NY times article today on dabigatran, or Pradaxa. (see http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/business/study-of-blood-clot-drug-pradaxa-unnerved-its-maker-documents-suggest.html?ref=todayspaper ). i don’t mean to shock anyone, but yet again a drug company massaged the studies, withholding important information because it could affect marketing (sounds like a gabapentin replay?). this time it was the company making dabigratan (marketed as an anticoagulant for atrial fib, which, unlike warfarin, does not require blood tests/monitoring). turns out that there probably is a safe blood level, and those below that level clot and those above it bleed, causing approx 1000 deaths so far. Belies their claims (and their major niche in the market) that no monitoring needed…..
so, you can’t always believe what you read, as well as what you can’t read
geoff