Xarelto Attorney: Xarelto Patients Should Be Monitored

Dallas, TXLawsuits have been filed against the makers of Xarelto, alleging patients who took the anticoagulant medication suffered uncontrolled bleeding events. Dr. Shezad Malik, founder of the Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm, says a hearing into consolidation of the lawsuits is coming up at the beginning of December.

“There have been a handful of lawsuits filed nationwide, in various jurisdictions, and a motion has been filed to consolidate the lawsuits federally under a multidistrict litigation,” Dr. Malik says. “That hearing will take place the first week in December. It is anticipated that the JPML [Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation] will make a decision on which court the multidistrict litigation will end up in. All cases filed federally will be moved to one court, with the plaintiffs and defendants under one roof. This is the same as what happened with Pradaxa litigation.”

As with Pradaxa, the concern about Xarelto is that the anticoagulant medication was marketed as being easier to use than Coumadin, but still came with serious side effects, specifically an increased risk of uncontrolled bleeding effects.

“When you bleed, there is no way to stop the adverse event. When you took Coumadin, they could use vitamin K or plasma infusions if there was too much bleeding. The main selling point for Xarelto was that you could take it once or twice a day as needed and there was no need to monitor blood-thinning levels. On Coumadin, patients needed frequent blood testing to see how thin the blood was and a patient’s levels could vary from week to week. With Xarelto, there were no monthly blood tests.”

The Institute of Safe Medicine Practices, a consumer watchdog organization, keeps track of adverse event reports nationwide. According to Dr. Malik, the organization has noted an increase in serious adverse events - gastrointestinal bleeding and bleeding into the brain - associated with Xarelto. Those side effects were seen with Pradaxa prior to Pradaxa litigation, now that Pradaxa is being used less and Xarelto is being used more, there has been an increase in Xarelto reports.

Patients who have taken Xarelto and developed uncontrolled bleeding events such as brain hemorrhage or gastrointestinal bleeding that required hospitalization or blood transfusions may be eligible to file a lawsuit against Bayer and Johnson & Johnson. Although a motion has been made regarding consolidation of lawsuits, it is not too late to talk to an attorney.

“Xarelto is a billion-dollar blockbuster drug, with more than one million prescriptions per quarter, so it is a popular anticoagulant,” Dr. Malik says. “We allege that Bayer and Johnson & Johnson [joint makers of Xarelto] put a dangerous drug on the market with no antidote and said no monitoring was required. We believe there is a need for patients to be monitored.”