In an unfolding medical tragedy that has shocked Argentina, as many as 96 hospitalised patients are believed to have died after receiving fentanyl—an opioid painkiller—tainted with deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This unprecedented crisis has ignited a nationwide outcry and raised urgent questions about pharmaceutical regulation and public safety.
The crisis began in May when dozens of patients admitted for unrelated ailments developed severe bacterial infections. Medical tests revealed strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Ralstonia pickettii—some resistant to multiple antibiotics—present in both affected patients and samples from fentanyl batches.
Authorities traced the source of the contaminated doses to HLB Pharma and its subsidiary laboratory, Laboratorio Ramallo. According to Argentina’s drug regulator, ANMAT, contamination was confirmed in deceased patients and directly in ampoules from two fentanyl batches produced by the company. One of those batches had been “widely circulated,” federal judge Ernesto Kreplak, who is overseeing the investigation, confirmed.
HLB Pharma’s owner, Ariel García Furfaro, has publicly denied responsibility. He argued that the company had voluntarily pulled the drug from the market and suggested that contamination might have been the result of tampering. “If the ampoules were contaminated, someone had ‘planted’ the contaminant,” he stated in an interview with La Nación.
Authorities estimate that around 300,000 ampoules of the tainted fentanyl were distributed across several key provinces—Buenos Aires province, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Formosa, and Buenos Aires city. Of those, approximately 45,000 doses had already been administered before the nationwide recall and seizure of remaining stocks.
For families of victims, the toll is devastating. One bereaved brother described how his 32-year-old sibling “died within days” after receiving contaminated fentanyl. Another mother recounted her 18-year-old son, hospitalised after a car accident, initially showing improvement before suddenly developing pneumonia and succumbing to uncontrollable fever just a week later.
Judge Kreplak asserts that “contaminated ampoules are not circulating today,” but the investigation continues to analyze more fatal cases as the death toll rises.
In an unprecedented legal move, 24 individuals linked to the fentanyl’s manufacture and distribution—including executives and technicians—have been named as suspects. They are now subject to asset freezes and travel bans. The probe is focused on the manufacturing process, quality control measures, and how pathogens infiltrated the pharmaceutical batches. “This is going to be very important to determine responsibility,” said Adriana Francese, lawyer representing four victims’ families.
Medical experts emphasise the potency of fentanyl: as a synthetic opioid, it is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, making contamination risks particularly grave.
Described by one lawyer as “unprecedented” in Argentina’s history, this crisis has sparked widespread alarm, demanding accountability and deeper scrutiny of pharmaceutical practices and public health safeguards.
