Washington, DC – Problems with Blood Thinner Medication? FDA Evaluated Wrong Chinese Drug Factory

Washington, DC – U.S. health officials evaluated the wrong factory when assessing the safety of a Chinese-made drug ingredient that may be a source of problems with a blood thinner.

Baxter International's heparin has been linked to four deaths and hundreds of reports of allergic reactions. And the Chinese manufacturer was not inspected because it was confused with another company in the agency's database with a similar name.

The agency said that as far as the FDA knows, it is an isolated incident.

Investigators will travel to China again this week to inspect the company. The team will include a chemist fluent in Chinese. [msnbc]