Plaintiff Peter O. files a Xarelto death lawsuit on behalf of his late father’s estate. He names as defendants Janssen Research & Development and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development LLC, the manufacturers of Xarelto.

According to the Xarelto death lawsuit, Peter’s father began ingesting Xarelto in January 2014. He stopped taking Xarelto after suffering from epistaxis and a gastrointestinal bleed in May 2016.

Peter Sr. later died “due to his injuries related to his ingestion of Xarelto,” the complaint claims.

The plaintiff files his Xarelto death lawsuit in Louisiana federal court as part of the multidistrict litigation currently in progress against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, its parent company Johnson & Johnson, and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals.

Xarelto Death Lawsuit Facts

Xarelto, also known as rivaroxaban, is a more recent blood thinner that is prescribed to treat and prevent blood clots. By doing so, it lowers the risk for patients to develop stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), and other similar conditions.

DVT, or deep vein thrombosis, is the formation of a blood clot that occurs in one of the body’s deep veins, usually in the body’s lower extremities, or the legs. A pulmonary embolism is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs become blocked by a blood clot.

However, while the anticoagulant medication has been useful in some patients, others have suffered severe adverse side effects and complications, including reported deaths.

Some Xarelto users have claimed that they have suffered from the following serious side effects while taking Xarelto: intracranial hemorrhages, abdominal hemorrhages, retinal hemorrhages, wound infection and complication, epidural hematoma, adrenal bleeding, excessive blood loss, and stroke.

In order for the drug to receive its approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Janssen had to conduct a number of clinical trials to demonstrate Xarelto’s safety and efficacy. However, the Xarelto death lawsuit alleges that these clinical trials were purportedly flawed and faulty in nature. Allegedly, the results from these clinical trials were not properly represented to the patients, the public, and medical community.

One study, termed the ROCKET AF study, had found, according to the Xarelto death lawsuit, that Xarelto was not an inferior anticoagulant drug to its competitor, warfarin, which had similar side effects in causing major bleeding.

However, as reported in the Xarelto death lawsuit, “bleeding from gastrointestinal sites, including upper, lower, and rectal sites, occurred more frequently in the rivaroxaban group, as did bleeding that led to a drop in the hemoglobin level of bleeding that required transfusion.”

The specific allegations against the manufacturers of Xarelto assert that drug presents an unreasonable risk of injury by which its labeling and warning did not adequately or sufficiently state of these potential adverse effects and complications. The Xarelto lawsuit further alleges that Janssen and Bayer had intentionally concealed or hid the knowledge of Xarelto’s side effects to avoid harming Xarelto sales.

The Xarelto Death Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-09692-EEF-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.