Xarelto Lawsuits

The pharmaceutical anticoagulant Xarelto® (Rivaroxaban) was approved first by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2011. The drug has been marketed by Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals as well as Bayer Corporation. This prescription medicine has three principal uses which includes reducing the risk of blood clots and stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation; an active ingredient to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism and also to reduce the risk of blood clots in patients who would be undergoing knee or hip replacement surgeries. Essentially, Xarelto is a blood thinner.

One of the principal problems in addition to the dangerous side effects and immediate health risks is the fact the thinning of the blood process that begins with Xarelto use cannot be reversed like other blood thinners used in surgery such as Heparin. Protamine is the medication used by surgeons to reverse the blood thinning started in an aortic valve replacement operation where the patient is placed on heart bypass machine for a period of time, but once the heart is restarted, the blood thinning agent is reversed. Therefore, in an emergency where a patient’s blood has been thinned by use of Xarelto, but because of internal bleeding, for example, the thinning mechanism needs to be reversed, there is no known antidote for Xarelto which makes it all the more dangerous. Most blood thinners are reversed by a component containing Vitamin K. But in the event of an Xarelto using patient suffering from a brain hemorrhage or gastrointestinal bleed or some other bleeding issue, the thinning of the blood cannot be reversed.

Xarelto® is a blood thinner or anticoagulant which is designed to interfere with the normal clotting of blood. The body acts to clot an open wound to prevent excessive bleeding and death. Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood pooling in the heart that can also result in clots. If one of those clots were to travel through the bloodstream brain or lungs, it could be deadly.

There are serious side effects to the use of Xarelto®. When side effects are experienced, individuals and doctors report these events to the FDA. According to the adverse events reporting system that the FDA records, there have been more than 2100 total reports of side effects involving the use of Xarelto®.

The most common side effect of the use of Xarelto® has been reports of pulmonary embolism followed by deep vein thrombosis and gastrointestinal hemorrhaging. In combination in all of the reported side effects, there have been 183 patient deaths associated with the use of Xarelto®. In addition there are reports of patients suffering brain bleeds and other forms of internal bleeding.

Lawsuits involving injury and deaths from using Xarelto are under way in the federal district court in Louisiana’s Eastern District. U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon is currently presiding over those cases. Most of the cases claim, in addition to the serious injuries suffered that the manufacturers and distributors chose not to warn patients and physicians of the serious dangers in using Xarelto as a blood-thinning agent. Judge Fallon is the same judge who directed the Multidistrict Litigation of the lawsuits filed against Merck & Co. over the use of Vioxx. The cases are being handled there, consolidated for discovery purposes under Multidistrict Litigation, which by design streamlines the discovery process.

The Xarelto litigation and the dangers associated with the use of the blood-thinning drug come after the drug Pradaxa, also a blood thinner was found to be linked to more than 500 deaths around the United States, including Illinois. The Pradaxa cases were resolved by settlement in the amount of $650 million.

If you or someone you know has been injured or suffered serious side effects from the use of Xarelto®, you need to contact experienced pharmaceutical litigation lawyers at Kreisman Law Offices. As a patient who has experienced these serious side effects, you may be able to file an injury case, wrongful death case against the pharmaceutical companies that have manufactured, designed and produced this prescription drug.

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling pharmaceutical defect cases for more than 40 years.

With our years of experience in trying and settling pharmaceutical defect cases around the country, Kreisman Law Offices provides the best possible services to our clients. Our service is unmatched. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online.

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