Eliquis gastrointestinal hemorrhage has become a major concern in the patient population and medical community as patients continue to be hospitalized for uncontrollable internal bleeding incidents.

Even though new generation anticoagulants are supposed to be more efficient and convenient than warfarin, the number of injury reports raise the question of whether or not the drugs are safe.

Anticoagulants are primarily used to treat atrial fibrillation and prevent stroke or other blood clot attacks in high risk patients. They can also be used to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms, ultimately prolonging the patient’s life by protecting them from blood clot attacks.

While warfarin was the primary anticoagulant available since the 1950s, there have since been three major new generation anticoagulants released. Eliquis is the latest in this succession. It was released in 2012 and followed predecessors Pradaxa and Xarelto. Each of these drugs work by inhibiting the body’s clotting mechanism.

However, this also prevents the body from being able to recover from internal bleeding injuries, leading to incidents of Eliquis gastrointestinal hemorrhage or other potentially fatal events.

Overview of Eliquis Internal Bleeding Complications

As mentioned before, Eliquis and other new generation anticoagulants were approved in recent years to be in competition with each other and original blood thinner, warfarin. Each of the newer anticoagulants could be prescribed in a single dose, while warfarin often required frequent doctor visits for dose adjustments.

However unlike warfarin, Eliquis and other new generation anticoagulants lack a widely available reversal agent in the case of internal bleeding. These factors ultimately led to cases of Eliquis gastrointestinal hemorrhage which required hospitalization for many patients.

It is important to note that at the time of Eliquis’ approval process, manufacturing companies Pfizer Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb were having trouble gaining FDA approval.

This medication was submitted for FDA approval during an intense litigation period for Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer HealthCare, and Johnson & Johnson, manufacturers of Pradaxa and Xarelto respectively, for alleged uncontrollable bleeding incidents from their anticoagulants.

However, there were reportedly problems with an Eliquis pre-market clinical study, which may have contained faulty results. More specifically, the FDA halted the Eliquis approval for nine months after investigating the results for its Apixaban for Reduction in Stroke and Other Thromboembolic Events in Atrial Fibrillation (ARISTOTLE) study.

The FDA’s initial hesitation may have been justified, as patients continually report incidents of Eliquis gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Patients who may have experienced Eiquis gastrointestinal hemorrhage may be entitled to compensatory damages and should contact a lawyer to determine eligibility.