A Hartford Superior Court jury has ruled that Ridgefield”™s Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals failed to provide adequate warnings and instructions for the appropriate use of its anticoagulant Pradaxa, and awarded a New York man $542,465 plus punitive damages.
Eugene Roberto maintained that he suffered life-threatening bleeding two and a half years after the now-81-year-old began taking the drug, used to treat and prevent blood clots and to prevent strokes in people with atrial fibrillation.
Boehringer could ultimately be ordered by Judge Carl Schuman to pay twice the jury”™s amount, or $1,084,930, in addition to awarding Roberto punitive damages.
Boehringer, which is headquartered in Germany, maintains that it is protected from liability by federal law since the Food and Drug Administration has approved the instructions label on Pradaxa.
“Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to patient safety and improving patients”™ lives, and so we are disappointed that the jury in this case reached a different result from the juries in the three prior cases in this same court,” the company said in a statement. “BI will pursue all avenues of appeal.”
