B. Braun Medical Inc. Pulls Out Tainted Heparin

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Another manufacturer of the blood thinner heparin made nationwide recall Friday because some products may include a dangerous contaminant. Contaminated heparin from different manufacturer has been linked with hundreds of allergic reactions and 19 deaths.

B. Braun Medical Inc announced Friday that it was retrieving 23 lots of heparin as a precautionary measure.

``At this time, Braun Medical Inc. has not received any adverse event reports,'' Rick Williamson, a company spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement.

One of its suppliers, Scientific Protein Laboratories based on Wisconsin revealed that an ingredient it supplied have oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, a contaminant in heparin. Because of this disclosure, B. Braun Medical Inc issued the recall. Health officials are still investigating how this contaminant got into the drug.

Heparin comes from mucus of pig intestines and other animal tissues. Scientific Protein Laboratories owns Changzhou SPL, a Chinese factory and buys additional raw heparin from other Chinese suppliers.

Earlier, Baxter International Inc. recalled all its US sold heparin injections after reports of patients having allergic reactions to heparin. SPL also supplies Baxter Inc. with heparin.

Similar recalls of China-sourced heparin have also been reported in Germany and Japan.

Heparin, an anticoagulant (anti-clotting) medication is useful in preventing thromboembolic complications (clots that travel from their site of origin through the blood stream to clog up another vessel). Heparin is also used in the early treatment of blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary embolisms).