Bayer Suspends Two Employees over Trasylol Data

Friday-October 13, Bayer AG suspended two senior employees over the company's failure to provide U.S. regulators with data on its heart-surgery drug Trasylol. Bayer also said it had hired an independent counsel to investigate its actions regarding the disclosure of the preliminary results from the Trasylol study.

The Food and Drug Administration began reviewing the drug earlier this year after two other studies published in medical journals linked its use to kidney problems. Bayer said it had mistakenly withheld another study based on 67,000 hospital patient records that suggested the drug could increase the chances of death, serious kidney damage, congestive heart failure, and stroke.

At the time, the Bayer said it did not share the Trasylol data with the FDA because the findings were preliminary and there were questions about the study's methods.