A California resident has recently filed a lawsuit against Janssen Research & Development LLC and Johnson and Johnson Research & Development LLC  over personal injuries allegedly caused by Xarelto.

Plaintiff Stanley N., was allegedly prescribed Xarelto to treat his atrial fibrillation condition.

After using Xarelto, Stanley underwent a life-threatening adverse event involving excessive Xarelto bleeding, physical pain, and mental anguish.

Stanley filed this Xarelto bleeding lawsuit seeking damages for his hospitalization and medical treatment, as well as other forms of relief.

Multiple different companies were involved in the research, testing, developing, and manufacturing of Xarelto, and are included in the plaintiff’s allegations against the drug.

Xarelto (rivaroxaban), an anticoagulant or prescription blood thinner produced by Bayer Healthcare, is currently facing approximately 1,200 Xarelto lawsuits filed on behalf of patients who after taking Xarelto allegedly experienced gastrointestinal bleeding, hemorrhaging, or other adverse events.

Xarelto is a relatively new drug, introduced in 2011 to replace Coumadin (generic name warfarin) on the market. Xarelto is designed to help at risk individuals for strokes, systemic embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or pulmonary embolism by reducing potential for blood clotting. Unlike warfarin, Xarelto does not have an antidote available to reverse or reduce its sometimes dangerous effects.

Xarelto was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2011 for the preventive treatment of DVT and PE, and later that year also received FDA approval to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

Studies conducted in clinical trials prior to the 2011 FDA approval of Xarelto, known as the “RECORD” studies, showed that rivaroxaban was superior to its competitor enoxaparin for preventing disease after total knee and hip arthroplasty. However, the RECORD studies also showed a greater risk of bleeding with Xarelto.

Another study showed that Xarelto was associated with a higher risk of bleeding from gastrointestinal sites than was its competitor.

The Xarelto bleeding lawsuit alleges that the defendants used the results of these and similar studies to add to their marketing campaign materials, and considered them as completely positive results. However, these promotional materials failed to show the studies’ findings of increased risk of the Xarelto bleeding concerns through these studies.

Xarelto has quickly become one of the top selling medications in the United States. By the end of 2013, approximately 1 million Xarelto prescriptions had been written in the U.S., though the drug was only approved for the market in 2011.

One of Xarelto’s marketed advantages in the lack of necessity for regular blood monitoring, which is required for users of warfarin, a competitor. Allegations from this Xarelto lawsuit and other like it indicate that Xarelto would be safer if combined with regular blood monitoring.

In this Xarelto bleeding lawsuit, the plaintiff claims that the drug manufacturers did not adequately warn about the drug’s potentially damaging side effects on their packaging, in their advertising, or to the medical community as a whole.

Robinson filed this Xarelto bleeding lawsuit on multiple counts, including strict liability, breach of implied warranty, failure to warn, negligence, fraud, and more.

If you or someone you know has experienced Xarelto side effects such as Xarelto bleeding, you may be able to join a class action lawsuit.

The Xarelto Bleeding Lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-03713-EEF-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.