OT:94 die in Panama from tainted medicine

[Guest guest]

94 die in Panama from tainted medicine

Panama City,*Pamama

By KATHIA MARTINEZ, Associated Press Writer

Wed Jul 4, 11:28 PM ET

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/07/04/94-die-in-panama-from-

tainted-medicine/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.%2Fs%2Fap%

2F20070705%2Fap_on_he_me%2Fpanama_deadly_medicine%3B_ylt%

3DAohyGcd66HEG_jsLPVaLKGLMWM0F & frame=true

PANAMA CITY - A top Panamanian prosecutor said tests show at least

94 people have died from taking medicine contaminated with

diethylene glycol since July 2006 and that 293 more deaths are under

investigation.

Prosecutor Dimas Guevara told The Associated Press on Wednesday that

people have continued to die this year even though the tainted

medicine was pulled from shelves in October.

Previously Panamanian authorities had confirmed only 51 deaths from

the medicine.

A chemical commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid, diethylene

glycol was used in cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine

lotion and rash ointment made in a Panama government laboratory.

Investigations revealed the chemical was made by a Chinese company

that fraudulently passed it off as 99.5 percent pure glycerin, a

sweetener commonly used in drugs, to a Spanish company. That company

sold it to Panama's Medicom SA, which sold it to a government

laboratory.

Officials in Panama also exhumed the corpses of victims who died

last year and conducted forensic tests that revealed they had been

killed by the medicines.

The 293 suspected cases were brought to the police by family

members, but the causes of death have not yet been confirmed by

forensic tests, Guevara said.

Three Medicom executives are being held in prison, charged with

crimes against public health in connection with the deaths.