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FDA cites Chinese firm's manufacturing processes for heparin

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China and the United States traded charges Monday about whether a contaminant in the blood thinner heparin caused severe allergic reactions linked to as many as 81 deaths.

Federal health officials said new tests indicated a solid link. China said the contaminant could not be the "root cause" of the problem.

Chinese officials suggested at an embassy news conference that the problem with the drug could have occurred in the United States. They plan to visit a Baxter International plant in Cherry Hill, N.J., to get a better picture of how the finished product is manufactured.

Raw heparin is derived from pig intestines, often processed by small, unregistered workshops in China. The raw ingredient for Baxter's recalled heparin came from Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories, which in turn owns a Chinese factory — Changzhou SPL — and buys additional raw heparin from other Chinese suppliers.

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