Drug Maker Boehringer Facing U.S. Lawsuits

German pharmaceutical producer Boehringer Ingelheim is being confronted in the U.S. with more than 2,000 lawsuits related to its blood thinner Pradaxa (dabigatran). The plaintiffs charge that treatment with the drug led to severe bleeding and in some cases death.

On the U.S. market since 2008 - since 2010 in the U.S. - Pradaxa is one of a new class of blood thinners used in stroke prevention and is designed to replace the widely used generic drug warfarin, which requires extensive blood testing.

Newer products such as Pradaxa as well as Xarelto, launched by Bayer and Johnson & Johnson, and Eliquis developed by Pfizer and BMS, have been touted as requiring less monitoring while being at least as effective at preventing strokes and blood clots in patients with atrial fibrillation.

According to U.S. press reports, Pradaxa has been prescribed to 850,000 patients across the country and sales have totalled $2 billion since 2010. The drug has been unofficially linked to more than 1,000 deaths.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, recently agreed to conduct new studies on the risks of the new anti-coagulants.