Heparin to star at House hearings

Events leading up to the distribution of contaminated heparin will be the focus of hearings tentatively scheduled for April 15 by House Energy & Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. A week later, FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach will be asked to provide scenarios for revamping the agency's foreign drug plant inspection program. Seeking an end to the "unsafe" drug import saga, full committee chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., plans action this year on legislation that would assess annual drug import fees of $300 million to pay for inspection of drug imports (1"The Pink Sheet," Aug. 13, 2007, p. 21)