The Downside of Increased Trade

Save the Rustbelt sends this note working the end user as a reference, which is useful sometimes.

The Downside of Increased Trade

My wife, aka the world’s greatest nurse, worked this weekend. She spent a great deal of her time trying to track down enough Heparin to keep a patient alive this week. This is ridiculous. She had twenty-three frail elderly people to care for, and shouldn’t be tracking down routine medications.

There have been multiple recalls of Heparin since January, when it became clear that Heparin imported from China by Baxter was causing strange and often deadly reactions.

Initially, the Chinese said that if Baxter was having problems, it was Baxter’s problem. After the stuff hit the fan the Chinese have relented somewhat.

It is reported that Chinese pharma manufacturers are registering aa chemical manufacturers to avoid inspections, although it appears the embarrassed Chinese government and the FDA are tracking them down.

China is quickly becoming THE major source for generic drugs, patent drugs, and raw materials for other drug makers.

How much risk will you take to get $4 generic prescriptions?

This post by save_the_rustbelt
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Update from rdan: past Angry Bear posts on pharmaceuticals