Louisiana Woman Files Pradaxa Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Rosalie Recchia filed a Pradaxa wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Philip Recchia on April 14, 2014. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court of Minnesota. Recchia was a resident of Louisiana and the drug manufacturer – Boehringer Ingelheim – is a registered organization in the state of Delaware with its principal place of business in Connecticut. Boahringer is a foreign corporation from Germany.

Allegations against Boehringer

As with most, if not all, Pradaxa lawsuits, Recchia alleges “Defendants overstated the efficacy of Pradaxa with respect to preventing stroke and systemic embolism, failed to adequately disclose to patients that there is no drug, agent or means to reverse the anticoagulation effects of Pradaxa and that such irreversibility could have permanently disabling, life-threatening and fatal consequences. At all times relevant hereto, Defendants failed to warn emergency room doctors, surgeons and other critical care medical professionals that unlike generally known measures taken to treat and stabilize bleeding in users of warfarin, there is not effective agent to reverse the anticoagulation effects of Pradaxa, and therefore no effective means to treat and stabilize patients who experience uncontrolled bleeding while taking Pradaxa.”

According to the complaint from October 2010 to March 2011, more than 272,000 prescriptions were written for Pradaxa in the U.S. “During the same period, there were 932 Pradaxa-associated ‘Serious Adverse Effect’ (‘SAE’) Medwatch reports filed with the U.S. FDA, including at least 120 deaths and over 500 reports of severe, life-threatening bleeding.”

Additionally the plaintiff alleges that “From April 1, 2011 until the end of June 2011, there were an additional 856 Pradaxa®-associated “SAE” Medwatch reports filed with the U.S. FDA including at least 117 deaths and over 510 reports of severe, life-threatening bleeding.”

The plaintiff states that although the manufacturer of the drug knew there was no way to reverse the effects of Pradaxa when an uncontrollable bleeding event occurred in patients, the original labeling and prescribing information failed to disclose this fact. The complaint further alleges defendants’ “failed to advise prescribing physicians to instruct patient[s] that there was no agent to reverse the anticoagulant effects of Pradaxa®.”

Multidistrict litigation

It is likely that the plaintiff’s lawsuit will be transferred to the Southern District of Illinois where federal suits against the drug maker are consolidated under multidistrict litigation (MDL) and presided over by Judge David Herndon.

Multidistrict litigation is often formed when there are a significant number of similar actions against one defendant or group of defendants. The purpose of MDL is to streamline pretrial proceedings such as discovery and pretrial hearings. Unlike class actions, cases consolidated under MDL are transferred back to the court where they were originally filed for trial.

Status of Pradaxa lawsuits

Currently, there are more than 2,300 Pradaxa lawsuits pending under multidistrict litigation. Four bellwether trials have been scheduled for September 2014. Bellwether trials are selected by parties as representative cases. The purpose of bellwether trials is to gauge how juries will react to testimony and evidence presented, which may help with future settlement negotiations.

Legal experts believe the cases against Pradaxa may grow to as many as 4,000 including lawsuits filed in State and Federal Courts.