Plaintiff William H., an Illinois resident, recently filed a Xarelto lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Bayer Corporation. William’s lawsuit is one of the many Xarelto lawsuits being filed across the nation against these pharmaceutical companies.

William began taking Xarelto on June 4, 2013. The plaintiff was prescribed Xarelto as treatment for pulmonary embolism, a condition where one or more of a person’s pulmonary arteries become blocked, usually by blood clots traveling to the lungs from the legs. After a week of taking the blood thinning medication William began coughing up blood suffered uncontrolled bleeding which required him to be hospitalized, the Xarelto lawsuit claims.

According to the facts alleged in William’s Xarelto lawsuit, clinical studies performed on the drug showed that although Xarelto or rivaroxaban is superior to other blood thinning drugs in its ability to prevent blood clots, there is a greater chance of bleeding associated with taking Xarelto. And while many other anticoagulants, such as warfarin, have antidotes to reverse or halt uncontrolled bleeding complications, no such antidote exists for Xarelto side effects.

William’s Xarelto lawsuit alleges that, the defendants spent huge sums of money advertising Xarelto, with over $11,000,000 spent on advertising in 2013 alone. By the end of 2013, over 1 million prescriptions for Xarelto had been written to patients by their physicians. William claims that the pharmaceutical companies participated in numerous direct advertising campaigns purposefully targeting patients like William, in hopes that these patients would specifically request Xarelto as their blood thinner medication of choice.

On June 6, 2013 the defendants received a notice from the FDA demanding the pharmaceutical companies cease distribution of their current promotional material, declaring the print ads false and misleading because the ads minimized the severe risks associated with Xarelto side effects.

William’s Xarelto lawsuit claims the pharmaceutical companies negligently and/or fraudulently represented to the medical community, Federal Drug Administration, and the general public that Xarelto had been adequately tested and found safe for public use. The Xarelto lawsuit states that had the defendants been forthcoming about the severe side effects caused by Xarelto, the plaintiff and other consumers never would have agreed to use the drug. The Xarelto lawsuit also includes consumer protection claims for breech of warranty, fraud, and strict products liability.

William seeks compensatory damages to cover medical expenses and lost earnings. He is also requesting that punitive damages be brought against the pharmaceutical companies for their alleged fraudulent acts and complete disregard for the safety and welfare of not only William but of the entire general public. With this request William hopes to deter other pharmaceuticals from acting in a similar manner in the future.

Overview of Xarelto Side Effects

Xarelto, also known as rivaroxaban, is one of many blood thinner drugs on the market used to reduce the risk of stroke and blood clots in patients. Hundreds of injuries have been linked to Xarelto side effects.

In 2012, Xarelto, along with two other blood thinning drugs, Coumadin and Pradaxa, accounted for 1,734 incident reports to the FDA, 233 of which included a patient death.

Side effects of Xarelto include uncontrollable internal bleeding and hemorrhage. In younger patients Xarelto actually appears to increase the risk of severe blood clots when taken as an anticoagulant after hip or knee replacement surgery.

William’s Xarelto lawsuit is Case No. 14-988-NJR-PMF, filed in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois.