11/09/2006

Poland pulls drug after potentially deadly mix up

Poland's health ministry ordered the immediate withdrawal of an anti-allergy drug, Corhydron, after a consignment was found to contain a potentially deadly substance.

Prosecutors said that they had begun investigating why thousands of packs of what was purportedly Corhydron in fact contained suxamethonium chloride, which is normally used to cause muscle paralysis during emergency surgery.

The health ministry called on patients to return any Corhydron in their possession.

The problem emerged after two patients at a hospital in Siedlce, in eastern Poland, lost consciousness following routine injections of Corhydron, a hydrocortisone which is used to treat allergies and inflammation.

Laboratory analysis revealed that the packs used had in fact contained suxamethonium chloride.

The health ministry said that the consignment had been produced in 2005 by the Jelfa pharmaceuticals firm, which is based in Jelenia Gora in southwest Poland and belongs to the Lithuanian group AB Sanitas.

Of the 6,609 packs produced, some 5,000 were still in the hands of patients and medical services, the ministry said. AFP
Source:todayonline.com



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