After a patient died and five others suffered from anaphylactic shock after being injected with Xenetix, a contrast medium, the Drug Administration of Vietnam under the Health Ministry has suspended it for investigation. In a dispatch sent to local health departments of provinces and cities on August 30, the department said Xenetix 300 mg/50 ml, lots 12WC034A and 12WC027C, with registration number VN-4976-07, must be suspended for safety purposes. The drug was prepared by France-based pharmaceutical company Guerbet and was registered in Vietnam by Singapore-based Hyphens Marketing & Technical Service Pte. Ltd. The department asked the Singaporean company to coordinate with Guerbet and companies that imported the drug into Vietnam to inform all distributors of the suspension of the contrast medium. All importers and distributors of the drug must send a report about the import, distribution and use of the two lots of medicines, and their adverse effects on users, if any, to the department before September 8, 2013. Earlier on August 27, a patient died at Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital and initial investigations showed that the patient died of an anaphylactic shock that developed after the patient was injected with Xenetix belonging to lot 12WWCO34A, which will expire on September 25, 2015. Not long before that, five patients at the same hospital also suffered from serious anaphylactic shocks after receiving the Xenetix injection. The National Drug Adverse Reactions Monitoring Center under the Hanoi National University is monitoring post-injection reactions to identify the cause of the deadly anaphylactic shock. Contrast medium is a substance used to enhance the contrast of structures or fluids within the body in medical imaging. It is commonly used to enhance the visibility of blood vessels and the gastrointestinal tract.