Plaintiff Mary M. is filing a Xarelto and anemia lawsuit in Louisiana federal court alleging she suffered adverse effects and complications due to ingesting the anticoagulant medication.

She files the Xarelto and anemia lawsuit against Janssen Research & Development LLC and parent company Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development LLC.

According to the Xarelto and anemia lawsuit, Mary began ingesting Xarelto in July 2014. She stopped taking the medication in July 2015 after she “suffered Chronic Anemia on May 4, 2015, as a direct result of Xarelto.”

The defendants face the following counts against them: Strict Liability; Manufacturing Defect; Design Defect; Failure to Warn; Negligence; Breach of Express Warranty; Breach of Implied Warranty; Negligent Misrepresentation; Fraud; and Violation of Consumer Protection Laws/Consumer Fraud laws.

Mary’s claim is filed as part of a large multidistrict litigation, or MDL, centered on allegations that Xarelto anticoagulant medication causes patients to suffer from serious internal bleeding injuries and other adverse effects and complications.

Xarelto Anticoagulant Medication Facts

Xarelto is a relatively new anticoagulant medication that is ingested and taken to help treat patients who suffer from the risks of developing blood clots for a variety of reasons.

It is prescribed to patients to help lower their risk in developing strokes from the formation of blood clots in patients who also suffer from an abnormal heart rhythm, clinically known as atrial fibrillation. Xarelto is also used as an anticoagulant prescription medication to lower a patient’s risk in developing DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and PE, also known as a pulmonary embolism.

Deep vein thrombosis is the occurrence of blood clots in the body’s lower extremities; it forms in the body’s deep veins in the legs. Pulmonary embolism is the occurrence of a blood clot reaching and blocking one or more arteries in the lungs.

However, despite the positive uses of the drug, there have been several complaints issued by patients who have taken Xarelto. Some of the adverse effects and complications, like the issue suffered by Mary, include chronic anemia. Other side effects include reports of gastrointestinal bleeding, uncontrollable internal bleeding, hemorrhaging, and ischemic stroke.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approval of Xarelto

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Xarelto as an anticoagulant medication is 2011. Xarelto is also known as rivaroxaban, and was one of the first new blood thinner drugs on the market since warfarin.

However, according to the FDA, several adverse event reports have been filed. In 2012, roughly 1,734 adverse event reports about Xarelto were filed with the federal agency. The adverse event reports included reports of hemorrhaging and uncontrollable bleeding. Additionally, the first quarter of 2012 included 121 adverse reports of internal bleeding cases in patients who had taken Xarelto.

The FDA says similar reports have been made in conjunction with warfarin (Coumadin), dabigatran (Pradaxa) and rivaroxaban (Xarelto). Warfarin, however, has a reversal agent. Pradaxa recently released Praxbind, their bleeding reversal drug; no others have a mechanism to slow blood flow during a negative bleeding reaction.

The Xarelto and Anemia lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-10798, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Xarelto MDL is Docket No. 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.