Internal Stir Between Marketing and Safety for Blood Thinning Drug

The generic blood thinning agent used for decades stands to be replaced as new drugs emerge that claim to need less focus on monitoring blood levels in users. As these competing new drugs hit the market, one known as Pradaxa, has experienced a stir amongst its internal factions, those whose interests are in marketing and those whose concerns are safety in usage. While grossing over $2 billion in sales since its approval in 2010 and having been prescribed to some 850,000 patients who have received prescriptions, Pradaxa has been linked to over 1,000 deaths. The concerns of an internal study and the stir within the company it has caused is reported on in this article by Katie Thomas of the New York Times.