From Pharmalot;Congress Widens Probe Into The Heparin Scandal

For those of you who frequent this blog you may have noticed how habit-forming the site Pharmalot is.
Today Mr. Ed Silverman has written two articles which you may want to check out. One covers the Heparin scandal "Congress Widens Probe Into The Heparin Scandal" and the other is related to what doctors think of the pharmaceutical industry "What Docs Think Of Pharma & Where They Get Info."

On the Heparin scandal the author writes;

Three years after the FDA linked the Heparin scandal to contaminated supplies from China, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expanding a probe into the episode and wrote 10 drugmakers, manufacturer reps and ingredients suppliers for documents, because the agency has indicated they have info about the Chinese heparin industry and supply chains.

The move comes after the committee has twice lashed out at the FDA for failing to find those responsible for the scandal, which was linked to 81 deaths in 2007 and 2008 and traced to heparin sold by Baxter International (back story). The fatalities provoked harsh criticism of the FDA for not conducting greater oversight of foreign facilities - particularly those in China that make medicines or supply active pharmaceutical ingredients. Baxter recalled its heparin, which contained an active pharmaceutical ingredient derived from pig intestines (see photo) from hogs in rural China.

Read more at http://www.pharmalot.com/