FDA a Paper Tiger: China and the Heparin Probe

Ed Silverman on July 22nd blogs in Pharmalot about the questions being raised in Congress and within the media of the FDA’s lack of holding Chinese officials accountabile in tracking down the issue of the deadly Heparin issue that killed dozens in the US several years ago.

In this excellent blog post, Mr. Silverman highlights:

· ...how hard is the agency trying to get China to cooperate when problems arise? Not hard enough, according to a congressional probe that reveals the FDA repeatedly asked the Chinese government for help in pursuing an investigation into contaminated heparin, but was “severely hampered” by a lack of cooperation.

· You may recall that contaminated heparin made in China was linked to 81 deaths in 2007 and 2008 and the episode sparked a firestorm of criticism at the FDA for its failure to monitor medicines made there. Since then, the heparin scandal has faded from view, but the congressional probe revives the matter - and portrays the agency as a paper tiger.

· “It is shocking to find out two years after Chinese-made heparin was killing Americans, the Chinese government still has done no investigating to find out why,” Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, tells the Wall Street Journal. He and Mike Burgess, another Texas Republican who is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, blast the FDA for not pressing the Chinese or acting on info obtained over the past two years . The probe, by the way, comes as FDA commish Margaret Hamburg prepares for her first trip to China.

· An FDA spokeswoman tells the Journal that “there are serious limitations on what the FDA can do to pursue civil and criminal investigations in foreign countries, especially without the cooperation of the foreign government.” In a June 16 letter to the congressmen, the FDA wrote that it was “denied full access” to manufacturers of raw heparin in China.

· Chinese security authorities told a US official in Beijing in June 2008, that China wasn’t investigating the heparin episode as a criminal or administrative matter, he tells the paper.

This excellent blog brings to light the ability of the US government to properly investigate serious issues with quality, adulteration, fraud and counterfeiting with an important trading partner where a significant number consumer and health care products and their raw materials originate.

The lack of regulatory cooperation between nations is a serious concern to all within health care and its consumers.

Given the inability of the regulatory authorities to work together and properly vette and secure the global supply channels. Secure Pharma Chain believes that it is critical for all members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain to take measures to protect its inventories and brand by deploying technologies that validate the authenticity and efficacies of its products.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/07/china-stymies-fda-probe-into-contaminated-heparin/#more-25075

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