Fla. Man Files Pradaxa Lawsuit after Suffering Uncontrollable Bleeding

Plaintiff Robert Noll began taking Pradaxa in January 2012 to treat his atrial fibrillation. Blood thinners like Pradaxa are considered key in helping atrial fibrillation patients lower their risk for a stroke. Noll began taking about 150mg of Pradaxa twice a day.

On March 10, 2012, the Florida man had to be hospitalized at Parrish Medical Center, in Titusville, Fla., where he lives, due to acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding. The doctors treating him at the hospital were notified when he was admitted that he was taking Pradaxa.

Noll suffered from excessive and uncontrollable bleeding, which he alleges “was caused and/or worsened by Plaintiff”s use of Pradaxa.”

Up until 2010, the only blood thinner available was warfarin, also known as Coumadin and Jantoven. The problem with warfarin is that it puts users at risk for severe bleeding and it doesn’t interact well with other types of medications, including over-the-counter supplements, and some foods, requiring regular blood tests.

Pradaxa was introduced as an alternative to warfarin that does not come with any food restrictions nor does it require regular blood tests. It went on the market in the United States after receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2010.

The FDA approved Pradaxa after a long-term study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that Pradaxa does lower the risk of stroke and systemic embolism better than warfarin, with the same hemorrhaging rate, however, the same study, also showed that Pradaxa comes with an increased risk of heart attack.

The advertisements the drug maker published emphasize its effectiveness, but do not not mention the increased heart attack risk.

The study also found that “there was a significantly higher rate of major life threatening bleeding with [Pradaxa] at the 150-mg dose than with warfarin.”

Pradaxa works by blocking thrombin activity. Thrombin is the body’s central clotting agent, but Pradaxa disturbs the normal process that usually occurs in blood clotting. While this thins the blood, as is intended, it ends up weakening the immune system, leaving Pradaxa patients at greater risk for viral infections such as the flu and myocarditis, another study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation revealed.

The Pradaxa lawsuit claims that Boehringer negligently or fraudulently represented the safety of the blood thinning medication to the FDA and the medical community by claiming that the tests performed on Pradaxa showed the medication to be safe and effective, while concealing the increased risks for heart attack and life threatening bleeding.

The Florida man claims that Boehringer “knew or should have known that the original labeling of the drug did not adequately warn of the risks associated with using the drug.”

Noll’s charges against Boehringer with failure to warn, design defect, marketing defect, manufacturing defect, negligence, breach of implied and express warranty, negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation, and fraud.

Noll is suing for punitive and actual damages.

The Pradaxa lawsuit is Robert Charles Noll v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al., Case No. 3:13-cv-51467-DRH-SCW, in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Illinois. It is part of the Pradaxa multidistrict litigation, Case No. 3:12-md-02385-DRH-SCW, MDL No. 2385.

If you, or someone you care about, suffered from uncontrollable bleeding after using Pradaxa, you have almost certainly found yourself in a challenging situation. Uncontrolled bleeding is a life-threatening medical emergency. Such a crisis can have enormous financial obligations, like emergency medical costs, lost wages, and the cost of continuing medical care. But regardless of the situation you’ve found yourself facing, you need to remember that you still have rights, and there are steps that you can take to regain a measure of control over your situation. You can start by visiting the Pradaxa Internal Bleeding Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. Here, you can enter your information for a free legal review by an expert with a background in this type of litigation.