Federal Agents Launch Probe of Army's Use of Trauma Drug, Known as Factor VII

Agents from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command are looking into the Army's use of a controversial blood-clotting drug, known as Factor VII, injected in wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's an excerpt from the Baltimore Sun:

Factor VII was hailed as a lifesaving breakthrough by military leaders and administered to hundreds of soldiers and Marines earlier in the wars. It has since proved largely ineffective in clinical trials and been the subject of safety warnings by U.S. and European regulators, who say it can cause potentially deadly blood clots.

Within the past several weeks, agents from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command have interviewed scientists and officers at the Army's medical laboratory in San Antonio about Factor VII, according to military sources with knowledge of the investigation. Researchers in San Antonio were among the first to explore Factor VII's role in treating trauma patients and have produced some of the few scientific studies suggesting that the drug saves lives in combat.

The manufacturer, the Danish drug company Novo Nordisk, said it had received a subpoena in January from the Defense Department's inspector general's office. Company officials said they are cooperating with the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore, which is overseeing the investigation.

 Read more:  Federal agents probing Army's use of trauma drug | Baltimore Sun