UPDATED: Poorly mixed drugs from Dallas pharma company kill three in Oregon

by PegNews wire

The AP has a story about a Dallas pharmacy company, ApotheCure Inc., that made a drug 10 times stronger than it meant to; three people who received it at an Oregon clinic died.

ApotheCure Inc., which makes drugs, said an employee made a mistake in weighing ingredients for the drug colchicine. It reduces inflammation, but in high doses, it leads to organ failure and death.

The bad mix was sent to the Center for Integrative Medicine in Portland; three people who received injections treat back pain, died from the toxic levels of the drug. The FDA is investigating but that's not the best part. The best part is the comment from Gary Osborn, who works for ApotheCure as a pharmacist and nutritionist:

"We are kind of the leaders in the industry," he said. "But you know what people say, stuff happens."

"Stuff happens"?

UPDATED: The Portland Tribune digs deeper and finds that ApotheCure has had numerous investigations in the past, including complaints that it illegally dispensed testosterone and growth hormones, once to a pregnant woman.

An inspection of ApothéCure's facilities in August 2004 found violations for inadequate equipment, inadequate training records, and unregistered balance scales, used to weigh substances -- such as the colchicine whose improperly-weighed formula is what killed three people in April.

ApothéCure is a "compounding pharmacy," not a drug manufacturer, and therefore its products aren't regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Wanna bet that changes sometime soon?

Posted by T.G.