CSI on Killer Ingredient Linked with Chinese Pigs -- Rise in Price Was a
Sign of Trouble / Washington Post

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http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/04/13/GR2008041301138...

Rise in Price Was a Sign of Trouble

Supply Problems Caused Spike That Some Say Should Have Prompted Scrutiny

By Marc Kaufman

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, April 13, 2008; A03

The price of the Chinese-produced main ingredient used to make the blood
thinner heparin doubled last year, just four months before hundreds of
American patients began having severe and sometimes fatal allergic
reactions to the medication, according to a report from an authoritative
drug information company in China.

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2008/04/12/PH2008041201890...
Pigs are bred at a Longtan Village farm in Changzhou, a sprawling
industrial city in eastern China. Outside the city is a factory that
processes chemicals from pig guts into a key ingredient in heparin.
(Photo: Eugene Hoshiko/AP)