Most Don’t Know Xarelto Bleedout Can’t Be Reversed

Washington, DCFor some reason, the subject of blood thinners came up at the family dinner table over Christmas. One of our number recently had heart bypass surgery and has been on blood thinners for a number of years. Everybody knows about warfarin (Coumadin), the old standby that’s been around seemingly forever. But then the subject turned to the new-age blood thinners like Xarelto. “The new ones are a lot easier and less hassle than Coumadin,” someone said. “Indeed, they are” this writer replied. “But did you know that in the event of a Xarelto Bleeding Issue, bleeding is a lot harder to stop with Xarelto than Coumadin?”

They didn’t know that. It’s also interesting that within the context of a Xarelto lawsuit, many plaintiffs allege that manufacturers and marketers behind Xarelto have undertaken to hide that fact from consumers, while overstating the effectiveness of Xarelto.

If that’s the allegation, it appears to have worked. The common rap on Xarelto and another new-age blood thinner, Pradaxa, is ease of use involving far less monitoring than Coumadin - up until a few years ago the defacto, go-to anticoagulant for upwards of 50 years. Like Xarelto, there is always a chance of an uncontrollable bleed with Coumadin. Such stringent monitoring of blood and adherence to diet is meant to curb that possibility.

However, Coumadin has always come with a way out - an escape clause, in the form of vitamin K. In the event of a serious bleed, the immediate introduction of vitamin K to the bloodstream served to reverse the anticoagulant properties of Coumadin. It’s a handy antidote, a tool doctors can use to prevent a patient from bleeding to death.

With Xarelto, there is no such tool in the physician’s tool belt. There never was. Xarelto was granted a place at the table without any way to reverse a Xarelto Bleedout when it happens. They’re working on one. But no one, it seems, thought it prudent to have an antidote in the back pocket and ready to go once Xarelto was given the nod by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

So far, there have been at least 65 deaths attributed to Xarelto bleeding complications, according to Bloomberg (12/4/14). Attorneys suggest that number could eventually mushroom into thousands more…

One wonders if Emily Pigg might have had a similar conversation with her family about blood thinners and the ease of Xarelto over Coumadin last year. The woman was prescribed Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) in October 2013 and was on the anticoagulant for just two months before suffering a life-threatening Xarelto bleeding complication last December.

It would be her last Christmas. Emily Pigg died in March 2014. A lawsuit filed on behalf of Pigg in November alleges that the Xarelto bleedout led to the woman’s Xarelto death.

A Xarelto lawsuit alleging serious Xarelto side effects was filed November 4 by plaintiff Suzann Goble.

Coumadin has been around for 50 years or more. Xarelto, just a few. Sometimes new, easy and convenient isn’t necessarily better. Xarelto is manufactured by Bayer, with Johnson & Johnson together with its Janssen unit, owning the US rights. Both pharmaceutical giants are amongst the defendants in the Xarelto lawsuit.

The case is Goble v. Janssen Research & Development et al, Case Number: 1:2014cv06494, filed November 4, 2014 in New York Eastern District Court. Plaintiff is Suzann Goble. Defendants are Janssen Research & Development LLC; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Ortho, LLC; Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Bayer Corporation; Bayer Healthcare LLC; Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson Company.