Hospitals Rationing Clot-Buster Urokinase

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Hospitals Rationing Clot-Buster Urokinase

Baltimore Sun (12/22/98) P. A4

Hospitals around the United States are warning of a shortage of the clot-busting drug urokinase, which is used to dissolve blood clots and to clear tubes in kidney dialysis, with several hospitals saying they only have a few doses remaining. In November, the U.S. FDA ordered Abbott Laboratories, the only U.S. manufacturer of the drug, to suspend shipments of the drug because of an inspection at the production facility that indicated some of the kidney cells used to make the drug were infected with hepatitis B or mycoplasma. The FDA has said it does not know how long the suspension will last. Doctors can use other clot-busting drugs as substitutes, but they continued to express concern because the alternatives are less effective and have more potential to cause adverse events.

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