US law suits filed over Trasylol kidney AEs

US lawyers Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris, have filed lawsuits against Germany's Bayer AG on behalf of plaintiffs throughout the USA who allegedly suffered permanent kidney damage after treatment with Trasylol (aprotinin), a surgical clotting agent made by the German firm.

According to CBS News, 22,000 lives could have been saved had the US Food and Drug Administration removed Trasylol from the market in 2006. Dennis Mangano, a leading researcher in the field, whose January 2006 New England Journal of Medicine article set out the dangers of Trasylol, said that Bayer had done internal studies that were not presented to the FDA at a September 2006 advisory meeting but which would have confirmed the dangers. The agency eventually requested the suspension of Trasylol, which came late last year and is now worldwide (Marketletter November 12, 2007).

"This drug, which most patients never knew they received during their surgery, has caused significant injuries and loss of life due to severe and possibly life-threatening kidney problems, said Brian Turner, a shareholder at Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris. He claimed that Bayer had information that could have saved lives but did not make it known and so "needs to be held accountable."