A few years ago, Pfizer Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb decided to jointly design, manufacture, and market a blood thinning medication known as Eliquis (or apixaban).

Eliquis is part of a new generation of anticoagulants, which includes Pradaxa and Xarelto, that have been marketed as superior to Warfarin, a more traditional blood thinner that has been on the market for decades.

However, like Xarelto and Pradaxa, Eliquis allegedly has caused a number of patients to experience serious internal bleeding, leading to potentially fatal Eliquis complications.

Eliquis was first approved by the FDA as a blood thinning drug in 2012. Since then, Eliquis has been regularly prescribed to treat patients suffering from atrial fibrillation or those who had recently undergone knee or hip replacement surgery, making them vulnerable to strokes and blood clots.

One of the main selling points of Eliquis, as well as other drugs in its class, is that this blood thinner allegedly did not require patients to maintain a strict diet or blood monitoring. Eliquis manufacturers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer marketed and aggressively promoted its drug not as an alternative to Warfarin, but allegedly as a far superior anticoagulant treatment when compared to Warfarin.

However, despite these marketing claims, the FDA has received hundreds of adverse event reports from patients who allegedly suffered from severe Eliquis side effects—including uncontrollable bleeding—after taking the Pfizer/Bristol-Myers Squibb blood thinning medication.

Potential Eliquis Complications and Side Effects

According to adverse events reports and proposed Eliquis lawsuits, many consumers have allegedly suffered from uncontrollable internal bleeding and hemorrhaging caused by Eliquis.

While these are also common side effects of warfarin, this older anticoagulant has a reversal agent, unlike Eliquis which does not have an antidote to stop severe bleeding events. Technically, anticoagulant manufacturers like Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb are supposed to design an antidote at the same time that they are designing a blood thinning treatment.

However, no Eliquis antidote was available for the hundreds of patients who were allegedly hospitalized due to Eliquis bleeding events, some of which have resulted in death for some consumers.

Some common Eliquis side effects reported by patients and attending physicians include:

• Bleeding on the brain
• Intestinal bleeding
• Kidney bleeding
• Uncontrolled bleeding
• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
• Death

Although it is a fairly new anticoagulant treatment, Eliquis has already been named in several proposed Eliquis lawsuits. At the same time that several Pradaxa and Xarelto lawsuits are going to trial in federal court, lawyers have also begun preparing various Eliquis lawsuits against drug manufacturers Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

These Eliquis lawsuits allege the drug makers negligently manufactured and sold Eliquis without disclosing Eliquis side effects like uncontrollable bleeding risks. The plaintiffs of these Eliquis complaints are also seeking monetary compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and other damages related Eliquis complications.