Recombinant Activated Factor VII, a blood coagulant made by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and sold under the name NovoSeven, was approved only for treating people with a rare form of inherited hemophilia when it was introduced in 1999.
However, when trauma specialists for the American and Israeli militaries decided that the drug might save wounded soldiers on the battlefield, it began being used for a vastly different purpose.The drug, which is still only approved for treating hemophiliacs, has now been administered to more than 1,000 wounded American troops in Iraq and more than 300 bombing victims in Israel. But many hematologists and blood specialists think that the drug may be killing patients by creating blood clots that travel to the heart, brain and lungs.
The opinion among these blood experts is borne out by an FDA warning issued nearly a year ago, which noted that giving NovoSeven to patients without hemophilia can be deadly (43 deaths, mostly among non-hemophiliacs, were blamed on clots). Similar dangerous side effects have been observed by doctors treating wounded soldiers evacuated from Iraq in military hospitals.
Despite many amazing advances like the natural blood-clotting bandage made with shrimp shells for soldiers fighting in Iraq, the U.S. Military seems to be playing a dangerous game with the health of our most seriously wounded troops.
While some trauma doctors consider NovoSeven "a rare breakthrough," it has been used well before any adequate testing had taken place by a desperate, overzealous military searching for any good news, coupled with a few corporate backers "who have no sound evidence the drug works or is safe," according to the Baltimore Sun.
This is not the first time our soldiers have been treated as guinea pigs, either. Although the American government maintains that the Depleted Uranium used in many Gulf War weapons cannot cause adverse health effects on soldiers, the facts tell a different tale; uranium is 'genotoxic,' which means it chemically alters DNA.
The NovoSeven story, however, shocks me even more. Every time I believe the drug company cartel has reached a new low in foisting toxic drugs on an unsuspecting public, they amaze me with new excuses, this time one that harms the very people fighting for our own country.