Medicinal mishap: Dabigatran – a new safe drug to replace an old poison?

Editor, – Boehringer Ingelheim suggests an alternative title for the feature about dabigatran (Aust Prescr 2012;35:64-5) – Medicinal mishap: Always read the product information before prescribing.

Given the case history of the elderly woman with nephropathy (creatinine clearance (CrCl) 29 mL/min), she should clearly not have been prescribed dabigatran. This serves to reinforce the need for appropriate patient selection consistent with the approved product information which includes the contraindication ‘severe renal impairment (CrCl<30 mL/min)’.

Prescribers should always read the product information before prescribing, regardless of whether a drug is new or old. As the sponsor for dabigatran, we are concerned the authors of this article did not include the dabigatran product information as a reference. The product information provides information pertinent to many of the issues raised in this case history.

On presentation to hospital, the patient was reported as having an INR of 2.5. As the authors mention later in the article, interpretation of an INR 2–3 weeks after starting dabigatran is meaningless. This information is provided in the product information. Further, and very importantly, when switching from warfarin to dabigatran, prescribers should only commence dabigatran once the INR is under 2. It is not clear whether this was confirmed in this clinical scenario.

The authors quote the Queensland Health guidelines for managing patients on dabigatran who present to hospital.¹ These recommendations appear broadly consistent with the product information for dabigatran. Interventions recommended for the reversal of moderate-to-severe or life-threatening bleeding by the Queensland Health document and the product information include platelets, oral charcoal, recombinant factor VIIa, activated prothrombin complex concentrates (for example, factor eight inhibitor bypassing activity FEIBA), haemodialysis and charcoal haemofiltration. These were not used in this case.

Lastly, the authors incorrectly assert ‘Currently, no assay of dabigatran’s effect on coagulation is available’. A direct thrombin inhibitor assay (Hemoclot) is commercially available in Australia for assessing the anticoagulant activity of dabigatran.²

Guy Gavagna
Medical affairs manager
Boehringer Ingelheim
North Ryde, NSW

Joel Iedema, one of the authors of the medicinal mishap, comments:

These issues further reinforce the key message of our article that the real-world risk of any medicine is often not fully appreciated until considerable postmarketing experience has been gained. Regrettably, real-world risk does include inappropriately prescribed medication. Postmarketing surveillance may identify other patient groups at increased risk of adverse events, which would only reinforce the need for careful patient selection.⁷