is not just a crisis about the safety of American pharmaceuticals. It is also a crisis about American jobs, technology and economic growth. If the greed equation results in the U.S. corporations exporting the manufacturer and development of this next tech explosion to China, our prosperity made be forever compromised.
Attorney Gordon JohnsonChair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
http://subtlebraininjury.com :: http://brainanatomyguide.com :: http://car-accident-rain.com :: http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com :: http://vestibulardisorder.com :: http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
Posted on 5th October 2009 by gjohnson in Uncategorized
Baxter recall of heparin, FDA, FDA recall of Heparin, hemodialysis allergic reactions, heparin, heparin attorney
What is the true scope of the Baxter’s legacy when it comes to Heparin? Is it the relatively small number of deaths reported by the FDA last summer, or is it a number of deaths that could reach into the thousands?
By now it must be known just how many doses of contaminated Heparin Baxter produced and distributed. Both Baxter and the FDA have to know at least that much, right? The FDA first started by recalling nine lots, then additional lots and then pulled all of the Chinese heparin. But just how broad of a problem does “nine lots” represent? Would anyone in the public or even the news media know?
I am still waiting for proof that that number didn’t reach into the millions of contaminated doses. Heparin is administered to millions of people each year. If all of the Heparin for even the shortened time period from the Fall 2007 thru the Spring of 2008 was contaminated, doesn’t that mean millions were poisoned? Why is the FDA not telling us more. I can understand when it is a Republican FDA, but why are the Democrats not doing better?
Now we learn from the FDA that getting the dosing right on Heparin requires intense monitoring. See our last blog. So doesn’t that mean that what the FDA and Baxter hasn’t told us includes that failure to control potency could have killed many more?
When dealing with an intravenous drug that is given to our sickest patients (like kidney dialysis patients) there must be a duty not just to make the drug perfect, but also to tell everyone who got the less than perfect drug, of what happened to them.
Attorney Gordon JohnsonChair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
http://subtlebraininjury.com :: http://brainanatomyguide.com :: http://car-accident-rain.com :: http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com :: http://vestibulardisorder.com :: http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
Posted on 2nd October 2009 by gjohnson in Uncategorized
anaphylactic heparin reaction, FDA, FDA announces new weaker heparin, FDA recall heparin, heparin attorney, heparin lawyer
Suddenly the FDA and the manufacturer’s of heparin are worried that perhaps the quantity of active ingredients in the heparin they sell might be a bit diluted. How ironic. See
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm184674.htmThroughout what Congress called the “heparin catastrophe” millions of dosages of heparin weren’t diluted by 10%, but as much as 20%, not by harmless diluters, but by dangerous ingredients such as OSCS. See also the U.S. News story at
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/10/01/us-health-officials-announce-new-heparin-formula.htmlAccording to the U.S. News story:
The correct dosing of heparin has always been highly individualized and requires intense monitoring, which is a protocol that will remain in effect, officials said.
“The use of heparin is closely tied into monitoring and doses adjusted based on that,” said Dr. Dwaine Rieves, director of CDER’s Division of Medical Imaging and Hematology Products. “That procedure will not change.”
Now the FDA tells us that the correct dosing of heparin has always been highly individualized and requires intense monitoring? How could doctors have monitored heparin dosages when no one was monitoring how much active ingredient was in the product?
The litigation around heparin has swirled around a specific contaminant OSCS. Yet, there have been thousands of additional adverse reactions outside the recall time period, continuing up to this day.
Now it begins to become clear. If the manufacturer had no way to establish how pure the product was, how could “intense monitoring” have occurred? I believe the ultimate death toll from this drug will not just include OSCS poisoning, but complications because thousands more individuals didn’t and couldn’t get the right “intense monitoring” by their doctors.
Attorney Gordon JohnsonChair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
http://subtlebraininjury.com :: http://brainanatomyguide.com :: http://car-accident-rain.com :: http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com :: http://vestibulardisorder.com :: http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
