Science! Xarelto Plaintiffs Looking to Science Day in June

New Orleans, LAThis is the time of year when students put the finishing touches on their science experiments, hoping for inclusion into a bigger competition. To that end, litigants and lawyers embroiled in lawsuits over Xarelto Bleeding Complications are looking to June as the next date on the Xarelto Lawsuit Calendar.

The so-called Xarelto “Science Day” is coming up on June 11, and it’s an opportunity for attorneys to apprise the Court as to scientific and medical issues relevant to plaintiff claims. The session, mandated through an order that was brought down earlier this month, relates to federal multidistrict litigation (In Re: Xarelto Products Liability Litigation, No. 2592).

Not to suggest there will be desks set up with Bristol board drawings and other displays akin to the science displays of our youth. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana will be properly sporting the guise of a legal hall rather than a classroom. But it’s the thought that counts. And with the Xarelto Bleeding Issue having fostered so many lawsuits, science is an important factor.

Much like manufacturing and technology, the pharmaceutical industry is constantly evolving, fueled by a medical community and patient constituency always on the hunt for newer, better, faster, more effective and more convenient drugs.

Xarelto is certainly newer than the decades-old Coumadin (warfarin). But is it better? The jury is still out on that one.

Science will be a big part of any lawsuit dealing with Xarelto Side Effects. That’s because of the differences that separate Xarelto and warfarin. The latter has been the gold standard for some 50 years, in spite of the decades-long obligatory comparisons to rat poison that has dogged warfarin all this time.

There is no question that warfarin, as blood thinner, is effective. But it’s also a lot of work. There are dietary restrictions. There is also constant monitoring needed to ward against hemorrhaging. The unfortunate byproduct of a medication that thins the blood and helps to ward against strokes and other cardiovascular events is blood that fails to effectively clot when a bleed-out occurs. Careful monitoring has been necessary to help prevent and mitigate hemorrhages before they even start.

For years, patients and their doctors have been looking for a better way. Then finally, along comes Xarelto (and prior to it, Pradaxa) - a new-age anticoagulant that is purported not to require the constant monitoring needed to ward against Xarelto Bleeding Complications. Yes, it’s more expensive. But less monitoring translates to a lesser demand on resources - doctors and nurses - with a reduced need for patients to watch their diets and constantly monitor their blood.

Little wonder that patients and their doctors turned to new-age blood thinners like Xarelto in droves.

But there’s a caveat. There always is - and this is where events such as the upcoming Science Day for the Xarelto MDL come in. With Coumadin, a bleed-out that occurs in spite of careful monitoring and dietary restrictions can be lessened or reversed with the immediate administration of vitamin K. It’s a tool in the kit that can turn a dire situation into one that is potentially survivable.

Xarelto doesn’t have that feature - and this is the basis of many a Xarelto lawsuit. Plaintiffs, who have survived a Xarelto Bleed-out, or the estates of those who have been silenced through Xarelto death, claim that they were not made aware that Xarelto can’t be reversed in the same way that the thinning properties of warfarin can with the application of vitamin K.

Xarelto Side Effects plaintiffs allege that the manufacturer of Xarelto failed to provide adequate warnings regarding its association with serious side effects, including internal bleeding, strokes, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. There are also allegations over misleading marketing related to the positioning of Xarelto as being superior to warfarin in spite of the lack of an effective reversing agent.

Thus, Science Day in June is an important day on the Xarelto Lawsuit calendar.

More than 300 Xarelto Bleeding Issue lawsuits are on the books in the federal MDL pipeline in Louisiana, with another 180 lawsuits as part of a mass tort in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (In Re: Xarelto Litigation, Case ID 150102349).