At least 72 more people across the country have filed a lawsuit against the makers of the top-selling anti-blood clot drug Plavix claiming they have either suffered or been put at risk of serious bleeding episodes, strokes, heart attacks and death.
According to a report from madisonrecord.com, the 72 people who’ve suffered serious adverse reactions believe that the drug makers worked to hide evidence of the dangers of the drug. The 72 who have joined a lawsuit in the Midwest join hundreds more who have made similar claims regarding the use of Plavix.
Plavix, also called clodiprogel, is a blood thinner that prevents blood platelets from sticking together to form clots. It is a blockbuster medication, generating annual sales of over $6 billion for it’s marketers, Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi-Aventis. In 2008, it was the world’s second-best selling drug behind Pfizer’s cholesterol drug Lipitor.
In March 2010, the FDA warned that people with the CYP2C19 variant have reduced functioning of a liver enzyme that is supposed to convert Plavix from its inactive form to its active form, potentially making Plavix ineffective at reducing the risk of blood clots. Therefore, the agency required Plavix to carry a black box warning, the strongest labeling warning the FDA can require.
Touted as a “super aspirin,” Plavix can allegedly cause heart attacks, internal bleeding, strokes, blood disorders or death, according to the recently filed complaint, at an increasingly alarming rate after beginning treatment.
Other complications reported among people taking Plavix include Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP), a condition which is marked by small clots through the entire circulatory system. And based on Plavix’s performance on the market it is likely many of the people prescribed Plavix didn’t need it, but were prescribed based on its makers’ promotions to physicians and through aggressive advertising campaigns.
The makers of Plavix claim it is more effective than regular aspirin in the prevention of heart attack and stroke caused by blood clots. It is many times prescribed with a low dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of these complications.
But many people who’ve taken the drug based on that promotion have realized it is likely not any more effective than aspirin and recent warnings from federal regulators support those feelings. Plavix has been one of the top-selling prescription drugs in the U.S. since it first hit the market in 1997. Since approval, Plavix was thought to be more effective than warfarin at reducing blood clots which could lead to life-threatening conditions.
A recent study published in New England Journal of Medicine reports people taking Plavix are 12-times more likely to suffer recurring ulcers.
Lawsuits filed against the makers of Plavix claim the companies marketed the drug as safe for use with aspirin without any evidence supporting that claim. They also claimed it provided more cardiovascular benefits than taking regular aspirin, alone. This led millions to be prescribed the drug since 1997.
“Despite the growing body of scientific knowledge that the four-dollar Plavix pill was not much better than a four-cent-a-day aspirin, Defendants kept promoting it to the public and to physicians, using hyperbole and outright falsification in the process,” a lawsuit representing those 72 plaintiffs states.
The Journal of the American Medical Association says Plavix is a safe and effective medication for patients.
No comments yet.