In 2019, a few months after vials of the chemotherapy drug methotrexate left Naprod Life Science’s facility in India, doctors at more than a dozen clinics around Colombia began reporting that patients treated with the drug were developing high fevers and other concerning symptoms. At one clinic, several children deteriorated so severely after receiving their injections that they all had to return to the hospital.
Colombia’s health authorities found the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa in vials from three batches of Naprod’s methotrexate — the same bacteria that had been detected in many of the sick kids. The regulators issued a recall of the drug, but by then more than 100 patients had suffered reactions that doctors suspected were linked to the contaminated medicine. Four children had died.
In a months-long investigation, Bloomberg Businessweek found that, despite Naprod’s track record of safety lapses and quality concerns, the manufacturer is still selling its drugs.
Source: Pediatric Cancer Patients Received Contaminated Chemo Drugs
