Deadly fentanyl contamination exposes drug safety challenges

A drug contamination tragedy in Argentina has seen medical fentanyl killing patients by causing microbial infections. The official death toll sits at 51, although authorities suspect up to 100 deaths could be associated with the tainted drug.

Microbial contamination of drug batches is, unfortunately, a persistent issue. Even the most stringently run facilities can be susceptible to accidental contamination. Fortunately, most such incidents are intercepted either by internal quality control or routine regulatory checks before any harm is inflicted on patients. But when those safeguards fail, the consequences are severe.