FDA issues heparin alerts, withholds info

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- U.S. drug regulators are still issuing alerts about tainted supplies of heparin while refusing to give congressional investigators a list of Chinese suppliers.

The Food and Drug Administration's position is that revealing the names of the Chinese suppliers of the blood-thinning medication would violate confidentiality agreements not to release the companies' names, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. An FDA spokesman said the agency is trying to figure out a way to get the congressional panel the information it needs without violating the privacy agreements.

"The FDA thinks they have it under control, but they really don't," Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., told the Journal. "If I was the FDA director, I'd shut down every drug coming in from China" until they were deemed safe.

At least 81 U.S. deaths have been tied to tainted heparin derived from Chinese raw materials.

In response to learning some medical facilities still had contaminated heparin, the FDA has increased its alerts to hospitals, physicians groups and pharmaceutical organizations Friday, the Journal reported.

The FDA's Karen Riley said California authorities had found "a handful of hospitals" had not removed all tainted supplies of heparin.

"We found it on crash carts, catheter labs, and even on one hospital pharmacist's shelf," she said.