Eliquis Injury Lawsuits

Eliquis is a member of a class of drugs known as New Oral Anticoagulants or “NOACs.” Eliquis is the brand name for apixaban and is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in conjunction with Pfizer.

The drug company markets Eliquis as a prescription blood thinner used to treat patients with higher risk of stroke and blood clot disorders who suffer from a condition known as atrial fibrillation (AFib). As the Mayo Clinic explains, AFib is defined as an irregular (often rapid) heartbeat that can result in reduced blood flow to the body. Patients who suffer from AFib will typically experience shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and general weakness. Afib complications can include an increase risk of stroke and serious blood clot disorders.

For many years, the standard treatment for patients with AFib involved taking a traditional anticoagulant medication such as Warfarin/Coumadin. The downside to taking Warfarin or other traditional blood thinners is that patients must watch out for certain foods that cause serious complications, time the taking of the medication with a particular meal, and routinely have doctors perform blood tests and adjust the dose when necessary.

If patients did not comply with these rigid requirements, they could suffer from serious complications, including bleeding disorders. One of the main benefits to taking a NOAC such as Eliquis, or Pradaxa is that it is more convenient to patients.

While the drug company is quick to point out how free and easy your life can be if you switch to Eliquis from Warfarin or Coumadin, it is not without significant risk. As the soothing voice on the commercial or the fine print in a magazine ad tells you, Eliquis can cause serious bleeding disorders, including hemorrhages, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and death. If you develop a serious bleeding disorder after taking Eliquis, there is no approved treatment or way to reverse these dangerous adverse events (side effects).

As our Boston Eliquis injury attorneys at Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers know, the drug company is making record profits from this new drug and does not want patients to think about these risks, because that would lead to a reduction in sales, which is the last thing the drugmaker wants to happen.

When a patient sees an advertisement for Eliquis and asks his doctor to switch to the medication, the doctor is supposed to inform the patient of all risks associated with the particular drug. The patient is supposed to be able to weigh the risks of taking a particular drug with the potential benefits. If they are given all relevant and available information, and then make a decision, they will have essentially given their informed consent to start a particular course of drug therapy.

In addition to what the doctor tells a patient, the pharmacist is supposed to warn patients about risks, and the drug itself is supposed to come with an FDA approved “monograph” that clearly lists all potential risks associated with the drug.

While every situation is different, and you should consult an experienced attorney about the facts of your particular case, the basis for many dangerous drug lawsuits is failure to warn of a known danger. When a drug company knows or should have known about a risk associated with its product and does not take reasonable efforts to make sure that each and every patient taking the drug knows about these risks, this may be sufficient to establish a case of negligence by the drugmaker.

In addition to failure to warn of a known danger, there is also a claim known as manufacture of a dangerous drug that may be applicable in your situation.

However, dangerous drug lawsuits are very complex matters that may involve a class action or multi-district litigation (MDL) proceeding. When speaking with an attorney about your Eliquis injury, it is important to make sure that he or she is familiar with the complexity of the process and routinely represents victims in dangerous drug lawsuits.

Contact us today to learn about your legal rights and to schedule a free consultation to learn how we can help you.

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