On December 8, 2012, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. delivered a presentation at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia. Boehringer Ingelheim presented new findings pertaining to Pradaxa bleeding risks.
Pradaxa is an anticoagulant medicine prescribed to patients suffering from non-valvular atrial fibrillation. According to researchers involved in Boehringer Ingelheim’s RE-LY trial, observations were made demonstrating that in serious bleeding episodes, patients taking Pradaxa fared better than those patients taking warfarin.
Data from these sub-analyses indicate that patients prescribed with Pradaxa, at least in Boehringer Ingelheim’s studies, exhibit a need for approximately one day less of hospitalization in the intensive care unit (ICU) following a serious bleeding event when compared to those patients prescribed with warfarin. Though, it still remains, and Boehringer Ingelheim recognizes this fact, that to date Pradaxa still does not have a reversal agent to stop excessive bleeding like warfarin does in Vitamin K.
However, in these sub-analyses, the data shows that there is no difference between patients taking Pradaxa and those taking warfarin as regards total length of hospitalization. Though patients using Pradaxa may not need to remain in the ICU longer, these individuals involved in the sub-analyses remained hospitalized for as long as patients using warfarin.
In conducting this study and providing a detailed analysis of the released data, Boehringer Ingelheim has publicly recognized the problems linked to the use of Pradaxa, specifically the serious risk of severe bleeding in patients. Their optimistic comparisons of Pradaxa over warfarin do not make their anticoagulant medicine any less harmful or lethal simply because it represents newer technology when placed alongside warfarin, a drug developed and released onto the market in the 1950s.
Attorneys at Carey Danis & Lowe recognize the risks associated with the use of Pradaxa, and unlike Boehringer Ingelheim, seek to help people who have been injured by Pradaxa use.
For a free legal consultation about your Pradaxa case and more information about filing a Pradaxa lawsuit, contact an experienced pharmaceutical product liability lawyer at Carey Danis & Lowe today by calling 800.721.2519.
