London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

A study by the CRASH-2 trial collaborators which showed the effects of tranexamic acid on bleeding trauma patients has just been named Research Paper of the Year in the BMJ Group Awards. But the team, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, say that almost 12 months after the research findings were published in The Lancet, the drug is still not being made universally available. They estimate that 175,000 lives could have been saved worldwide over the past year if doctors had given them tranexamic acid.

After collecting the prestigious award, the researchers - who were praised for their originality, scientific robustness and potential to help doctors make better decisions about clinical practice - called for doctors to be made aware of the results and for the drug to be made available to them.

"Our research showed that giving tranexamic acid to bleeding trauma patients is both effective and cost effective," the CRASH team said. "These findings are of global importance because every year, over 2 million people die from traumatic haemorrhage.

"However, not a single patient will benefit if doctors are not made aware of these results or if the drug is not made available for them to use. Winning this award will have a purpose which is to help bring these findings to the attention of the public, doctors and regulatory agencies.

"Getting these amazing results involved the commitment of a global team, including over 20,000 patients and their relatives in 40 countries. We thank them for their outstanding work on the CRASH-2 trial."

The CRASH-2 trial collaborators beat hundreds of entries from around the world to win the prize for Research Paper of Year after comparing infused tranexamic acid against placebo among more than 20,000 recently injured patients in 40 countries who had major bleeding or were at risk of it. The drug significantly reduced both the overall mortality in hospital over the next month and deaths owing to bleeding. As a result of the trial, TXA has now been added to the WHO's list of essential medicines.

• CRASH-2 trial collaborators: Effects of tranexamic acid on death, vascular occlusive events, and blood transfusion in trauma patients with significant haemorrhage (CRASH-2): a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2010: doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60835-5