Heparin safety concerns spread to Germany

WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- Concerns about the safety of the blood thinner heparin have spread to Germany where the drug also was reportedly making patients sick.

The reports led a German company to recall some batches of heparin that were made using an active ingredient from China.

But, the company, Rotexmedica GmbH Arzneimittelwerk, said it didn't rely on the same active-ingredient supplier as Baxter International, maker of the heparin recalled in the United States, The Wall Street Journal said Friday.

However, patients taking both of the recalled products suffered similar allergic-type reactions and incidents of low blood pressure.

Meanwhile, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials asked all U.S. companies that produce heparin to test it with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and capillary electrophoresis, the only tests that can uncover a possibly counterfeit ingredient, The New York Times said.

FDA officials said earlier that a possibly counterfeit ingredient had been found in certain batches of heparin linked to at least 19 deaths in the United States and more than 700 severe allergic reactions.