The Xarelto blood thinner litigation has been continuing for several years now, with claims of internal bleeding injuries continuing to be submitted.

It has been over two years since the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) had consolidated all federal Xarelto lawsuits into the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The Xarelto blood thinner litigation currently consists over 13,000 lawsuits pending in that one federal court, with plaintiffs alleging various product liability complaints against the manufacturers.

Bayer HealthCare and Johnson & Johnson allegedly failed to warn patients against potential internal bleeding injuries, and that Xarelto had no readily available bleeding antidote.

One of the most recent cases added to the Xarelto blood thinner litigation is from an Illinois woman, who alleged that she had suffered serious internal bleeding injuries like stroke and uncontrollable hemorrhages.

The woman further alleges Bayer and Johnson & Johnson failed to provide adequate warning, and is seeking compensation for medical expenses and other damages.

According to a recent MDL statistics report from November 2016, the Xarelto blood thinner litigation currently has 13,727 lawsuits.

This is significantly higher than when the Xarelto MDL was first established in December 2014, when there was a total of only 21 Xarelto lawsuit pending across the country.

The first bellwether trial for the Xarelto blood thinner litigation is scheduled to begin in March 2017, which is meant to help steer the litigation process to settlement resolution satisfactory to both parties.

Overview of Xarelto Blood Thinner Litigation

Xarelto was initially approved by the FDA in 2011 to treat patients with atrial fibrillation or recently underwent knee replacement surgery, to prevent blood clot injuries.

When Xarelto was approved, the manufacturers advertised the medication to be the “first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner” that quickly became a popular choice for patients with atrial fibrillation.

At the time Xarelto was released, its predecessor Pradaxa was facing numerous allegations of internal bleeding injuries and not having a readily available bleeding antidote. Even so, the manufacturers allegedly did no warn patients against the risk of internal bleeding.

When Pradaxa was released in 2010, it was the first medication to be released for anticoagulant purposes since Warfarin in the 1960s. Xarelto and other new generation anticoagulants were released to compete against each other and wafarin, which required patients to frequently see their doctors for dose adjustments.

While Xarelto and other new generation anticoagulants could be prescribed in a single dose, they lacked a bleeding antidote that Warfarin patients could access.

Xarelto and other anticoagulants work by inhibiting the body’s clotting mechanism, which improves the overall blood flow circulation.

However this also prevents the body from recovering from internal bleeding complications, which patients can typically recover from.

Many plaintiffs involves in the Xarelto blood thinner litigation allege the manufacturers failed to warn them that in clinical trials, taking Xarelto increased the chances of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Many Xarelto patients claim that they never would have taken Xarelto, if they had known the risk of uncontrollable internal bleeding.