Free Republic

ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO -- A hemophilia drug has been linked to deaths, strokes, heart attacks and other complications in patients given the medicine for other types of out-of-control bleeding, such as cerebral hemorrhages, according to FDA researchers. The medicine, NovoSeven, is a clotting drug that was introduced in 1999 after being approved by the Food and Drug Administration to stop bleeding in hemophiliacs. But it has also shown promise in treating cerebral hemorrhages, a potentially lethal type of stroke involving bleeding in the brain. Most of the reported complications followed off-label use - that is, uses for which the drug...

Hemophilia Drug Sharply Lowers Risk of Death or Severe Disability, Study Indicates A Therapysharply cuts the chances that victims of the most devastating type of stroke will die or be severely disabled, providing the first possible treatment for brain hemorrhages, researchers reported yesterday. An international study involving 400 patients found that a single infusion of the drug, a synthetic version of a naturally occurring protein, given within three hours after onset cut by about one-third the risk of death or severe disability among patients in the midst of a bleeding stroke. This type of stroke hits about 80,000 Americans each...