Bayer faces law suit over possible link between Trasylol, premature death

NEW YORK Bayer faces a lawsuit in Canada alleging that one of its anti-bleeding drugs increases patients’ risk of premature death, filed on behalf of a woman in London, Ontario, who had a fatal heart attack in 2003 after surgery to repair a damaged heart valve.

The drug, Trasylol (aprotinin) is used during cardiac surgery to inhibit bleeding. Bayer took the drug off the market in several countries when a clinical trial found that the drug increased patients’ risk of dying by 53 percent, compared to other medications.

The company noted in its 2006 annual report that two observational studies found a possible correlation between use of the drug in open-heart surgery and severe renal dysfunction, heart attack and stroke.

Trasylol had global sales of $298 million in 2005, according to Bayer financial reports.