Drug for Troops Labeled Dangerous

November 18, 3:16 PM EST

BALTIMORE (AP) — A blood-coagulating drug designed to treat rare forms of hemophilia is being used on critically wounded U.S. troops in Iraq despite evidence it can cause clots that lead to strokes, heart attacks and death in other patients, The (Baltimore) Sun reported for Sunday's editions.

Recombinant Activated Factor VII, which is made by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, is approved in the United States for treating forms of hemophilia that affect fewer than 3,000 Americans. It costs $6,000 a dose.

The Food and Drug Administration said in a warning last December that giving Factor VII to patients who don't have the blood disorder could cause strokes and heart attacks. Its researchers published a study in January blaming 43 deaths on clots that developed after injections of Factor VII.

However, the Army medical command considers it a medical breakthrough that gives front-line physicians a way to control deadly bleeding. Physicians in Iraq have injected it into more than 1,000 patients, reported The Sun, which makes its first Sunday edition available Saturday afternoon.

"When it works, it's amazing," said Col. John B. Holcomb, an Army trauma surgeon and commander of the Army's Institute of Surgical Research. "It's one of the most useful new tools we have."

Critics strongly disagree.

read more here

When I saw this I had to read for myself and yes there is a risk involved, however I then went and performed some research of my own. There has apparently been no attempts to correlate the remarked upon incidents to actual use of the drug, also it's use is primarily upon cases wounded so severely that in previous wars they would not have survived leaving a severe lack of information to baseline whether secondary effects are abnormal for the condition. Which would tend to indicate that the danger is relatively marginal as a percentage. These soldiers are far more likely to bleed out on a rubble strewn alley or the wreckage of a vehicle somewhere if they don't get this medicine promptly.

But the side-effects are still possible and still dangerous and they should look for something with less risk. And I've found something very interesting that might take the place of this drug and seems both far less risky and easier to use as well.

Try the link below.
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/200 ... conds.html
This substance seems perfect for the military's needs and doesn't appear to have any of the problems that the current measure uses

But, it really does not depend on whether the drug will work or not, but, by how much the company has paid to the politicians. The one with the most money wins.

Unfortunately that's the way things work. Having seen it from the inside I must say I'm ashamed by our military procurement system. Despite thoroughly scrambling the personnel charts it is essentially the same as it was during the Civil War and operates in about the same manner at roughly the same level of (in)efficiency.