If you have suffered Pradaxa hemorrhaging after taking the blood thinner, you could be eligible to participate in this lawsuit investigation.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s Pradaxa (dabigatran) is one of the New Oral Anticoagulants (NOACs) to have entered the market in the past decade. Along with Eliquis and Xarelto, Pradaxa was introduced to grab part of the market away from warfarin (brand name Coumadin), which has been a relatively safe blood thinner used for nearly 60 years.

Patients are prescribed anticoagulants (blood thinners) when they have atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat that can allow blood to pool in the chambers of the heart, potentially allowing blood clots to form. Patients who undergo knee or hip replacement surgery or have a history of stroke might also be prescribed blood thinners.

For decades, warfarin was the only blood thinner on the market in the U.S. The drug has some dietary restrictions, and the patient’s blood must be regularly monitored to ensure a therapeutic level of warfarin is maintained. With too little of the drug, blood clots can form. With too much of it, a patient could experience uncontrollable internal bleeding. In the event a warfarin patient is in an accident or needs emergency medical intervention, all emergency room doctors across the country are taught to administer an IV dose of vitamin K to halt warfarin’s blood-thinning effects.

Pradaxa Hemorrhaging Risks

Pradaxa was touted as a new, easier blood thinner that didn’t cramp the patient’s lifestyle. Direct-to-consumer marketing gave the impression that Pradaxa was not your father’s blood thinner. Pradaxa patients were told they didn’t have to alter their diet, didn’t need blood monitoring, and that essentially, one dose fit everybody.

Within Pradaxa’s first three months of release in the U.S., Pradaxa hemorrhaging reports began flooding in to the FDA, which received 307 reports of gastrointestinal bleeding, internal bleeding and other dangerous health consequences.

Pradaxa hemorrhaging was linked to more than 260 deaths in its first year on the market.

Because no antidote was available to stop Pradaxa’s anticoagulating effects, emergency room doctors could do little to stem the Pradaxa hemorrhaging. Praxbind, the antidote to Pradaxa, was not introduced until the FDA granted the antidote accelerated approval in October 2015.

As a result, Pradaxa patients who underwent urgent procedures or were experiencing life-threatening, uncontrolled bleeding had to endure hours of dialysis treatments and blood transfusions in the hopes the internal bleeding would subside once their bodies were cleansed of Pradaxa. Some patients still succumbed to their Pradaxa hemorrhaging complications.

In December 2011, more than a year after Pradaxa was on the market in the U.S., the FDA issued a warning that patients could be at an increased risk of serious, uncontrollable internal bleeding because of Pradaxa.

Even though all anticoagulants have a risk of internal bleeding, Pradaxa allegedly has a particularly high risk of serious, uncontrollable bleeding.

Dozens of Pradaxa hemorrhaging lawsuits have been filed by patients who have survived serious bouts of internal bleeding and by survivors of patients who did not survive the excessive bleeding. Most of the lawsuits allege Boehringer Ingelheim was aware of the Pradaxa hemorrhaging risks before the drug hit the market, but did not notify patients or doctors of such risks.