Bayer says temporarily suspends Trasylol marketing

By Mantik Kusjanto

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Bayer has suspended temporarily the global marketing of its anti-bleeding drug Trasylol, which has been linked to a higher risk of death, pending final results of a Canadian study for the medicine.

Trasylol is aimed at preventing blood loss in patients with an increased risk for blood loss during heart bypass surgery.

The drug, approved in 1993 and known generically as aprotinin, has been under a cloud for more than a year amid data suggesting it may boost the risk of death, serious kidney damage and stroke, so the step was not unexpected.

Bayer said in a statement on Monday the decision followed requests from German, U.S. and other regulators for the company to suspend the drug until final BART study data were available.

The BART study is an independent randomized, controlled trial being conducted in high-risk cardiac surgery patients.

Trasylol global sales in the first nine months of 2007 were around 93 million euros, including about 63 million euros from the United States and 5 million euros in Germany.

Bayer shares were up 1.5 percent at 57.50 euros at 7:10 a.m. EST, compared with a 0.4 percent fall in the German blue-chip DAX index.

Bayer is set to release its quarterly results on Tuesday.