A New York man has joined the multidistrict litigation against manufacturers of the blood thinner medication Xarelto after allegedly suffering from a gastrointestinal bleed.

Plaintiff Michael B. filed the Xarelto lawsuit over claims that the anticoagulant that he had only been taking for six months was the cause of his gastrointestinal bleeding event.

Michael alleges that pharmaceutical giants Bayer Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson as well as its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals failed to include a “boxed warning” about the serious bleeding complications associated with Xarelto. He also claims that the original U.S. Xarelto label did not contain a warning that should a bleeding event occur, there was no reversal agent available.

The Xarelto bleeding lawsuit states that by not including this information to the public, the manufacturers risked the lives of consumers.

“Defendants made conscious decisions not to redesign, re-label, warn or inform the unsuspecting consuming public,” the Xarelto lawsuit states.

Michael alleges that the “outrageous conduct” of Xarelto manufacturers should permit that punitive damages be awarded.

The “Xarelto Difference”

Xarelto was introduced on the U.S. market in 2011 as part of a new class of drugs meant to replace the traditional blood thinner Warfarin (coumadin). Xarelto manufacturers spent millions promoting the new anticoagulant, who’s primary purpose was to reduce the risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation patients and is often prescribed to patients to prevent blood clots after hip or knee surgery.

As part of the marketing of Xarelto, manufacturers promoted the medication as a single, daily dose pill that does not require blood testing or a restricted diet. They labeled this distinction between the old and new blood thinner as the “Xarelto Difference.”

According to the Xarelto lawsuit, manufacturers over-marketed the new medication by widely publicizing through direct-to-consumer advertisements about the safety and efficacy of the blood thinner.

The Xarelto bleeding lawsuit claims that while promoting the anticoagulant, manufacturers “failed to disclose the need for dose adjustments, failed to disclose the need for blood monitoring, and failed to adequately disclose to patients that there is no drug, agent, or means to reverse the anticoagulation effects of Xarelto, and, that such irreversibility could have permanently disabling, life-threatening and fatal consequences.”

Xarelto Bleeding Lawsuits

While the new blood thinner has only been on the U.S. market for a few short years, it has already been named in thousands of FDA adverse event reports, hundreds of which claim the drug caused a hemorrhage-related death.

Last March, an order was issued that made it unnecessary for plaintiffs to have to file a Xarelto lawsuit into a local district to wait to be transferred to the Xarelto MDL centralized in Louisiana.

Those who lost a loved one due to Xarelto bleeding side effects may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit. 

The Xarelto Lawsuit is In re: Xarelto Products Liability Litigation MDL No. 2592 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.