New USP Standards for Heparin Products Will Result in Decreased Potency

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently alerted health care professionals to a change in heparin manufacturing that is expected to decrease the potency of the com¬mon blood-clotting drug. Adjustments may be needed to achieve the desired anticoagulant effect in some patients. While the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) manufacturing controls took effect October 1, 2009, for production, FDA asked manufacturers to not ship the new product to customers until October 8, 2009, or later. For more information from FDA or USP on this subject, visit http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm184502.htm or www.usp.org/hottopics/heparin.html