InterMune Inc. (ITMN)

[WID]

Here is what I posted on the other message board:

Boehringer Kept Pradaxa Analysis From FDA, Records Show

Bad practice!

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH didn’t disclose a data analysis to U.S. regulators that indicated the blood-thinner Pradaxa may have caused more fatal bleeding after it was cleared for sale than the drug did in a study used to win approval, unsealed court filings show.

Boehringer gave U.S. regulators one analysis of data gathered after the drug’s October 2010 approval that showed the number of people who died from bleeding was less than expected, according to internal documents made public in lawsuits over the product. The company didn’t share a second analysis showing a higher death rate, the documents show.

The Food and Drug Administration was reviewing the bleeding as part of a safety check spurred by results seen in adverse incident reports sent to the agency. Andreas Clemens, an executive who oversees Pradaxa, acknowledged the Ingelheim, Germany-based company shared only one of the analyses and said he couldn’t say why, according to the unsealed court filings.

“Having run an analysis in several ways, there is no good reason not to disclose all the results,” said Harlan Krumholz, a Yale University cardiologist in New Haven, Connecticut, who is leading an effort to get companies and researchers to share their findings fully.

Boehringer gave the FDA the underlying data and provided an analysis using what the drugmaker considered to be the most appropriate comparison, said Marjorie Moeling, a company spokeswoman, in an e-mailed response to questions. “The company is completely confident that all of the facts will show that Boehringer Ingelheim acted appropriately and responsibly.”

2,000 Lawsuits

A company filing this month said Boehringer faces more than 2,000 suits involving Pradaxa, a treatment used to prevent strokes in patients who suffer from atrial fibrillation, a heart-rhythm disorder. Regulators cleared the drug, which generated $1.4 billion in 2012 sales, as the first alternative to warfarin, a product sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. under the brand name Coumadin that’s been used for 50 years to avert strokes caused by blood clots.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-25/boehringer-kept-pradaxa-analysis-from-fda-records-show.html