A new Xarelto lawsuit was recently filed within the Xarelto MDL  joining more than 16,670 other claims that are currently pending under U.S. District Judge Fallon in Louisiana federal court.

Plaintiff Julie R. filed her lawsuit in the Xarelto MDL against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, parent company Johnson & Johnson and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and their related companies responsible for the development and manufacture of Xarelto.

Julie was prescribed Xarelto in August 2014 to treat and/or prevent pulmonary embolism. In June 2015, Julie was admitted to the hospital and was diagnosed with severe vaginal bleeding. She received blood transfusions, additional treatments and was hospitalized for five days. After her hospitalization, Julie’s doctors discontinued the use of Xarelto.

“As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ conduct, Plaintiff has suffered and will continue to suffer harm in damages including severe pain and suffering, past and future medical expenses and other economic and noneconomic damages,” the Xarelto lawsuit states.

Julie has suffered permanent injuries that have diminished her enjoyment of life and that have required lifelong medical treatment, the lawsuit claims.

The complaint goes on to state that the makers of Xarelto engaged in clinical trials that ultimately led to the FDA approval of the drug, and that these trials were flawed in a number of ways. Ultimately, the information that was gained at these trials was not properly shared with physicians and the public, thus leading to the great number of injuries that have been reported from Xarelto use.

Xarelto (rivaroxaban) is an oral anticoagulant medication that is considered part of the new generation oral anticoagulants that have been released onto the market within the last decade.

Xarelto and the other new blood thinners, Eliquis and Pradaxa, were developed to improve upon warfarin, the industry standard blood thinning oral medication used for the last 60 years.

The drug has been approved to treat and prevent deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, blood clots related to major surgeries such as knee implant and hip implant surgeries and is used to treat patients who have atrial fibrillation in order to reduce their risk of stroke and heart attack that may result from their abnormal heart rhythm.

With warfarin, patients had to undergo routine blood monitoring to adjust therapeutic dosing and follow a specific diet in order to avoid foods that would reverse warfarin’s usefulness.

The new medications, including Xarelto, boasted of easier dosing, no need for frequent patient monitoring and did not require patients to change their diet in any way. For doctors and patients alike, these drugs seemed like a great discovery.

However, what the makers of Xarelto failed to adequately disclose, the lawsuit states, is that there is no reversal agent that can stop the bleeding once it starts for patients who take Xarelto.

This has led to tens of thousands of patients reporting bleeding complications, with many complications affecting the gastrointestinal tract and brain, as well as other body locations, such as in Julie’s case.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation approved the Xarelto MDL after numerous lawsuits like Julie’s were filed following alleged Xarelto injury.

The Xarelto MDL seeks to conserve resources as pretrial discovery proceedings. Consolidating the cases into a single court under single judge in the Xarelto MDL can help save time, economic resources and can help avoid conflicting rulings.

Julie has brought a number of counts against the defendants including negligence, strict products liability, breach of express and implied warranties, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment and negligent misrepresentation.

She is seeking general damages, medical and related expenses, pre- and post-judgment interest, consequential damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and any additional relief that the Court may provide.

The Xarelto Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-05660-EEF-MBN and is part of the Xarelto MDL In re: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.