In medicinal chemistry, the term "contamination" is used to describe harmful intrusions, such as the presence of toxins or pathogens in pharmaceutical drugs. [1]
The following list encompasses notable medicine contamination and adulteration incidents.
Then, two months ago, fatality knocked at its door. A new mixture of a new drug (sulfanilamide) with a new solvent (diethylene glycol), which Dr. Massengill's salesmen sold as Elixir Sulfanilamide-Massengill, was discovered to be killing its users
A graphic story of a race against death from "elixir sulfanilamide," carried on by the Food and Drug Administration in fifteen States from Virginia to California, a race not won until ninety-three persons had died after taking the lethal dose, was told by Secretary Wallace today in a report responding to Senate and House resolutions.
The syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze.
Federal drug regulators, in announcing Wednesday that the mystery contaminant in heparin was an inexpensive, unapproved ingredient altered to mimic the real thing, moved closer to concluding that Americans might be the latest victims of lethal Chinese drug counterfeiting.
A contaminated blood thinner from China has been found in drug supplies in 11 countries, and federal officials said Monday they had discovered a clear link between the contaminant and severe reactions now associated with 81 deaths in the United States.