Pradaxa, a blood-thinning drug, was approved by the FDA in 2010.

Since then, Pradaxa has become linked with serious Pradaxa bleeding complications, and has subsequently faced thousands of lawsuits in the last year alone, and are expected to only escalate as time goes on.

Pradaxa (dabigatran) is an extremely popular blood-thinner. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Pradaxa’s manufacturer, intended the drug to be an improvement upon warfarin, the more traditional staple for treating atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is a serious condition that can often lead to strokes. Indeed, patients with atrial fibrillation are five times more likely to suffer from a stroke than those who do not have the condition.

However, thousands of Pradaxa bleeding complications lawsuits have surfaced in the last year, alleging that the drug manufacturing giant failed to adequately warn both the public and the medical community about the potential serious bleeding complications associated with their drug.

These Pradaxa bleeding complications are a serious concern for millions of people. Once Pradaxa was approved by the FDA and released onto the market, sales skyrocketed. More than 3.7 million U.S. patients had decided to use Pradaxa, some of whom switched from warfarin, by mid-2012.

Unlike generic warfarin, Pradaxa does not require frequent blood testing or monitoring, which has traditionally been a huge selling point for the drug and the millions of Americans using it.

Pradaxa Bleeding Complications

Anticoagulants, or blood-thinners, can cause excessive or unusual bruising and bleeding from even minor cuts, which is expected. Pradaxa and other anticoagulants like it do not cause severe bleeding complications in most Pradaxa users.

For others, Pradaxa can have serious side effects, and their severity and frequency has led to thousands of Pradaxa bleeding complications lawsuits.

Serious Pradaxa side effects include heart attacks, liver failure, uncontrolled bleeding, and death. Excessive bleeding is the most common of these side effects, and this condition can lead to brain hemorrhaging or death.

Internal bleeding caused by accident or disease can be very dangerous, but the body usually helps combat this by forming a clot to slow the bleeding.

However, if a patient is on blood thinners such as Pradaxa, these essential blood clots cannot form, even if the issue at hand is merely minor cuts and bruises. If the bleeding is excessive, such as from major internal bleeding, the problem becomes much worse – especially for Pradaxa users.

While Pradaxa and warfarin are both anticoagulants, and can therefore both cause and escalate internal bleeding, warfarin has one major advantage: it can be counteracted.

If a patient taking warfarin is undergoing dangerously excessive bleeding, that patient can be given an antidote to warfarin that will return the blood to normal and allow it to clot effectively.

Currently, there are no available measures like this antidote to stop excessive Pradaxa bleeding complications, which may lead to deadly side effects for drug users.

Over 500 of the 3,781 reported Pradaxa bleeding complications in 2011 were fatal. This has caused many patients to file Pradaxa bleeding complications lawsuits.

Despite these lawsuits and these studies, Pradaxa’s manufacturer does not require the drug to be monitored during use, and insists that it these kinds of measures are still not necessary. Many Pradaxa users disagree, and have since decided to file Pradaxa bleeding complications lawsuits.

If you or someone you know has taken Pradaxa and has subsequently experienced any of the above symptoms due to Pradaxa, you may have cause for filing a Pradaxa bleeding complications lawsuit.