Heparin tests: iIMB instruction

Following recalls of some products containing the blood-thinner heparin in European countries, the US and Japan, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) has instructed that all heparin products be tested before they are released here.

In a statement to The Irish Times, the IMB said it was instructing that products here be tested for contamination using methods developed by the US Food and Drug Administration.

"To date, there is no evidence of any increase in the numbers of adverse reactions reported in Ireland associated with heparin products, as was the case in other countries," said the statement.

One recall in Switzerland had an effect on the Irish market, where fewer than 20 units of a product had been brought in from a Swiss supplier as an exempt medicinal product to supply particular Irish patients who had been prescribed it, according to the IMB.

"These units were recalled as a precautionary measure, as a result of testing performed in Switzerland which found the contaminant in some active substance lots used in this medicinal product. This product is not authorised in Ireland, and was being supplied as an exempt medicinal product," said the statement.

The IMB will include information on the issue in the forthcoming edition of its Drug Safety Newsletter to registered doctors, dentists and pharmacists, and there will be an update on the IMB website, www.imb.ie.