MONDAY, Aug. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Robert J. Linhardt is a chemist with a dream: making the blood-thinner heparin by the bucketful without using animal tissue.

It's a dream that has taken on urgency this year, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration attributed more than 80 American deaths and hundreds of illnesses to contaminated heparin from the conventional source -- pig intestines processed in China.

THURSDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Giving a high dose of the anti-clotting drug tirofiban to heart attack victims while on route to the hospital could improve their chances of survival, a new report says.

The study, published in a special cardiology issue of The Lancet this week, showed that patients given tirofiban in addition to the standard triple treatment of the anti-clotting agents aspirin, heparin and clopidogrel had significant less blockage affecting their heart than those given only the three standard medicines and a placebo.

WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTS:
"A similar incident last year nearly killed the newborn twins of Dennis Quaid, turning the actor into an activist on hospital errors."
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/07/09/h...
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EmpowHer's HealthDay Reports:
A newborn baby has died at a Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital after receiving an overdose of the blood thinner heparin, the local Caller-Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

Fourteen infants in a Corpus Christi, Texas hospital's neonatal intensive care unit were accidentally given overdoses of a blood thinning drug, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

A pediatric version of the blood thinner Heparin was used to flush IV tubes to prevent blood clots from forming. The error at Christus Spohn Hospital was discovered by nurses on Sunday based on abnormal lab results.

It wasn't immediately clear how much of an overdose was administered. It's believed the error occurred in the hospital's pharmacy when the drug was being mixed, the AP said.

WASHINGTON — Federal drug regulators believe that a contaminant detected in a crucial blood thinner that has caused 81 deaths was added deliberately, something the Food and Drug Administration has only hinted at previously.

“F.D.A.’s working hypothesis is that this was intentional contamination, but this is not yet proven,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center, told the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in written testimony given Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - The widow of a man who died after receiving contaminated heparin told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday "we have a false sense of security" in a land where people expect to be protected and safe.

Brushing away tears, Johanna Marie Staples of Toledo, Ohio, said her husband, Dennis, was looking forward to his 60th birthday party on the last day of his life.

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By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. researchers say they've confirmed that lots of the blood thinner heparin pulled from the market are contaminated with a man-made chemical called oversulfated chondroitin sulfate.

By Amanda Gardner EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter MONDAY, April 21 (HealthDay News) -- Contaminated heparin products have now been found in at least nine countries, not including the United States, leading to ongoing surveillance measures to ensure the safety of the blood thinner, U.S. health officials announced Monday.

Scientists investigating a mystery contaminant in the blood thinner heparin are closing in on what they believe is a counterfeit substance, most likely made in China from animal cartilage, that was chemically altered to act like the real drug.

The United States Food and Drug Administration declined to confirm that statement and a spokeswoman said the agency would have no comment.

By Steven Reinberg
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- The contaminant found in the blood-thinner heparin, which has been linked to hundreds of allergic reactions and possibly 19 deaths in the United States, has been traced to a Chinese plant that processed raw ingredients for the drug, U.S. health officials said Friday.