A blood thinner lawsuit has been filed against Bristol-Myers Squibb, the makers of the popular oral blood thinner medication, with allegations that the product is defective and a danger to human health.

Plaintiff Gayle S. filed her Eliquis gastrointestinal bleeding lawsuit stating that the oral anticoagulant medication was unsuitable to be marketed and sold and lacked proper warnings about the potential dangers of its use. Gayle states that she was prescribed Eliquis on April 16, 2015 and took 5 mg twice per day.

A week later, Gayle says, she went for a follow-up visit with her physician due to the continuing of her symptoms. She underwent a nuclear stress test on April 29, 2015 and two days later she had an echocardiogram performed. On May 21, 2015, Gayle had surgical stents implanted into her heart and was told to continue taking Eliquis until she underwent a cardioversion procedure.

On July 20, 2015, three months after she began taking the medication, Gayle was taken to the emergency room where a blood transfusion was performed and cauterization of bleeding in her gastrointestinal tract took place. She was released the following day after having been given more than four units of blood within a 24-hour period.

The following day, at her personal physician’s recommendation, Gayle was told to immediately go back to the emergency room and it was discovered that she had severe gastrointestinal bleeding. She stayed there for several days while she received several more blood infusions while the medical staff tried to locate the source of her bleeding.

At that time, Eliquis was finally stopped, her large intestine was clamped and cauterized and she was released from the hospital on July 30.
“As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ conduct, Plaintiff … suffered and incurred harm including severe pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, personal injuries and incurred damages to include severe pain and suffering, medical expenses and other economic and non-economic damages.”

Eliquis was approved by the FDA in 2012 and was designed to treat the risk of stroke associated with atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm. Patients who have atrial fibrillation are prone to have blood pool the heart due to its abnormal rhythm. The blood pools, clots are more likely to occur, and Eliquis helps in blood clot prevention. This in turn prevents stroke and systemic embolism.

The Eliquis gastrointestinal bleeding lawsuit goes on to state that ARISTOTLE, the clinical study used to gain FDA approval, was highly flawed and included “major errors” according to the lawsuit.

At the time Gayle was prescribed Eliquis, there was no antidote to reverse the anti-clotting mechanisms of the medication. To this date, no reversal agent or antidote is available. With warfarin, the industry standard and anticoagulant predecessor medication, reversal agents existed so that the anti-clotting effects could be reversed, restoring the body’s natural clotting processes.

With Eliquis, however, there was no way to medically intervene to stop the severe bleeding for Gayle and for many other patients who have gone on to file lawsuits against Bristol-Myers Squibb. The Eliquis gastrointestinal bleeding lawsuit states that this was a major shortcoming that the company failed to disclose when the medication was approved.

Gayle has brought forth a number of counts against the defendants including negligence, strict products liability, breaches of express and implied warranties, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation, as well as fraud and deceit. The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages, economic damages, punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees and costs and any additional relief as deemed just and proper by the Court

The Eliquis Gastrointestinal Bleeding Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-03016, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.