The blood thinner Pradaxa was first brought onto the market as a replacement for the old staple drug, warfarin, and has only grown increasingly more popular since. Despite the now extremely widespread use of Pradaxa, patients may be unaware of some serious Pradaxa side effects—and that, for a time, there wasn’t a reversal agent available to counteract these complications.

A growing number of patients are filing lawsuits over Pradaxa side effects, including excessive bleeding and hemorrhaging, alleging that they were not adequately warned about these risks.

Basics of Pradaxa

For decades, the staple anticoagulant medication was warfarin, also sold under the brand name Coumadin. In the last decade, newer anticoagulants have begun to take warfarin’s place as the standard blood thinner. The new blood thinning medication Pradaxa (dabigatran) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010 and, since then, has become a favorite option.

Anticoagulants like Pradaxa are primarily used to treat or prevent blood clots and conditions related to clotting. For many of these patients, preventing blood clots is an important preventative measure to avoid dangerous health risks. Unfortunately, there are some serious Pradaxa side effects that may be equally as dangerous as the conditions the drug is meant to prevent.

Pradaxa Side Effects

Of course, any medication will come with certain mild or rare side effects. For anticoagulants, the very nature of the drug makes it normal for side effects to include excessive bruising or bleeding. When a person suffers from gastrointestinal bleeding, their body counteracts the problem by forming blood clots.

However, since the purpose of an anticoagulant is to prevent blood clotting, a person taking these medications may be unable to form these blood clots in the event of a bleeding emergency, placing them at risk of serious injury or even death. Blood clots, usually dangerous, are in these cases life-saving.

Excessive bleeding problems can sometimes be severe, such as in the case of an emergency surgery, accident, or gastrointestinal bleeding. In order to prevent these bleeding complications, most anticoagulants come with antidotes that will reverse the drug’s effects, allowing the blood to clot and help slow or stop the bleeding.

When a patient suffers from Pradaxa side effects like gastrointestinal bleeding, there is now an antidote available to reverse the anticoagulant’s effects. But for a period of time, Pradaxa did not have such an antidote, placing patients at serious risk. Indeed, Pradaxa gastrointestinal bleeding is the drug’s most significant side effect and can lead to serious injuries like brain hemorrhaging or even death. Over 500 of the 3,781 reported Pradaxa gastrointestinal bleeding incidents in 2011 resulted in fatalities.

Filing a Pradaxa Side Effects Lawsuit

Thousands of lawsuits have so far been filed against Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Pradaxa’s manufacturer, claiming that patients suffered serious Pradaxa side effects including gastrointestinal bleeding. Lawsuits allege that the company failed to adequately warn the public and the medical community about the Pradaxa side effects linked with their drug.

If you or someone you love has taken Pradaxa and has subsequently experienced Pradaxa side effects like gastrointestinal bleeding or related injuries, you may be able to file a Pradaxa lawsuit. Filing a lawsuit cannot reverse injuries or bring a loved one back to life, but it can help to alleviate the financial expenses from medical care or lost wages.