French studies show oral anticoagulants do not cause an increased risk of severe hemorrhage despite recent deaths

Four elderly French people who had taken Praxada (dabigatran etexilate), from German family-owned drug major Boehringer Ingelheim, to present strokes died of hemorrhages last year, although studies from France's Agency for the Safety of Health Products (ANSM) and the National Health Insurance Fund for Employees (CNAMTS) have concluded that modern oral anticoagulants are not more dangerous than older treatments like vitamin K antagonists.

The ANSM and CNAMTS studies examined the risks observed in the use of both kinds of treatments. The CNAMT’s study aimed to evaluate the risk of severe hemorrhage among new users of anticoagulants and among new users of vitamin K antagonists, carried out on patients who have not taken any kind of oral anticoagulant in the 90 days prior to treatment. This study, carried out on more than 70,000 patients, showed no raised risk of hemorrhage or arterial thrombosis while taking dabigatran and rivaroxaban against vitamin K antagonists in the first 90 days of treatment.

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