Heparin seizure
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
FDA seizes 11 lots of tainted heparin Nov. 6, including some of the type used in medical devices, from Cincinnati-based Celsus Laboratories. The over-sulfated chondroitin contaminant identified in the seized product has previously been fingered as the cause of deaths and adverse events in supplies of the blood-thinning agent imported from China (1"The Gray Sheet" June 9, 2008, In Brief). Six of the seized lots were heparin lithium, used in vacutainer blood collection tubes, some in vitro diagnostics and as a coating for capillary tubes. The other five were pharmaceutical grade