05/16/2008- The results of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine have confirmed preliminary findings that Bayer’s anti-bleeding medication Trasylol (aprotinin) dramatically increases a patient’s risk of death. The BART trial, as it was called, was halted when it became apparent that death rates were disproportionately higher for patients being given Trasylol. This prompted Bayer to suspend worldwide marketing of the drug. The results, now made public, show that patients receiving Trasylol have a 53 percent greater risk of death when compared with those receiving less expensive alternatives.

The study did find Trasylol to be slightly more effective in reducing bleeding than the other medications but by no means does this out weigh the significant increased risk of death. Previous studies have linked Trasylol to heart and kidney problems, but never statistically significant enough to prompt widespread concern. Some experts believe that the use Trasylol could have been responsible for 1000 deaths a month. If this study would have been done five or ten years ago just think of the lives that could have been saved.