FDA Warning - Heparin - more Heparin products recalled

Steve Lombardi

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Another Heparin product recall. You should know that this anticoagulant drug is manufactured from pig intestines. Surprised? From where do you think the ingredients for the widely taken menapause drug Premarin are found? Read today's blawg post to find out.

More Heparin products have been voluntarily recalled on a nationwide basis.

The Food and Drug Administration has received reports of serious injuries and/or deaths in patients who have been administered Heparin injectable products of other companies containing this contaminant. As indicated in the notification issued by the supplier SPL, typical symptoms include anaphylactic-like reactions such as low blood pressure, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

If you've been injected with any drug products and have any of these reactions you should immediately contact your doctor or health care provider for a thorough examination. The manufacturer on this latest recall is B. Braun Medical Inc. who was notified by its supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC (SPL).

You may want to know what Heparin is used for and from where it's ingredients are found. It is an anticoagulant and it's ingredients are processed from pig intestines or bovine lungs. Here is how Wikipedia describes Heparin.

Heparin, a highly-sulfated glycosaminoglycan, is widely used as an injectable anticoagulant and has the highest negative charge density of any known biological molecule. It can also be used to form an inner anticoagulant surface on various experimental and medical devices such as test tubes and renal dialysis machines. Pharmaceutical grade heparin is derived from mucosal tissues of slaughtered meat animals such as porcine (pig) intestine or bovine (cow) lung.

If this surprises you or grosses you out consider the following description of Premarin.

Premarin is the commercial name for compound drug consisting primarily of conjugated estrogens. Isolated from mare's urine (PREgnant MARes' urINe), it is manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and has been marketed since 1942. It is available in oral (0.3/ 0.45/ 0.625/ 1.25mg), IV, and topical form.