July 31, 2012
According to Injury Lawyer News, a new study is raising concerns that Pradaxa, an anticoagulant medication, could be responsible for causing dangerous internal bleeding to occur in patients taking the medication.
The drug went onto the market in October of 2010 and within the first six-months had received nearly 1,000 claims of adverse events reported to the Food and Drug Administration. Most of the events were related to internal bleeding, while others blamed the medication for strokes and, in some cases, death.
The reports to the FDA were believed by many experts to only be the tip of the iceberg when it came to the number of negative reactions to the drug, leading to a study being performed by the Institute of Safe Medicine Practices (ISMP). Their researchers found that over a one-year period in 2011, a total of 3,781 reports of Pradaxa injuries were made. Of those reports 2, 367 were associated with bleeding, while 644 involved a stroke and 291 claimed renal failure. A total of 542 deaths were also associated with the drug during that time.
The drug injury lawyers with Ferrer, Poirot and Daniel would advise patients to become fully educated on the medications prescribed to you by your doctor before beginning to take a regimen of the drug. If you have any questions, they should also be addressed with your doctor or pharmacist before taking the first dose.