Pradaxa Maker To Settle Thousands Of Bleeding Risk Cases

Introduction

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. filed a brief in Connecticut Supreme Court indicating that it has reached a global settlement to resolve 2,935 lawsuits brought over by patients alleging failure to warn about the bleeding risks associated with its blood thinner Pradaxa.

The agreement will resolve nearly all the cases that are pending in the Judicial District of Hartford. There are around 2,865 on the state's litigation docket, as per the filing, which also includes two cases filed by plaintiffs who have appealed over the initial judgment favoring the manufacturer.

The manufacturer filed the joint motions with the two plaintiffs and asked the court to put a stay on their cases until the settlement concludes or if the two parties opt-out of the settlement plan.

Out of the two, one was the fourth bellwether case, in which the plaintiff alleged that he suffered gastrointestinal bleeding after using Pradaxa. A jury granted a verdict favoring the plaintiff, which was partly denied and returned to Boehringer by a trial judge over its bid to set the verdict aside.

The second is a case filed by a plaintiff who alleged that Pradaxa contributed to a bleeding injury he suffered in 2014. In March, a judge awarded summary judgment in favor of Boehringer after finding the case was preempted.

According to the filing, the manufacturer noted that whether the settlement is finalized, fails to materialize, or the plaintiffs opt-out, a status update will be provided by August 2021.

Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, manufacturers of another popular blood thinner drug Xarelto, are also facing similar allegations, including hemorrhagic stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and other serious complications. The federal cases are consolidated under MDL No.: 2592 before Judge Eldon E. Fallon. in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

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