Flood of drugs, little oversight

[gulfcoastliberal]

Source: Chicago Tribune.com

By the time St. Louis Children's Hospital called in its infectious-disease specialist Jan. 4 to diagnose a mysterious spike in allergic reactions to kidney dialysis, it was clear there was a major problem.

Three patients had become ill after taking the blood-thinning drug heparin. One had developed the same reaction during a dialysis treatment in November. Minutes after dialysis needles punctured their veins, the boys' lips and eyelids swelled. Their blood pressure dropped, and their heartbeats raced at dangerous levels.

When infectious-disease specialist Dr. Alexis Elward homed in on the problem -- putting high on her list the drug made by Baxter International Inc. of Deerfield -- she became the first doctor to alert the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It wasn't until late in February, though, that Elward and others learned that no U.S. or Chinese government inspectors had visited the Chinese plant that produced the drug now linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as 21 deaths across the U.S.

edit

"Millions of FDA-regulated products are imported into the country each year from foreign facilities that have never been inspected by FDA and, with current appropriations, never will be," according to a report in November by the FDA Science Board's subcommittee on science and technology.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-sun_baxter-heparin-baxmar02,1,7846258.story?page=1

---

Isn't "free trade" sweet?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. 10 years ago...

The mere mention of such a drug manufacturing infrastructure, based offshore in a country known for its lax manufacturing safety standards, would have been called madness.

It's time The American People started grabbing the issues and our elected officials by the throat and shaking them till their eyes pop out. They are actively abrogating their responsibilities in this and many other matters. They were not sent to Washington to go to dinner parties and raise money. Not by a long stretch.

[AzDar]

5. Good visual...I like that.

:thumbsup:

[denverbill]

2. Yet we can't re-import drugs made in America from Canada because they might be 'unsafe'.

This country is a pathetic joke.

[defendandprotect]

4. The GOP's "third world America" . . . it was the Contract ON America . . .

[defendandprotect]

3. But note . . . we can't buy known drugs from Canada at their cheaper prices ---!!!

[tpsbmam]

6. A friend died in December.....

She and I used to work together and we stayed in sporadic contact -- I had talked to her about 2 weeks before she died. Didn't know she'd died until about a week after it happened and I have no way to find out what happened to her (don't know her family, she was pretty isolated due to illness). What bugs me is the constant wondering if it was the damn heparin -- she'd been on dialysis for years. It certainly could have been natural causes -- I'll never know. What would be like if this was my kid??!! I can't even imagine.

[HuskiesHowls]

7. As if we didn't learn from all the pets dying

We now have this legacy of cutting taxes and programs and instead funding an unwinnable and ill-conceived war. This comes real close to home, as my wife and both kids are on blood-thinners for the rest of their lives, due to genetic factors. I just hope that they read the labels on the bottles!!

[newburgh]

8. Straw man issue to support rampant(legal, prescribed) drug overuse...

THE problem is that people in this country take too many drugs. When public advertising of drugs was permitted sales went way up. Why, because they were marketed directly to the consumer, not just the enabler, er, doctor. How many other drugs were these patients taking? Do you know that there are NO, zero, zilch studies about the infinite number of drug combinations that are prescribed. A nurse caring for my now-deceased partner(as if that should add any credibility to my argument- it seems pretty successful on these blogs) while he was in the hospital argued that, "that's why they call it a practice".

[superkia]

9. And now our government is going to make them a law so citizens...

cant sue over things like this...Fucking sick! Our country is finally showing its true colors. We are a corrupt nation that is ran by us slaves to the system and we are too afraid of our vicious government to stand up peacefully...we see what is happening to people who do. All we can do is work our little hearts out until they come for us and ours.


First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

[ShockediSay]

10. Of course, less government solves this problem, according to McCain

So who's supposed to protect us from poison drugs?

The free market?

Too little, too late for our decedents

[Ratty]

13. "Market forces" will take care of things

See, when a whole buttload of people die then customers will stop buying the product. Thus market forces have forced that supplier out of business.

[Zorra]

11. This is how the world will FOREVER be under Bu*h and republicans.

FOREVER, and that is a certified republican party 100% guarantee or no money back!

BUY NOW!

[undergroundpanther]

12. I am very wary of big Pharma these days.

Some of the new psych drugs they scare the fuck out of me.
http://tribes.tribe.net/depressionhelp/thread/7fd1996c-5167-423f-a713-df40049a91e6
Invega sounds onerous. I have seen staff at the psych ward promoting this drug in the guise of"mental health education".He meets with pharma reps and then goes and "teaches" patients about drugs it it a particularly sickening kind of sales pitch....It's disgusting.
http://www.furiousseasons.com/archives/2008/02/differing_views_of_invega.html
http://bipolarsoupkitchen-stephany.blogspot.com/2007/11/son-of-risperdal-invega-dollar-store.html
But it gets worse.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21298130/

And worse..
"Chinese drug companies are the main suppliers of the raw ingredients needed to make AstraZeneca's Seroquel, an blockbuster that is used to treat schizophrenia and other mental disorders, according to Mr. Yin."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119187230072652477.html?mod=googlenews_wsj