Pradaxa Litigation Update: Defendant to Hand Over Document

The federal judge presiding over the Pradaxa multidistrict litigation ordered the maker of the drug to turn over documents that its lawyers used to prepare a witness for a deposition.

Attorneys for Boehringer Ingelheim, the manufacturer of Pradaxa, argued that the documents in question were protected by the attorney work product doctrine, which blocks from discovery certain materials prepared in anticipation of litigation.

Boehringer Ingelheim is facing hundreds of lawsuits.

Judge David Herndon of the United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois, rejected these arguments and ruled that the company’s position was disingenuous because the work product doctrine clearly did not apply.

Boehringer Ingelheim is facing hundreds of lawsuits alleging that it failed to adequately disclose to patients the lack of an effective method to reverse the anticoagulative effects of the drug, putting users at risk for serious and life-threatening internal bleeding.