HEALTH: THREE MONTHS AFTER THE POISONING WITH ADULTERATED YECTAFER

They managed to discover the route of forged iron injection

The case came to light on December 23, when Vernica Daz died in Viedma. The hospital which administered the drug had bought it in a pharmaceutical wholesalers in Baha Blanca, which had bought it in Capital.

Sibila Camps. [email protected]

Three months after the poisoning with adulterated Yectafer, which caused at least one death, the authorities have reconstructed almost completely the commercialization track. There are four accused, three of them are under arrest. Investigators are confident that they are not alone, and that the case will be clarified soon. The death of Vernica Daz (22) was absurd. The young woman, who lived in Viedma (see Lo de Verito... (Veritos)), was healthy; she was only being treated for a ferropenic anemia (iron deficiency). The seventh of the ten Yectafer injections was fatal. While they were trying to save her life, eight other women were hospitalized in Viedma, with similar symptoms and the common factor of having received Yectafer. Daz dies on December 23rd. On that very date, and starting from a formal complaint for poisoning filed with the National Institute of Medications (INAME abbreviation of Instituto Nacional de Medicamentos) in the District Attorneys Office of Pompeya, it was determined that the young woman had been administered a forged injection containing three times the quantity of iron allowed. Adulterated medicine has not been detected for more than three years in the country and they have never caused a death. Also, the container and the blisters were different from the original ones. As a precautionary measure, several women were admitted to hospital under observation in many provinces. The country was kept in suspense by the warnings of the health authorities. The family of Luciana Gimnez (28), who lived in Diamante (Entre Ros), linked her death November 21st with the only injection she was administered. They recovered the box, also forged. All this batch was withdrawn from the market. It had the same number as an original batch

which had been distributed between the end of 2003 and February 2004, and it was considered practically consumed by AstraZeneca laboratory. Poisoning was stopped. A few days after, the case vanished from Argentine people conversations, swept away by the tragedy of the disco Repblica Croman. However, the authorities, the INAME and the Division of Crimes against Health of the Federal Police continued investigating, despite the limitations imposed by the fact that there is no provision for medicine forgery crimes in the current Criminal Code (see Lamentable... (Regrettable)). The first month of investigations resulted in several raids and Pablo Jos Cernadas, Adrin Quintela, Jorge Scatolini and Alberto Akawie were arrested. Although only one of them testified, since then many things could be clarified. The twin batch consisted of about 700 boxes, almost all recovered; we suppose that the ones we did not find were destroyed when the case spread, said Attorney Marcelo Munilla Lacasa, from the District Attorneys Office of Pompeya. He informed that it was determined that Cernadas, who was employed in Quimbel (Qumica Belgrano), in this Capital, was the person who bought the adulterated Yectafer -knowing what it was- for that pharmaceutical wholesalers. At the same time pharmaceutical wholesalers Gavazza, from Baha Blanca, acquired in good faith part of the boxes, but Quimbel might have given false invoices. Precisely, Quintela and Scatoloni have been charged in connection with the provision of false documentation to insert the twin batch in the commercial circuit. Akawie, instead, was charged with covering up and he is free. Didnt Quimbels owners know anything? We have asked for their statement, the District Attorney pointed out. As to Hospital Zatti in Viedma where the box with the blister injected to Vernica Daz was found-, it bought the Yectafer to Gavazza in a perfectly legal operation. What remains to be seen is who adulterated the Yectafer and where it was done. There is a clue leading to Paraguay, where adulterated medicine came from in other occasions; there is another leading to Argentina. We think we could reach the forger, said Munilla Lacasa. However, the district attorney fears that the investigation may come to a standstill or go back to square one. The lawsuit was filed with the Crime and Correctional Court of Capital, where not only the appeal lodged by the defendants must be decided but also the request filed by the judge Javier Reyna de Allende, who declared himself incompetent. In his view, the case must be transferred to the federal court. Munilla Lacasa considers a possible transfer correct, since trademark forgery is a federal crime. But he also thinks that it will be prejudicial to the case, when all the people responsible are about to be discovered. Anyway, there are a lot of loose ends. In Entre Ros, Health Minister, Graciela Degani, reported the death of Luciana Gimnez in the Federal Court on Paran. Her writ was sent to Reyna de Allende, a judge of Buenos Aires. He is also responsible for the requests of district attorneys Munilla Lacasa y Adrin Jimnez to incorporate to the lawsuit the cases of the other eight women from Viedma, increasing the charges against the accused. Meanwhile, in that city, the judge having jurisdiction over the initial factual stage of the criminal trial Pedro Funes is also looking for information about the facts, while investigating whether the buying and selling of Yectafer in Ro Negro fulfilled the legal requirements.

COLLABORATION AND REPORTS: NEUQUEN AND PARANA AGENCIES

Higher Controls Oscar Angel Spinelli [email protected] They are not everyday cases. But when the happen, we feel helpless. Some people may think they are isolated facts. Death by propolis? And the lawsuits for adulterated medicine in circulation in the 1990s? Certainly, drug adulteration exists in other countries. However, this is inexcusable. There should exist higher controls. In view of a State that diminished to enlarge the Nation, and fulfills some obligations with great difficulties, the pharmaceutical industry might help arranging a group of inspectors to control the medicine distribution centers. In this way defending their products as well as sick people and consumers.

Regrettable and Strange Legal Gap Nueva Pompeya District Attorneys Office specialized in the investigation of crimes related to medicine. However, the most serious, forgery, does not constitute a crime to the Argentine Law. By the end of 2003, the House of Representatives pass a bill from the Executive Power to classify medicine forgery as a crime in the Criminal Code. However, as the proposal was not analyzed by the Senate, it lost parliamentary status. Meanwhile, a poisoning charge as in the Yectafer case can be only brought if there are victims.