FDA sees possible fraud behind tainted heparin

In the search to keep prices down and maintain market place, this article addresses the cold sobering potential that is happening everywhere today, did economics and staying in the cost competitive marketplace drive the company to use a less expensive ingredient...thinking it would have the same effectiveness and do the job...BD

WASHINGTON - The contamination of Baxter International Inc. recalled blood thinner heparin likely was done for economic reasons, the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday.
"It was apparently, we suspect, done by virtue of economic fraud," FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told a Senate hearing. The contaminant was identified last month as a modified form of chondroitin sulfate, a chemical FDA officials have said is likely cheaper to make than real heparin, which is derived from pig intestines.