Drugs trial stopped in Amsterdam: 11 babies might have died because of it

Drugs trial stopped

Following successful trials in other countries, Amsterdam’s UMC teaching hospital decided to hold their own trial with a new drug. This has now been stopped, following the terrible death of 11 newborn babies. 

The trial was aiming to help babies who were not growing properly in the womb, when research came to light about neonatal death and babies with lung problems. The solution? Giving the pregnant woman sildenafil AKA viagra. According to research conducted in other countries, it was found to improve the placentas functioning and thereby help with the babies growth.

The research

According to RTL Nieuws, 93 women were given the drug and then 17 babies were then found to suffer from a lung disease. 11 have now died. In another group, 90 women were given a placebo. 3 were found to have the lung disease and none died.

As you can see, it’s not looking good. They have halted the research immediately and are pending an investigation. This is scary and we can hope that no one else dies while this is going ahead.