Baxter Says Its Taken No Legal Hit from Heparin
Baxter International, the manufacturer of Heparin, the blood thinner recently pulled off the market because of alleged tampering of the product which was made in China, reported that it has not felt much legal ramifications from the problem. This is despite the fact there has been a reported 80 deaths and 1000 adverse reactions due to the problem.
What I find interesting is how Baxter is trying their hardest to paint this as a tampering issue. Essentially, they have told the FDA and the FDA has bought it that someone had intentionally tampered with the manufacturing process to cause this problem. Makes me start to wonder if Baxter is trying to lay the ground work for its defense in these potential cases. It would be a lot easier to argue to a jury that someone intentionally was trying to sabotage our drug, then having to explain that they had not undertaken the proper inspection of the chinese facility and as a result, something mistakenly got into the drug.
There are several of these cases I am looking at where individuals were given heparin and they had an adverse reaction. Since this issue only came to pass over the last several months, the number of lawsuits Baxter may have to contend with as a result of this "mistake" remains to be seen.
