A Nevada man has filed a Xarelto injury lawsuit alleging the blood thinner has caused him to suffer life-threatening bleeding and other severe injuries.

Xarelto is one of the “new” anticoagulants, also known as blood thinners.

Generically known as rivaroxaban, Xarelto has been heavily promoted by celebrities such as pro golfer Arnold Palmer, whose likeness appears at the top of Xarelto’s home page.

Xarelto bleeding injuries and failure to prevent a stroke or pulmonary embolism topped the list of adverse events submitted to the FDA last year, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). More than 1,100 patients died as a result.

The Xarelto injury lawsuit points out that the drug’s marketing department spent more than $11 million in 2013 promoting the drug.

In the third quarter of the 2013 fiscal year, Xarelto was the number one pharmaceutical item promoted in professional health journals based on pages and dollars spent.

Xarelto brought in $582 million in global sales in its first full year of being on the market.

Xarelto belongs to a new class of anticoagulants that promote uniform doses in everyone, even though some patients tolerate it better than others. Internal bleeding is a possible Xarelto side effect, and can range from minor bleeding to bleeding to death.

Xarelto Injury Lawsuit Claims Inadequate Disclosure

Xarelto is used to reduce the risk of stroke and blood clots in people with atrial fibrillation that is not caused by a heart valve issue.

It is also prescribed to treat deep vein thrombosis, which can lead to blood clots in the lungs, known as pulmonary embolisms. It also is used to reduce the chance of a blood clot forming in the legs and lungs of people who have recently undergone knee or hip replacement surgery.

Xarelto was touted as a great alternative to Coumadin, generically known as warfarin, which has been around for about 50 years.

When on warfarin, a patient needs to take INR (international normalized ration) blood tests to determine how fast the blood clots. This test helps maintain the right dosage.

If for some reason a patient needs to have warfarin’s anticoagulant properties cease due to accident or injury, a number of options for reversal are available, including vitamin K.

Xarelto’s biggest selling point is that it does not need such INR testing, or any testing, in order to ensure a therapeutic level is maintained and that it is a once daily dose.

However, patients tolerate Xarelto differently, which means some patients are more prone to Xarelto bleeding injuries.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices noted in 2012 that during the FDA’s review process of Xarelto, “reviewers questioned the convenient once-a-day dosing scheme” of Xarelto because blood level studies had proven a more steady level in the blood stream could be established with twice daily dosing.

Even more importantly, there is no antidote for Xarelto. If a person is bleeding uncontrollably from Xarelto, there is no way to stop it.

In the Xarelto injury lawsuit, the makers and marketers of Xarelto are accused of overstating the drug’s safety and efficacy and of failing to properly disclose to patients that no antidote exists.

The Xarelto Injury Lawsuit is filed within the Xarelto MDL No. 2592 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.