New Orleans, LAIt was in July 2011 that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) as a long-awaited successor to the 50-year-old Coumadin (warfarin), the standard for blood thinning for a half-century. While warfarin is not infallible (no drug is), any litigation involving the latter over its tenure on the market pales in comparison to the 3,000-plus plaintiffs having filed a Xarelto Lawsuit in the five years since Xarelto appeared on the scene.
To that end, the judge overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2592 in the Eastern District of Louisiana) last month selected four bellwether cases that will go to trial a year from now, starting in February 2017.
According to reports, The Honorable Judge Eldon Fallon has scheduled those bellwether Xarelto Bleeding Issue trials for February 6, March 13, April 24 and May 30 of 2017 respectively. Various plaintiffs allege that use of Xarelto fostered Xarelto Bleeding complications due to the lack of an antidote and claims by the manufacturer that Xarelto did not require the kind of stringent monitoring normally undertaken with Coumadin.
For years, doctors and patients had been looking for an easier alternative to Coumadin which, while effective at thinning blood for the prevention of stroke and other cardiovascular issues, required frequent and consistent monitoring of blood and diet in order to prevent bleeding issues. An ace doctors possessed in dealing with an unexpected bleeding issue involving Coumadin was vitamin K which, when administered, quickly reversed the thinning properties of warfarin and thereby reducing potentially serious risks to patients.
Xarelto - as many a Xarelto Side Effects lawsuit will attest - was heralded in 2011 as a breakthrough in blood thinning - a product that served as an effective anticoagulant without the need for strict monitoring that was the bastion of warfarin and the bane of both patient and caregiver alike.
However, consumers were surprised to learn in the face of a serious Xarelto Bleedout that such an antidote previously associated with warfarin, would not work with Xarelto - and, in fact, Rivaroxaban was brought to market without one.
Initially, a typical Xarelto lawsuit vilified the manufacturer for not properly communicating to consumers and the medical community the lack of an antidote, or so it has been alleged. Since then, an increasing number of lawsuits have taken the manufacturer of Xarelto to task for promoting Xarelto as requiring less monitoring than warfarin. Plaintiffs hold that given the lack of an antidote when Xarelto was brought to market, the need for monitoring was even more important - and thus promoting a need for less monitoring may have been irresponsible.
A recent Xarelto Death lawsuit profiled as part of a release appearing on the website of KEYC News 12 (2/16/16) in Mankato, Minnesota, was filed in the Sunshine State by a resident of South Florida who filed her Xarelto Lawsuit on behalf of her late husband (Case No. 9:14-cv-80831). The plaintiff holds that use of Xarelto caused the death of her husband following an uncontrollable Xarelto Bleeding Issue that proved fatal. Doctors were unable to stem the Xarelto Bleedout, and the man died from a subdural hemorrhage. His widow is alleging wrongful death.
Yet another Xarelto lawsuit was recently filed by Norma Jean and Paul Dunbar, Case No. 2:15-xc-06870, and transferred to multidistrict litigation in Louisiana.
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