Baxter: Heparin Problem At Hospital Unrelated To Product Quality

Baxter International Inc. (BAX) said Friday it has finished investigating the deaths of two patients who took the company's heparin products and found quality issues didn't relate to their deaths.

An array of forensic and analytical tests verify the heparin products were pure and didn't contain any contaminants, Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter said in a statement.

Baxter flew a team of physicians, pharmacists and nurses to Beebe Medical Center in Delaware within 24 hours of receiving reports last week that three patients at the hospital suffered from intracranial bleeding. Two of the patients died. The company said the intracranial bleeding was a result of other complications suffered by the patients unrelated to heparin.

"Following extensive product testing and further medical evaluation, we are confident that the events at Beebe Medical Center are unfortunate, isolated, institution-specific issues, unrelated to the quality of Baxter's heparin," said Camille Farhat of Baxter in a statement.

-By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9207; [e-mail]