Heparin Recall

The Los Angeles Times (10/27, Zajac) “Booster Shots” blog reported, “B. Braun Medical Inc., of Irvine on Wednesday announced a recall of seven lots of the anticoagulant heparin because of concerns they may be contaminated with trace amounts of oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, or OSCS, the same substance implicated in the 2008 heparin crisis that killed or seriously sickened dozens of people.” However, Karen Riley, FDA spokeswoman, said “There is not a significant public health threat.” The Times says that “both the heparin in the poisonings and in the B. Braun recall were manufactured with raw material — pig intestines — from China.”