REVAMPED DRUG 'LIFESAVER FOR NEW MOTHERS'

A REVAMPED drug that can withstand extreme heat and stay effective for 1,000 days could "revolutionise the ability" to keep new mothers alive, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

The medicine - known as heatstable carbetocin - helps prevent sometimes fatal bleeding after women give birth.

It could potentially be given to millions of mothers worldwide.

Existing drugs can help but hot, humid conditions in many countries may stop the lifesaving medicines working well.

About 70,000 women die each year due to severe bleeding after childbirth. These so-called postpartum haemorrhages also increase the risk of their babies dying in the first month of life.

To tackle the problem the WHO currently suggests an injection of oxytocin be offered to all women giving birth vaginally.

But it is recommended that the medicine is kept between two and eight degrees from the moment it is manufactured to the moment it is used, which WHO experts say is often unachievable in countries with little access to refrigeration and unreliable power supplies . In the trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, almost 30,000 women in 10 countries across the globe were randomly allocated an injection of heat-stable carbetocin or oxytocin immediately after they gave birth.