Xarelto Bellwether Lawsuits Moving Forward according to These Timelines

New Orleans, LAIt wasn’t that long ago that the first Xarelto lawsuit was filed in response to a blood thinner that was approved and rushed to market without any meaningful way of stopping a Xarelto bleeding issue were one to occur. This, in stark contrast to the old standby Coumadin (warfarin), which carries a secret weapon in the guise of vitamin K, the infusion of which can rapidly reverse the thinning properties of warfarin and allow blood to clot more easily.

Fast-forward to today, with Xarelto Bleedout lawsuits hovering around 1,700 and climbing - a threefold increase since July. And now various timelines have been issued that will help guide multidistrict litigation going forward, with forthcoming bellwether cases from those consolidated in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

To that end, we are exactly two months away from case selection for the aforementioned bellwether trials, the process for which is scheduled to begin on January 11 of next year. From the myriad of cases now in the pipeline - and those projected to have come forward by the start of the New Year - 40 cases will be shortlisted. Plaintiffs and defendants will choose 10 cases each, with another 20 cases chosen at random.

While it isn’t known how long case selection will actually take, the prescribed window for case selection closes by the first of August, next year.

Things really get going in 2017 with four bellwether trials scheduled within a tight four-month window beginning in March and ending in late May: specifically, as of today the four actual dates are February 6, March 13, April 24 and May 30. While dates are always subject to change, at this juncture those are the four dates.

By then, it is expected that the number of Xarelto lawsuits will be even higher.

As most are aware, Coumadin (warfarin) has and continues to be the gold standard of blood thinners for some 50 years. Warfarin is effective, but requires intensive monitoring of blood and diet to ward against the onset of bleeding issues. This has, over the years, proven labor intensive for both patient and health care provider. The medical community has been looking for an easier alternative for some time.

That alternative finally came a few years ago in Pradaxa, followed closely by Xarelto. The promise of effective blood thinning without the intensive monitoring required of warfarin was the catalyst for an almost universal embrace of both drugs.

What many patients did not realize was that unlike warfarin, which can be reversed in most cases with an infusion of vitamin K, Xarelto was brought to market without a similar reversing agent, or antidote. Thus, Xarelto Bleeding complications and related Xarelto side effects can be serious as doctors have less to work with than the gold standard Coumadin.

The manufacturer of Xarelto continues to work on an antidote. Until that goal is achieved, Xarelto patients face the risk of a Xarelto Bleedout that cannot be as easily reversed as it can with warfarin, risking Xarelto Death in the process.

Plaintiffs having filed a Xarelto lawsuit note that they would not have used Xarelto had they been aware of the lack of an available reversing agent. Plaintiffs also assert that defendants were irresponsible in suggesting Xarelto required less monitoring than warfarin, suggesting instead that increased monitoring is not only necessary, but integral to prevent a Xarelto Bleeding Issue or worse, Xarelto Death.