Study of Drug for Blood Clots Caused a Stir, Records Show

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Documents show that some of Pradaxa’s employees openly fretted about the marketing implications of the study. 

The makers of the blood-thinning drug Pradaxa were so worried that an internal research paper would damage drug sales that some employees not only pressured the author to revise it, but suggested it should be quashed altogether, according to newly unsealed legal documents.

Since its approval in 2010, the drug, which can cause fatal bleeding, has brought in more than $2 billion in sales in the United States, according to the research firm IMS Health.

It has been prescribed to 850,000 patients, but has also been linked to more than 1,000 deaths.

Many of the documents released by Chief Judge David R. Herndon of the United States District Court in East St. Louis, which included emails, memos and internal presentations, centered on whether a coming research paper would undercut one of Pradaxa’s main selling points: that it does not require regular blood tests to ensure it is working.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/business/study-of-blood-clot-drug-pradaxa-unnerved-its-maker-documents-suggest.html?ref=businessLaunch media viewerMany of the documents released by Chief Judge David R. Herndon of the United States District Court in East St. Louis, which included emails, memos and internal presentations, centered on whether a coming research paper would undercut one of Pradaxa’s main selling points: that it does not require regular blood tests to ensure it is working.