Heart Attack Preventing Drug, Plavix, Poses Continued Risk While Bristol-Myers Squibb Extends the Rights to Others for …

(PRWEB) May 06, 2013

Marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi Pharmaceuticals and currently the second most commonly prescribed drug on the U.S. market, Plavix is used to prevent heart attacks and stroke. Also known as a "clopidogrel," the blood-thinner, Plavix, belongs to a category of drugs called antiplatelets, which are intended to prevent the formation of blood clots within the patient's arteries. Bristol-Myers Squibb has since lost its patent to Plavix, The New York Times reported in a December 2012 article that The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave numerous drug companies the right to sell their own generic, over-the-counter versions of the blood-thinning drug (i).

Advertised as a way to combat and prevent heart attacks and strokes, Bristol-Myers Squibb recommends supplementing Plavix with aspirin. However, according to a recent study undertaken by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Plavix offers no further benefits than any other competing antiplatelet medications and demonstrated that it may actually increases the chance of heart attacks or strokes (ii). Most alarming is that the study, which began in 2003 and was examining the effects of a combination of Plavix and aspirin regime versus solely an aspirin regime, had to be suddenly discontinued because the combination of Plavix and aspirin became linked to increases in bleeding and death of test subjects during trial studies (ii).

John A. Jarcho, M.D, of the New England Journal of Medicine was joined by the Harvard Medical School's Marc A. Pfeffer, M.D., Ph.D., who echoed this holding in concluding that the risks of combining Plavix and aspirin outweigh any potential benefits (iii). While the news of Plavix going generic may mean immediate savings for customers, it also translates into an increased probability that even more consumers and patients may be at risk of developing side effects associated with the drug and its combination with the popular drug aspirin.

If you or someone you know has suffered any of side effects associated with the durg, you may be entitled to compensation. The attorneys at d'Oliveira & Associates are working with the leading dangerous drug lawyers and want you to know that they will work hard to get you the compensation.

For a free legal consultation, call 1-800-992-6878 or visit their website at dmlaw.com.

Sources: (i) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/business/generic-drug-makers-facing-squeeze-on-revenue.html?pagewanted=all (ii) http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/SPS3_antiplatelet_results.htm (iii) http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500368_162-1393091.html

See the original post here:
Heart Attack Preventing Drug, Plavix, Poses Continued Risk While Bristol-Myers Squibb Extends the Rights to Others for ...