Personal Injury Law

Injury Lawsuits Filed Over Tainted Chinese-Made Drugs

By Michael

More than 30 personal injury lawsuits have been filed in Illinois and Texas after a tainted medication led to allergic reactions and deaths in 2008.

Baxter International Inc. recalled herapin, a blood thinner and anti-coagulant, in 2008 when ingredients in the medication were found to cause adverse reactions. Key components at fault within herapin were traced back to animal products from China included in the product, according to Bloomberg.

A main component of herapin is made from pig intestines, a Baxter spokesperson said in a 2008 statement.

Baxter had supplied about half of the United States? blood thinner and anti-coagulant when reports of allergic reactions started coming in. Erin Gardiner, a company spokeswoman, told Bloomberg that the company began a voluntary recall when they noticed the increase in adverse reactions.

The US Food and Drug Administration found after the recall that herapin was contaminated with a substance similar to herapin but was actually over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate, according to the Southeast Texas Record.

A China-based company manufactured the active ingredient in herapin from raw materials bought from smaller, family owned workshops. The workshops extracted what was used for herapin from pig intestines, the Southeast Texas Record reported.

?The decision to source from China is based solely on supply — the majority of the world?s supply of crude heparin comes from China, due to the large number of pigs required,? Baxter said in 2008.

Gardiner told Bloomberg recently that Baxter was unable to pinpoint exactly where the contaminated materials came into the manufacturing of herapin, since it was introduced into the process before it ever reached Baxter?s facilities.

The company, based in Deerfield, Illinois, said they ?deeply regret any impact the 2008 herapin contamination may have had on patients and family members.?

The U.S. FDA set new standards in manufacturing the blood thinner in 2008 after the recall, but Chinese suppliers do not fall under the same scrutiny of U.S.-based health agencies.

The Illinois-based personal injury lawsuits accuse Baxter and supplier Scientific Protein Laboratories with negligence and are seeking monetary damages for both people who were hurt by the tainted products and for their family members, Bloomberg reported.

A lawsuit filed in Texas also accuses Baxter of failing to disclose test results, failing to act reasonably to recall the drugs and failing to act as a reasonably prudent drug manufacturer, according the Southeast Texas Record.

In 2007, actor Denis Quaid and his wife filed a product liability lawsuit in Chicago against Baxter after their newborn twins were given high amounts of herapin by accident, the Associated Press reported.

Quaid?s suit alleged that higher doses of herapin were packaged the same as lower amounts.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).