Sun coverage: Factor VII

An Army medic loads a needle with Factor VII. The blood-clotting drug was used extensively during early portions of the war in Iraq. (Baltimore Sun photo by Monica Lopossay / May 5, 2006)

A warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with several published research papers, has linked Factor VII to several types of blood clots that can form in a patient's veins or arteries.

November 19, 2006

SUN INVESTIGATION

DANGEROUS REMEDY

Military doctors in Iraq use Factor VII to stop bleeding, but other doctors fear the drug can kill those it's meant to save

November 20, 2006

'DON'T LET ME DIE'

Military surgeons make heroic efforts to save soldiers bleeding from major injuries, but a drug they use is suspected as a cause of fatal clots

November 21, 2006

DUBIOUS BREAKTHROUGH

Doctors pushed Factor VII to the battlefield, but researchers fear that the risks are too high

November 19, 2006

Factor VII timeline

• March 1999 -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Recombinant Activated Factor VII for treating bleeding in patients with rare forms of hemophilia.

November 26, 2006

How The Sun got the story on Factor VII

Last Sunday, The Sun began a three-part series about a drug used by American military doctors in Iraq that could be killing some of the very soldiers it was intended to save. The drug, Factor VII, helps doctors stop blood flow from devastating wounds, but there is abundant evidence that the drug may later cause blood clots that result in heart attacks and strokes.

November 30, 2006

Senators urge probe of drug

Two U.S. senators called on the Pentagon yesterday to investigate the military's use of a largely experimental blood-coagulating drug that doctors inject into wounded troops to control bleeding but that has been linked to unexpected and potentially deadly blood clots.

March 29, 2009

FOLLOW-UP
Army medicine: Untested in battle

The U.S. Army has quietly altered or abandoned some of its more experimental medical treatments for troops injured in combat, as advances it once hailed as groundbreaking are foundlargely ineffective or perhaps even dangerous.