HONOLULU — Hawaii’s attorney general is suing manufacturers of a widely prescribed blood-thinner he says a significant portion of the state’s population has difficulty metabolizing.
Attorney General David Louie filed a lawsuit Wednesday against manufacturers and distributors of Plavix, marketed to work similarly to aspirin to prevent a stroke or heart attack. The suit names Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis as defendants. A Bristol-Meyers representative referred The Associated Press to a customer relations email address. Sanofi-Aventis representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
Louie says manufacturers didn’t disclose that Plavix would have no or diminished effect on people of East Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry. He says the drug puts them at risk for gastrointestinal bleeding and other complications.
He says he’s not aware of any deaths as a result.