USFDA approves Praxbind, the first reversal agent for the anticoagulant Pradaxa

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dabigatran plasma concentration) that lasted for a period of at least 24 hours. In this study, the most common side effect from use of Praxbind was headache.

Another trial included 123 patients taking Pradaxa who received Praxbind due to uncontrolled bleeding or because they required emergency surgery. In this ongoing trial, based on laboratory testing, the anticoagulant effect of Pradaxa was fully reversed in 89 percent of patients within four hours of receiving Praxbind. In this patient trial, the most common side effects were low potassium (hypokalemia), confusion, constipation, fever and pneumonia.

Reversing the effect of Pradaxa exposes patients to the risk of blood clots and stroke from their underlying disease (such as atrial fibrillation). The Praxbind labeling recommends patients resume their anticoagulant therapy as soon as medically appropriate, as determined by their health care provider.

Praxbind is approved under the FDA’s accelerated approval program, which allows the agency to approve drugs for serious conditions that fill an unmet medical need based on an effect on a surrogate or an intermediate clinical endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit to patients. The program is designed to provide patients with earlier access to promising new drugs, but the company will be required to submit additional clinical information after approval to confirm the drug’s clinical benefit.

Praxbind and Pradaxa are both marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim of Ridgefield, Connecticut.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.