Bayer Halts U.S. Sale Of Blood-Clotting Drug, Trasylol

Germany (AHN) - Bayer AG will take its blood-clotting injection Trasylol off the shelves from U.S. stores after the Food and Drug Administration announced that it will reexamine the drug's side effects, according to published reports Monday.

According to the Wall Street Journal citing people close to the story, it is still uncertain if the German drug maker will pull the drug from other markets, but that it remains a likely possibility.

Trasylol is thought to be linked to a higher incidence of death than competing drugs.

Although sales of the drug declined by a third last year, Trasylol saw global sales $338 million in 2005.

The FDA made its announcement on October 25 after a study involving the drug was stopped because the drug based on the ingredient aprotinin, exposed patients in the trial to an increased risk of death from hemorrhages, reports Thomson Financial.

Trasylol works by reducing blood loss and facilitates patients undergoing heart-bypass surgery to avoid transfusions - it is the third drug this year to be to have its sales halted in the U.S. from scrutiny by the FDA, the Journal reports.