The anticoagulant drug Pradaxa is another example of a medication proclaimed by its manufacturer as “newer and better!” when, in fact, it is much riskier than an older, more tested, rival drug. News this week linking Pradaxa to a stunning 33% higher risk of heart attack or acute coronary syndrome (ACE) necessitates an immediate recall before more people die or suffer damage.

Pradaxa (or dabigatran) is manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim, a German-based pharmaceutical company. Sold as an anticoagulant to reduce the risk of strokes, it was introduced to the U.S. market in October of 2010. On January 9 – barely 15 months later – a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine has found that patients using the older drug heparin, or even a placebo, experience significantly fewer serious complications of bleeding.

ANYONE TAKING PRADAXA NEEDS TO KNOW THE SIGNS OF SIDE-EFFECTS OR INTERNAL BLEEDING. These can be found on the firm’s PRADAXA WEBSITE, established when we began hearing from patients and their families around the country who have been seriously hurt as a result of taking Pradaxa.

Pradaxa Danger Is Clear

According to a Bloomberg News report on the study, Cleveland researchers Ken Uchino, MD, and Adrian V. Hernandez, MD, PhD, reviewed data from seven clinical trials that involved 30,514 patients. Out of 20,000 patients taking Pradaxa, 237 had heart attacks or experienced ACS. By comparison, the same complications were experienced by 83 patients out of the 10,514 taking the drug warfarin or a placebo, the researchers found.

This kind of evidence of risk cannot be ignored. The FDA should recall Pradaxa immediately. Boehringer Ingelheim should be held accountable for failing to test its product adequately and scamming doctors and patients with assurances that this is a better drug than older options. The American public deserves better.

See Consumer Alert: Pradaxa linked to serious side effects.

Robert Jenner brings to the My Advocates medical and legal team more than 26 years experience representing injured consumers nation-wide against the manufacturers of dangerous prescription drugs, defective medical devices, tainted blood products, and other unsafe products. Mr. Jenner has been honored by his peers for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers in America” and “Maryland’s Super Lawyers”(named in Top 50). READ FULL BIO