Pradaxa is the first anticoagulant (blood-thinner) FDA approved in the United States in more than 50 years but will its cost prevent patients from taking it? Lets start by answering what is Pradaxa? Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) is a blood-thinning medicine used to reduce the risk of stroke and blood clots in people with atrial fibrillation not caused by a failing heart valve problem.
Patients with atrial fibrillation have an irregular rapid beating heart rate. This irregular rapid beating heart rate is not capable to pump the blood through the heart and out to the body like a normal heart can. This can cause blood pools in the heart which can lead to forming clots. These clots can travel to the heart, lungs, and brain which can lead to a stroke. This is the reason why it’s important to prevent the clots from forming by correcting the irregular heart rhythm and by minimizing the blood’s ability to form dangerous clots.
This is where Pradaxa can help you. Pradaxa is a type of blood-thinning medicine known as a direct thrombin inhibitor and thrombin is the blood’s central clotting agent. Pradaxa works by attaching itself to thrombin molecules in your blood and reduces the ability of the thrombin molecules to cause a clot. Before Pradaxa was made, only Coumadin (Warfarin) was used for this state of the heart. Clinical trials show that Pradaxa is 35% more effective then Coumadin. It has very few interactions with other drugs, you don’t have to be on a dietary restriction and no more blood testing and dose changing.
Important To Know When Taking Pradaxa
As I already said, Pradaxa is a blood-thinning medicine (anticoagulant). This means that this medicine lowers the possibilities of blood clots forming in your body but this also means that when you use this drug there is a higher risk of bleeding, which can sometimes be very serious and can lead to death. While you take Pradaxa you may bruise easily and it may take more time for your bleeding to stop. You may also have a higher risk of bleeding if you are 75 years old or older, if you have kidney problems, stomach or intestinal bleeding that is recent or keeps coming back or if you have stomach ulcer.
Yes, I know that this might look a little scary to you but every drug has certain side effects and the important thing is to only take the dose that your doctor prescribed. Do not stop taking Pradaxa without talking to your doctor first. If you stop taking this medicine on your own this may increase your risk of a stroke. You can take it with or without food. In case you miss a dose, take it as soon as possible and if your next dose is less than 6 hours away then skip it. Under no circumstances take two doses of Pradaxa at the same time.
Only your doctor will decide how long you should take it. The FDA has approved dosing in capsule forms of 75mg and 150mg twice a day. Patients who need to take higher doses of 150mg per day need to be fully informed of the possible complications before switching from Coumadin to an easier life with Pradaxa.
The first Coumadin alternative for atrial fibrillation became available last year and many patients have been anxiously waiting for the price of this drug. With the initial price established, the out-of-pocket pradaxa cost is $250 a month. Although Pradaxa prevents more strokes than Coumadin, has no interactions with food (not even spinach) and requires no monitoring, many senior citizens could not accept paying $250 a month compared to Coumadin (Warfarin) which cost $4 per month. If your health insurance decides to pay for your medication the price can be $30 – $50 a month, which is a much better price, you certainly agree with me.
It is generally reported that Coumadin is not a very popular drug but it has been around for 50 years and the doctors and even patients are accustomed to using it. Although it is a difficult drug for physicians and patients to manage, and it has a great impact on quality of life for patients. Patients don’t have to have their international normalized ratio (INR) checked several times a year, maybe every other week. They don’t have to be as careful with what they eat or what other medicines they use.
If Pradaxa continues to show its improved lifestyle value with no hidden serious side effects, patients will be the winners in the end. Hopefully over time competitors will appear and prices will be driven into an affordable range for the growing US atrial fibrillation patient population. It’s an enormous market. More than two million Americans have atrial fibrillation that puts them at high risk of arterial blood clots which is the cause of most strokes. More than 100,000 strokes a year are caused by a-fib.
And when is an $8-a-day drug a bargain compared with one that costs just 50cents? It is when the cheaper drug requires lots of testing and constant adjusting of the dose to make sure there’s enough of it in the bloodstream to prevent clots but not so much as to hurt a patient ? and the higher-priced drug doesn’t, its always when the cost of medication its more impotent then human life.