64 More Plavix Patients File Suit Over Bleeding Side Effects | NewsInferno

Another Plavix lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 64 Plavix patients who allege bleeding side effects. Plavix (clopidogrel) is a blood thinner prescribed for the prevention of blood clots and heart attacks, and has been linked to serious side effects, such as the heart attacks and strokes it is supposed to prevent, as well as gastrointestinal bleeding, bleeding ulcers, cerebral bleeding, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), and other problems.

The group alleges it suffered strokes and heart attacks after taking Plavix, according to the Madison-St.-Clair Record, and alleges the drug can cause heart attacks, internal bleeding, strokes, blood disorders, or death. The complaint was filed May 24 in St. Clair County Circuit Court on behalf of lead plaintiff John Alvarez and 63 others filing on behalf of themselves or their deceased relatives.

The plaintiffs say they, or their deceased family members, started taking Plavix after the defendants’—Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Sanofi Aventis—touted Plavix as being more effective than aspirin for preventing heart attack and strokes and advertising that Plavix, “would give a person even greater cardiovascular benefits than a much less expensive, daily aspirin while being safer and easier on a person’s stomach than aspirin,” according to the complaint, said the Madison-St. Clair Record.

The complaint also states that Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi Aventis allegedly marketed Plavix as safe to a broad array of patients who could receive the same benefits from taking one aspirin daily, wrote the Madison-St. Clair Record.

“Despite the growing body of scientific knowledge that the four-dollar Plavix pill was not much better than four-cent-a-day aspirin, defendants kept promoting it to the public and to physicians, using hyperbole and outright falsification in the process,” the suit states. The plaintiffs also claim that lies and omissions allegedly made by the drug makers have enabled them to sell $3.8 billion worth of Plavix annually, wrote the Madison-St. Clair Record. Because of this and other actions made by the drug makers, the 64 plaintiffs “suffered severe and permanent injuries, physical impairment, disfigurement, physical pain and suffering; lost their enjoyment of life; and incurred medical costs,” according to the complaint. Plaintiffs seek economic and compensatory damages, plus costs, attorney’s fees and other relief the court deems just.

Meanwhile, the national law firm of Parker Waichman LLP filed 18 Plavix bleeding lawsuits on behalf of people who suffered serious gastrointestinal bleeding, allegedly due to their use of the medication. All of the lawsuits were filed on May 30th in the Supreme Court of New York, County of New York. Parker Waichman LLP also filed an additional six Plavix bleeding lawsuits on April 30, 2012, also in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. The complaints allege that the plaintiffs’ use of Plavix caused them to suffer from a number of bleeding side effects, including gastrointestinal hemorrhage, cerebral hemorrhage, and the blood condition TTP.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) first approved Plavix in 1997 for the prevention of heart attack and stroke. In 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study comparing the effects of Plavix versus aspirin and Nexium (esomeprazole) in patients who had ulcer bleeding. The study reported an 8.6% increased risk of recurrent bleeding in patients taking Plavix versus 0.7% among those taking aspirin and esomeprazole (for GERD). That same year, FDA ordered that the Plavix label be updated to include information about reports linking Plavix to TTP, condition marked by small clots through the entire circulatory system. According to the FDA, some reports of TTP in Plavix patients occurred after only a short exposure (less than two weeks).

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