An interview with Trasylol lawyer George Otstott

Trasylol spells big profits for the drug manufacturer Bayer AG, but at what cost to its recipients? For countless patients who were given Trasylol during open heart surgery, it has meant renal failure and other severe, often fatal, side affects.

Trasylol is administered during open heart surgery. It works to slow or prevent bleeding, and is used to reduce blood loss and the need for blood transfusion during some types of heart surgeries. Generally, the patient doesn't know which drug he or she is given nor is the patient usually given a choice. In the majority of cases, a patient can be given one of three drugs that supposedly have the same effect - generic medications aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid and Trasylol.

There are two major differences between Trasylol and the other two generic drugs: In January 2006, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that "The association between aprotinin (Trasylol) and serious end-organ damage indicates that continued use is not prudent. In contrast, the less expensive generic medications aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid are safe alternatives. "

And the other is the price. "There is one major distinction between the three drugs," says George Otstott, Trasylol lawyer. "Trasylol is a derivative of lung tissue of cattle and costs about $1,300 per dose; the other two drugs are about $14 and $44 and both are just as effective. "

Why Prescribe Trasylol?

The difference with Trasylol over its two 'competitors' is the amount of money spent on marketing the drug. The people who are selling the other two drugs, which are relatively inexpensive, probably don't have a large staff of sales people pushing their products, unlike Bayer AG, that market the hugely expensive Trasylol. Bayer made a profit worldwide of $293 million in 2005 on Trasylol. Over 4.3 million patients have been dosed with Trasylol since its inception. [The FDA approved Aprotinin and marketed by Bayer HealthCare under the brand name Trasylol in 1993.] Obviously, Bayer AG has aggressively pushed Trasylol onto the market - it is their 11th best selling drug and in the US alone has been administered 245,000 times in 2005.

The New England Journal of Medicine reports that over 10,000 kidney failures per year could be prevented if doctors opted for one of the other two drugs. Over $1 billion per year could be saved in dialysis treatment! "

(To give an example of its widespread use, 67,000 patient records were included in a study by the drug maker. In September 2006, Bayer Pharmaceuticals reported to the FDA that it had conducted an additional safety study of Trasylol. The preliminary findings from this new observational study of patients from a hospital database reported that use of Trasylol may increase the chance for death, serious kidney damage, congestive heart failure and strokes. The FDA was not aware of these new data when it held the September 21, 2006, Advisory Committee meeting on Trasylol safety.)

"Here's the bottom line: countless people are experiencing kidney failure and it is not normally something you anticipate simply because of open-heart surgery. The key factor before surgery is to look at blood levels and renal capability. If there is a hint of a problem, a patient should not be given Trasylol. "

How can I find out if I was given Trasylol?

"It isn't easy to find out if you were given this drug; most people have no idea. Generally speaking, if you had open heart surgery and subsequently had these complications, chances are, you may have been given Trasylol. It is mainly given when a patient undergoes CABG surgery, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, or CPB - cardio pulmonary bypass."


What You Can Do

If you or a loved one suffered complications:

1. Get a detailed medical billing record from the hospital. This is your absolute right and it is free. See if you can find specific billing for the brand name Trasylol or Aprotinin - the generic name.

2. Call your surgeon or cardiologist and ask point blank, was I given Trasylol when I had my surgery?

3. Then call a lawyer, even if you don't see Trasylol on your billing record. The lawyer can also check medical records, so there will be no doubt in your mind.

4. Call competent counsel and ask for assistance in finding a Trasylol lawyer.