The Pradaxa lawsuits are getting more and more complicated.
A federal judge in Illinois has unsealed dozens of documents previously marked "confidential" in the multidistrict litigation against Boehringer Ingelheim International, makers of the blood thinner Pradaxa. The defendants originally claimed that these documents contained "nonpublic internal communications," as well as "sensitive proprietary information" which could harm the company if made public.
Judge Herndon, however, disagreed. His reasoning? If BII and its unit Boehringer Ingelheim Prhamaceuticals Inc. wanted those documents protected, they had to prove why they needed protection in the first place. As the company failed to do so, there was no longer any reason to keep those documents confidential.
This isn't the first time BII and BIP have been in trouble regarding evidence. On December 9th, 2013, Judge Herndon issued fines of almost a million dollars – $931,500, to be exact – because the company failed to "preserve" evidence, including text messages (both personal and professional) written and shared on employee cellphones.
To date, nearly 2,000 lawsuits have been filed against the makers of Pradaxa in the Southern District of Ohio, thus necessitating a need for an MDL.