Market Place
Two days before Christmas, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning related to the detection of hydrogen cyanide contamination, in two drug shipments from Tianjin Tianyao Pharmaceuticals Company, located approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Tianjin port.
The contamination was detected as a part of an increased surveillance program of drug shipments, initiated by the FDA, following two massive explosions at Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics Co., a chemical warehouse, in August 2015.
PROACTIVE
FDA
Within a month of the explosions, in September 2015, the FDA had issued a guidance for products imported from the industrial center where the explosion occurred.
The center, Binhai New Area at Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. in Tianjin, China, was a storage and distribution center of containers with hazardous chemicals: sodium cyanide (NaCN), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and calcium carbide (CaC2), all of which pose direct threats to human health on contact.
Sodium cyanide (NaCN), in particular, is highly toxic and reacts with acids to liberate Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) which is a colorless, extremely poisonous liquid that boils slightly above room temperature.
SECURE YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN
In view of the hydrogen cyanide detection, the FDA also warned that “while information related to the explosion is limited, more than 40 different types of chemicals were discovered at the blast site. It is the responsibility of companies that obtain drugs - including finished drug products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and excipients - from the Tianjin City region to take appropriate precautions to ensure the quality of these products”
THE
WAY FORWARD
The Tianjin blast were so severe that they resulted in the closure of the GlaxoSmithKline facility in Tianjin, located about 20 kilometers from the explosion site, and strained the supply of a Hepatitis-B treatment marketed by it in Japan.
Although Tianjin Tianyao’s subsequent two drug shipments to the U.S., were tested and released after hydrogen cyanide was not detected in them, PharmaCompass has attempted to create a list of companies based in Tianjin, involved in the pharmaceutical business, to assist in evaluating supply chain risks.
The list contains 91 companies, with the name Tianjin, issued drug manufacturing certificates by the China Food & Drug Administration and those in Tianjin registered with the FDA or have other filings in the United States.
Our compilation has also utilized Google Maps to determine the distance of the various sites from the port where the explosion occurred.
PharmaCompass wishes all its readers a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous 2016.
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Image Credit : Does this explosion make me look fat? by Scott Swigart is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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