Pakistani men look at the sealed pharmaceutical company of Efroze in Karachi on February 2, 2012. Pakistan has closed at least temporarily a pharmaceutical factory accused of manufacturing medicine suspected to have killed more than 100 heart patients, an official said. The factory was closed after a London laboratory appeared to find Isotab responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people in a hospital of the country's most populous Punjab province.-- AFP Photo

LAHORE, Feb 7: The World Health Organization (WHO) has alerted governments worldwide to the use of Isotab-20, a medicine for heart patients that has been declared contaminated. The alert was issued from WHO headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday, particularly for health authorities, manufactures, distributors and patients.

Citing a report of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the UK, WHO issued for the first time a categorical message to the world about Isotab-20 after drug reaction claimed lives of more than 100 heart patients in Punjab.

It called for increased vigilance if any country had imported Isotab-20 manufactured by Efroze, Karachi and notify the organisation about it. “According to the information available to date, contamination has only been found in the production batch J093 of Isotab manufactured by Efroze, Karachi, Pakistan. Samples of the same medicine tested from other batches have not shown any contamination with pyrimethamine to date,” the WHO said.

“The alert has been issued as a precautionary measure,” WHO concluded.