Alabama plaintiff Richard E. is suing Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals for the injuries he allegedly suffered after taking Xarelto. Richard claims that in direct result of taking the medication, he suffered severe Xarelto bleeding injuries that required emergency hospitalization.

Like millions of other Americans, Richard suffers from atrial fibrillation and is at a high risk for stroke. To prevent this, Richard’s physician prescribed him Xarelto on Dec. 17, 2012, after reviewing the defendants’ advertisements of the drug’s efficiency.

According to the Xarelto bleeding lawsuit, Richard followed all instructions provided by his physician and took heed of the drug’s warning label. Initially, he responded well to Xarelto for his treatment therapy, but quickly faced problems soon after starting the drug. A few weeks into his prescription, he allegedly experienced one of the drug’s side effects and suffered a Xarelto bleeding event.

On Jan. 7, 2013, Richard suffered a brain bleed injury and was immediately hospitalized. Upon his initial arrival, his bleeding injuries reportedly became worse which resulted in him falling into a coma for approximately two weeks. After awakening, he was transferred into the hospital’s rehabilitation wing for one month where he had to relearn how to walk and feed himself.

While Richard was eventually discharged from the hospital, he still reportedly suffered from vision deficit from the aftermath of his Xarelto bleeding injury. Prior to taking Xarelto, Richard had no history of bleeding injuries, nor was he suffering from any kind of medical condition that would have caused him to suffer this adverse event. At no point before or after his prescription was Richard aware of the possibility of internal bleeding events, or any other Xarelto side effects.

As mentioned before, Bayer and Janssen had advertised Xarelto to be overtly superior to any other anticoagulant on the market, promising fast treatment and minimal dose management. However, the defendants failed to mention that Xarelto lacked a stopping agent in the case of bleeding event like that of Richard’s. The Xarelto bleeding lawsuit further alleges that Richard’s Xarelto bleeding was an avoidable injury and that he never would have taken Xarelto if he had known about the possibility of Xarelto bleeding.

Richard is suing Janssen and Bayer Pharmaceuticals for being allegedly responsible for manufacturing, selling, distributing, and marketing a dangerous drug. The charges include negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

Overview of Xarelto Complications

Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Bayer Pharmaceuticals released Xarelto as a joint venture, in order to break into the lucrative anticoagulant market, after seeing the initial success of Pradaxa. Xarelto was approved by the FDA in 2011, a year after Pradaxa’s approval in 2010, and was meant to prevent stroke in patients who had recently come out of knee surgery or were suffering from atrial fibrillation. The timing of Xarelto’s release is interesting to note, because its rise to popularity came at a time when Pradaxa was facing extreme scrutiny for adverse bleeding events. Despite having similar pharmaceutical makeup to Pradaxa, Janssen and Bayer allegedly continued to promote Xarelto with the intent of dominating the anticoagulant market.

However, Xarelto fell from glory after it was discovered that it had the same design defects as Pradaxa. As mentioned before, Xarelto has no stopping agent in the case of a bleeding injury, which could be fatal for patients. Medical experts state that while Xarelto and the other new generation anticoagulants may be faster and more convenient than the original anticoagulant, Warfarin, they do not have as many safety features. In the case of a Warfarin bleeding injury, all the patients have to do is apply vitamin K to stop the event. Additionally, Warfarin patients have to undergo frequent doctor appointments to monitor and adjust the dosage of the medication.

Medical experts state that if Xarelto and Pradaxa patients would have been required to go through monitored dose adjustments, then many bleeding injuries could have been avoided. Furthermore, Janssen and Bayer would also have been able to avoid facing bleeding lawsuits from plaintiffs who were allegedly injured by the drug.

This Xarelto lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-00183-EEF-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division.