Alabama plaintiff Timothy W. is suing Janssen and Bayer Pharmaceuticals for the wrongful death of his mother, Thelma B., which he alleges was caused by Xarelto bleeding complications.

Timothy claims in the Xarelto lawsuit that his mother died as a direct result of the drug’s design defects and lack of bleeding antidote, and that Xarelto manufacturers withheld this information to preserve the product’s market value.

Timothy’s mother was prescribed Xarelto in early December 2012 and passed away shortly after on Dec. 19, 2012. According to the Xarelto lawsuit, Thelma developed Xarelto internal bleeding injuries and later died from this event. Due to the lack of a Xarelto bleeding antidote, she could not be saved despite hospital intervention and other medical care.

Like many patients across the country, Timothy’s mother had been prescribed Xarelto to prevent stroke. Xarelto had proven to be a successful blood-thinner, so much that it had become the most popular anticoagulant soon after its release in 2011. Unfortunately, many patients discovered a fatal internal bleeding Xarelto side effect when using the drug.

After discovering that Xarelto lacked a bleeding antidote, Timothy filed a wrongful death Xarelto lawsuit. In his lawsuit, he claims that Xarelto is an unreasonably dangerous drug that was unsafe for his mother as well as other patients to use. Furthermore, Bayer and Janssen should have taken stronger precautionary measures against this Xarelto complication, and should have warned their consumers that there was no bleeding antidote despite the risk, he contends.

The plaintiff’s lawyers state that Janssen and Bayer had the civil responsibility to warn Thelma and other Xarelto patients of all the drug’s side effects, because they rely on the accuracy of the given information. Timothy insists that his mother never would have taken Xarelto if she had known about the possibility of uncontrollable internal bleeding.

The Xarelto Bleeding lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-00120-EEF-MBN, in the U.S District of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Overview of Xarelto Complications

Xarelto was released into the American market in 2011 as a new generation anticoagulants.

Like its predecessor Pradaxa, Xarelto is often prescribed to atrial fibrillation patients or other patients who are at high risk for stroke. Additionally, Xarelto and Pradaxa share another benefit that makes them different from the original blood-thinner, Warfarin, which is that they do not require frequent blood monitoring or dose adjustments. This makes Xarelto a more hassle-free choice compared to Warfarin, which requires just the opposite.

However, medical experts state that Warfarin is ultimately safer than the new generation anticoagulants because of its demanding blood monitoring. Warfarin also has a reversal agent in the case of bleeding injuries, which Xarelto and the other new anticoagulants lack. Despite this, Xarelto’s main marketing tactics was that it did not require constant medical observations, even though the patients could be potentially at risk. Medical experts state that if Xarelto and Pradaxa had the same check-up requirements as Warfarin, then many bleeding injuries would have been prevented.

Janssen and Bayer released Xarelto has a joint project, and have been ultimately successful due to aggressive advertising; Xarelto actually surpassed Pradaxa in popularity. However, the companies have been accused of deliberately concealing this risk of bleeding injuries from the public, in order to insure the marketing success of Xarelto. As of now, hundreds of patient across the country are suing these pharmaceutical giants for failing to protect them against Xarelto bleeding complications.