Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) and Sanofi were accused in a lawsuit by Hawaii of failing to disclose that the blood-thinning drug Plavix has little effect on 30 percent of the population and puts patients at risk for gastrointestinal bleeding.
From 38 percent to 79 percent of Pacific-Islanders and 40 percent to 50 percent of East Asians may respond poorly to Plavix because of a genetic predisposition to inadequately metabolize the drug, Hawaii Attorney General David Louie said in an e-mailed statement. The companies failed to disclose the information to protect their profit from Plavix prescriptions, he said in a complaint today in state court in Honolulu.
