Despite concerns about uncontrolled bleeding, Eliquis is still a major money-maker for the drug’s manufacturer.

Eliquis, the trade name of a drug called apixaban, is a blood thinner or anticoagulant. Blood thinners are designed to make it harder for blood to clot.

While blood clotting is a part of the normal healing process in humans, when blood clots inside of the body, the clots can block the flow of blood to important organs, causing stroke, pulmonary embolism, and other complications.

Blood thinners like Eliquis interfere with the clotting process, reducing the risk of stroke and other clot-related problems by making it harder to form clots in the first place. But all blood thinners, including Eliquis run the risk of working too well.

Some humans have a genetic disease called hemophilia. Patients with this disorder cannot form blood clots as easily as most people, and as such they can bleed to death from minor injuries.

Before modern medicine, people with this disease rarely lived long. When a blood thinner like Eliquis does its job too well, it can cause a similar condition wherein patients run the risk of bleeding to death from very minor injuries.

This can including internal injuries, causing pulmonary bleeding or gastrointestinal bleeding. While all blood thinners carry this risk of uncontrolled bleeding, newer-generation blood thinners like Eliquis may have their own special risks.

Older-generation blood thinners like Warfarin have known reversal agents. This means that if a patient taking Warfarin experiences an uncontrolled bleeding event, doctors can give them a second drug to “turn off” the Warfarin, allowing the patient to stop bleeding.

Newer-generation blood-thinners like Eliquis do not have reversal agents. This means that if a patient taking a drug like Eliquis has an uncontrolled bleeding event, doctors have few options. Physicians can try and stabilize a patient with massive transfusions, but even then, it is no simple matter to treat this possible Eliquis complication.

In spite of these risks, Eliquis is a major cash cow for its makers, Bristol-Myers. During the fourth quarter of the 2014 financial year, sales of Eliquis went up 30% in spite of concerns about uncontrolled bleeding in newer blood thinners like Eliquis. This translates to $281 million in Eliquis sales for Bristol-Myers. Bristol Myer’s fourth-quarter report for its investors states that the company expect to see some growth, partially fueled by Eliquis sales.

Lawsuits have been filed against the makers of newer-generation anticoagulants like Eliquis. Such an Eliquis lawsuit could allege that the makers of these drugs were aware, or reasonably should have been aware, of the serious risk of uncontrolled bleeding events and other Eliquis complications.

Additionally, an Eliquis lawsuit could further allege that not only were drug makers aware of these risks, but that they actively promoted the drug anyway, endangering the public. This type of drug lawsuit typically seeks to recoup the cost of medical care, obtain compensation for lost wages, recoup legal fees, and other costs allegedly incurred from using the drug in question.