An increased number of Xarelto lawsuits have developed recently, bringing the total number of  Xarelto lawsuits to over 13,000.
Plaintiffs allege Xarelto’s manufacturers failed to properly warn them about the risks of bleeding associated with the anticoagulant drug.
In just a few years, the group of Xarelto lawsuits has grown into a massive complex litigation coordinated by a single federal court.
The Xarelto multidistrict litigation, or MDL, was set up in December 2014 by an order from the federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
That order consolidated 21 separate Xarelto lawsuits into a single action, to be overseen by U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans.
In the two years since that order, thousands of plaintiffs have joined the fray. As of November 2016 it has now showed there were over 13,000 individual Xarelto lawsuits filed in the MDL.
Plaintiffs in these claims are generally patients who suffered from severe bleeding injuries after taking Xarelto. Many plaintiffs report suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding or intracranial hemorrhage.
Some of the alleged injuries were severe enough to be life-threatening. In cases where patients’ Xarelto injuries turned out to be fatal, relatives have brought legal claims for wrongful death and other claims on behalf of the late patient’s estate.
Xarelto is an anticoagulant medication. It’s frequently used to help reduce the risk of stroke that patients with atrial fibrillation must live with. It is also used to treat clot-related injuries like pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis, and to prevent those conditions from coming back once they’ve already occurred.
Inherent in the use of any anticoagulant is a risk that the patient will suffer from excessive bleeding. By impairing the blood’s natural ability to clot, these drugs may cause any bleeding injury that occurs to result in much more bleeding than normal.
Xarelto is one of a group of new oral anticoagulants that were developed as an alternative to warfarin, a much older drug that had been the anticoagulant of choice for decades.
These new drugs were designed to have certain advantages over warfarin, such as no need for dietary restrictions or constant blood testing.
But unlike warfarin, Xarelto was released into the market with no available antidote. To date, there is no drug available that can reverse Xarelto’s anticoagulant effect in case of emergency.
Plaintiffs in the Xarelto MDL often take issue with the lack of an antidote. Some cite it as evidence that Xarelto is a defective and dangerous product. Others argue that the lack of an antidote is just one of many other dangers that manufacturers Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Bayer failed to adequately warn patients about.
Have you or a loved one been affected by Xarelto? Contact us today. Call us at 601-948-8005 to speak to an attorney about your case. You can also fill out the contact form on our website or utilize our live chat here on the website. You can also go to our Xarelto website to learn more.
