Blood Thinners Under Fire for Alleged Failure to Warn

Anaheim, CAA new Xarelto lawsuit has been filed alleging Xarelto bleeding complications put patients at risk of serious health problems. In the past month, in fact, almost 100 lawsuits have been added to Xarelto multidistrict litigation, which consolidates Xarelto side effects lawsuits for pre-trial proceedings.

According to court documents, as of April 15, 2015, there were 402 lawsuits consolidated in MDL 2592 before US District Judge Eldon E. Fallon in the Eastern District of Louisiana. That’s up from 311 lawsuits consolidated by mid-March and up dramatically from the 33 lawsuits that sat in the MDL as of December 15, 2014. And although those numbers don’t quite match Pradaxa’s litigation numbers, there is still plenty of time for more lawsuits to be added.

Lawsuits like Mary Walker’s (Mary Walker et al. v. Janssen Research & Development et al, case number 2:15-cv-01971), which alleges that the defendants “fervently marketed Xarelto using print advertisements, online marketing on their website, and video advertisements with regard to the accuracy and repercussions of their misleading advertising in favor of increasing sales.”

The lawsuit claims that in the first eight months of 2013 there were 968 suspected adverse events linked to Xarelto, “including 72 cases of death” in Germany. In 2012, The Institute for Safe Medication Practices reportedly identified 356 reports of serious or fatal injury linked to rivaroxaban (the generic version of Xarelto). Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a study showed that rivaroxaban was no worse than warfarin - an older anticoagulant - but that warfarin was not properly used.

It further claims that the defendants did not warn about the lack of a Xarelto antidote.

Among the injuries alleged in the lawsuit were those to Mary Walker, who began her Xarelto prescription in November 2014 and shortly afterwards was hospitalized for rectal bleeding, suffering serious injuries. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege they suffered severe gastrointestinal bleeding and were hospitalized as a result.

Xarelto and other new anticoagulants were marketed as being superior to warfarin because they do not require daily blood monitoring. Unlike warfarin, however, the new anticoagulants do not currently have an approved antidote, meaning patients are at risk of suffering an uncontrolled bleeding event.