Pradaxa, a popular blood thinning medication, is used by thousands of Americans. However, the adverse side effects of Pradaxa have been gaining attention as many patients have suffered uncontrollable bleeding events while on the medication.

Pradaxa, known generically as dabigatran and manufactured by Boehringer Ingelehim, is a newer anticoagulant. It is what is called a direct thrombin inhibitor.

Direct thrombin inhibitors attach themselves to thrombin, which is the component in blood that causes the blood to clot. When Pradaxa does this, thrombin cannot form a clot as easily as before.

People who take Pradaxa are often at a risk of blood clotting events such as a stroke. Patients who also have a condition known as atrial fibrillation also often take a drug like Pradaxa. Atrial fibrillation causes blood to pool in a chamber of the heart. When this happens, blood clots can occur which may travel to the brain or the lungs.

Individuals who are at risk for pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis are also often prescribed Pradaxa or a similar direct thrombin inhibitor. Pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot lodges itself in the main pulmonary artery in the lungs.

Deep vein thrombosis is a condition in which a blood clot forms in one of the deep veins in the body. This usually happens in the thighs or legs. Both these conditions can be deadly and Pradaxa often works against these in patients.

Adverse Side Effects of Pradaxa

Even though Pradaxa has been very successful since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2010, many patients have reported the adverse side effects of Pradaxa.

In the very first few months that Pradaxa was on the market, the FDA began receiving reports of the adverse side effects of Pradaxa. Patients complained of deadly problems like gastrointestinal bleeding and other internal hemorrhaging.

Over three hundred reports of bleeding events associated with Pradaxa were received by the FDA in those first 3 months. In the first twelve months, over 260 fatalities were connected with Pradaxa use.

The reason why Pradaxa has been so dangerous is that for many years, it did not have a reversal agent. When Pradaxa and other similar direct thrombin inhibitors came onto the market, they were marketed to replace a drug called warfarin which had dominated the blood thinner market for many years.

Patients who took warfarin, however, needed to have constant blood monitoring and needed to change their diet. Pradaxa promised a much easier way of taking blood thinning medication. However, warfarin had a counteracting agent if a patient experienced a bleeding event. Vitamin K could be administered to a warfarin patient to help a patient’s blood clot if needed.

Pradaxa’s reversal agent was not approved by the FDA until 2015. For six years, Pradaxa patients who experienced the adverse side effects of Pradaxa, did not have a reversal agent to help if a uncontrollable bleeding event occurred. For many patients, this was too late.

If you believe you have suffered adverse side effects of Pradaxa, you may be entitled to monetary compensation.