The alert from the medical biologists in the letter they have just sent to the Minister of Health is final. They claim that “ the new oral anticoagulants (NACO) are the “new Mediator” and that France is close to a new medical scandal “.
In their sights, Pradaxa, an oral anticoagulant manufactured by the German laboratory Boehringer Ingelheim, which is starting to make a lot of talk in Germany and the Benelux, because it would cause internal bleeding sometimes fatal. Last week, the German laboratory confirmed that 256 bleeding deaths worldwide were potentially attributable to Pradaxa, since its launch in 2008.
Newer oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are medicines that prevent blood clots from forming in the blood vessels. They are prescribed in case of phlebitis, stroke or in certain people who suffer from heart rhythm disturbances. NACOs were developed and marketed from 2008 in order to offer the same benefit (avoid the formation of blood clots) as older generation anticoagulants (antivitamin K or AVK), while allowing more freedom to prescribers. and patients, because they do not (theoretically) require mandatory biological monitoring, unlike older drugs.
However, the medical biologists recall that “the prescription of the NOACs cause the same serious side effects (severe hemorrhages, even fatal) as the AVK, with however a difference of size: there is no antidote allowing, to neutralize some. the effect in case of bleeding ”.
In 2012, among the 100,000 patients undergoing anticoagulant treatment, 57% were prescribed a first-line NOAC. And 35,000 patients were prescribed NOACs instead of their old treatment with VKA.
The medical biologists also remind the Minister of Health that “ the prescription of NACOs is extremely costly for national solidarity. The monthly cost of treatment with NACO is 76 euros, while that of VKA, including biological monitoring, is on average 12.50 euros. “.
The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), for its part, communicated information intended for the health professionals concerned (doctors, pharmacists and hospital staff). She reminded them that “the drugs Eliquis (apixaban), Pradaxa (dabigatran), Xarelto (rivaroxaban) are new oral anticoagulants which, unlike vitamin K antagonists, do not require biological monitoring. However, their use can be associated, as with any anticoagulant, with the occurrence of hemorrhagic complications, sometimes serious. “.
