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Editor: Jamie Sheller
Profession: Trasylol Attorney

Category: Trasylol Discussion

Two studies have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine that support the increased risk of kidney failure following the use of Trasylol. The anti-bleeding drug Trasylol is used during open heart surgery to reduce blood loss. It was pulled from the market after a study was published last year showing the risk of death to be twice that of other drugs in the same class. Researchers have been trying to analyze data from patients to confirm or disprove the risk.

Trasylol patients were 27 percent more likely to die than those getting a rival drug a decade after open-heart surgery, according to a review of 10,275 consecutive patients at Duke University Medical Center. Another study of 78,199 patients, presented to regulators last year after Bayer initially withheld it, found a 78 percent higher death risk a week after surgery.

Bayer says 4.3 million people around the world have used Trasylol. It is unknown how many people have died. Experts are pushing for more drug testing before medicines gain FDA approval. Studies are currently performed by drug companies with little supervision from the FDA. Trasylol is still available to surgeons on a case by case basis as hospitals still have inventory.