Another lawsuit joins the Xarelto multidistrict litigation (MDL) currently underway in Louisiana federal court, this time filed by a widow who alleges her husband died from a Xarelto lower gastrointestinal bleed.

Plaintiff Venita S. has brought forth the lawsuit against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, parent company Johnson & Johnson and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and their related companies as a personal representative of her late husband William S.

According to the lawsuit, William was prescribed Xarelto by his physician to treat atrial fibrillation and took the medication from August 2012 to July 2014.

In August 2014, William experienced a severe Xarelto lower gastrointestinal bleed that ultimately led to his death, according to the claim.

“As a direct and proximate result of the Defendants’ conduct, [William] has suffered and incurred damages, including medical expenses; the loss of accumulations; and other economic and non-economic damages,” the Xarelto lower gastrointestinal bleed lawsuit claims.

Xarelto (rivaroxaban) is one of several new generation oral anticoagulant drugs that is used to treat atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE) and to prevent the occurrence of DVT in patients who are undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery.

Xarelto was approved for use by the FDA in 2011 and was seen as a groundbreaking replacement for an older anticoagulant drug used for the previous six decades, warfarin (Coumadin).

Xarelto offered benefits over the older drug, such as not requiring patient monitoring by regular blood tests and not limiting a patient’s diet.

Despite its apparent ease of use and convenient dosing, Xarelto lacked an important consideration: it does not have an approved antidote in the case of excessive bleeding like William’s alleged Xarelto lower gastrointestinal bleed.

With warfarin, there was an opportunity to administer reversal agents, like Vitamin K, to the patient to stop the excess bleeding and restore the body’s normal clotting mechanisms. Xarelto has no such antidote.

The lawsuit claims that the manufacturers of Xarelto engaged in a massive direct-to-consumer advertising campaign designed to influence patients to talk to their physicians about using Xarelto, including patients like William.

“In the course of these direct to consumer advertisements, Defendants overstated the efficacy of Xarelto with respect to preventing stroke and systemic embolism, failed to adequately disclose to patients that there is no drug, agent, or means to reverse the anticoagulation effects of Xarelto, and that such a reversibility could have permanently disabling, life-threatening and fatal consequences,” the lawsuit states.

Venita has brought forth several counts against the manufacturers as a result of the alleged Xarelto lower gastrointestinal bleed including negligence, strict products liability, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranties, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and deceit, violation of consumer protection laws and wrongful death.

The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages, economic damages, punitive and/or exemplary damages, prejudgment interest, postjudgment interest, attorneys’ fees and costs and any additional relief deemed proper by the court.

The Xarelto Lower Gastrointestinal Bleed Lawsuit is Case No. 2:16-cv-12999, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Indiana.

The Xarelto MDL is In Re: Xarelto (rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.