Heparin -- from the Quaid Twins to Counterfeiting

Baxter International, the American distributor of heparin, a blood thinning drug that has been in the news for months now, must be incredibly frustrated. In fact, if I were on their PR team, I would be ready to throw in the towel.

First came word of the twins born to Dennis Quaid and their overdose of heparin. It turns out the packaging is almost identical for the various available doses. The babies were unintentionally given the much higher dose simply because the labels were read wrong.

Baxter's fault? Yes. They were very aware the packaging isn't distinct enough. Others had already died. They waited until the Quaid babies were overdosed to announce they will be making changes to the packaging -- too late for those others who died. I guess the Quaids were high profile enough. A mixed blessing, for sure.

Then, in unrelated incidents, but deadly all the same, came reports of hundreds of people having allergic reactions to doses of heparin, including 19 people who died. This week's news should come as no surprise that the batches that seem to be causing the allergic reactions are.... counterfeit! They were manufactured in China, brought to the US by Baxter, distributed throughout the American drug supply -- and now patients have died.

These are the two major kinds of drug problems in the US today -- safety violations from mistakes, and intentional adulteration of the drug supply.

Empowered patients know to be aware of possible problems, to continually ask questions of their providers, and to be vigilant about the drugs they take or are given. We must watch out for ourselves, because it seems clear that no one else is doing so on our behalf.