As we have previously reported, the makers of Plavix®, Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb, have been fined for engaging in anti-competitive behavior related to the sale and marketing of the medication. Plavix® is a blood thinner prescribed to prevent heart attacks, strokes and blood clotting. However, the users of Plavix® have alleged various forms of severe side-effects. Reportedly, these side-effects include: gastrointestinal bleeding, cerebral bleeding, bleeding ulcers, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP), heart attack, stroke and death.

Plavix® is the second most commonly prescribed drug on the U.S. market to prevent heart attacks and stroke.  The medication, known as a “clopidogrel,” is a blood thinner that belongs to a category of drugs called antiplatelets. The drug works to prevent blood clots.

Hawaii Attorney General David Louie recently filed a lawsuit against Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis alleging unfair and deceptive marketing of the blood-thinning drug to Hawaii consumers. The suit alleges that the manufacturers of Plavix®, began deceptively and unfairly labeling and marketing the drug in 1998 by failing to disclose that Plavix® has a diminished or no effect on approximately 30 percent of the population because they metabolize the drug poorly, due to their genetic traits or because they take other drugs that affect the body’s ability to metabolize Plavix®. The drug does not prevent heart attacks, strokes, or vascular death in such patients but instead puts them at considerable risk for gastrointestinal bleeding and other complications.

If you feel you have experienced any side-effects from taking Plavix®, you can contact Stark & Stark and speak to one of the Mass Tort/Pharmaceutical Litigation attorneys, free of charge, who can help assess any claims that you might have against the Plavix® manufacturers.