An inexpensive drug could save tens of thousands of lives lost in accidents and war every year by minimizing excessive bleeding, British researchers reported Monday. The drug, called tranexamic acid, is already used during surgeries in many developed countries to prevent unwanted bleeding, but the results from a massive clinical trial reported in the journal Lancet indicate that it could be used on an everyday basis even in the poorest countries.
Physicians had feared that such widespread use of the drug might lead to heart attacks, embolisms or other problems resulting from clot formation, but the new study showed an excellent safety profile for the drug.