China says Baxter obstructing investigations into heparin deaths

Chinese officials said US drugmaker Baxter International was obstructing an investigation into deaths linked to a Chinese-made blood thinner called heparin, Reuters reported. The State Food and Drug Administration said Baxter was not cooperating with Chinese authorities in the investigation. An official at China’s National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products said Baxter has destroyed some samples of the drug and important production records. Baxter has denied the charges. The US Food and Drug Administration says heparin may have killed 81 people and caused severe allergic reactions in others. Baxter has recalled some heparin that had been tainted with a similar but cheaper chemical. Chinese officials say the cheaper chemical is not the cause of the deaths, and that more than 10 countries besides the US and Germany have used heparin products containing the chemical with no reports of adverse reactions.