A Xarelto lawsuit out of Florida has alleged that a man suffered from an ischemic stroke after taking Xarelto.

This Xarelto ischemic stroke lawsuit alleges that even though Xarelto is promoted as protecting a patient for 24-hours on a single 20 milligram dose, it did not. Xarelto is designed to reduce the risk of stroke, the problem suffered by the plaintiff.

Ischemic strokes happen when when there is an obstruction in a blood vessel that is supposed to supply blood to the brain.

Though most Xarelto lawsuits have focused on Xarelto bleeding, in many ways the opposite of this man’s stroke, concerns have been raised that the one-size-fits-all approach to Xarelto may mean that some patients have too much in their system, possibly leading to Xarelto bleeding, while others, like the plaintiff, may not have enough, leaving them vulnerable to strokes.

His Xarelto lawsuit alleges that despite assurances of Xarelto’s effectiveness and safety, it was not enough to prevent the plaintiff from suffering a life-threatening ischemic stroke.

Xarelto is a blood thinner, or anticoagulant. These drugs are designed to decrease the risk of strokes, by making it harder for blood to clot. Drugmakers promote Xarelto as not requiring blood monitoring to evaluate how well the drug is working. This is used as a selling point over older anticoagulants. However, concerns about the safety of Xarelto have emerged.

The Xarelto lawsuit names the makers of the drug, Jansen Pharmaceuticals and drug icon Bayer as defendants.

Most Xarelto lawsuits allege that sometimes Xarelto works too well and there is no way to quickly fix the situation if it does. All anticoagulants carry the risk of leading to uncontrollable bleeding.

However, with older anticoagulants, antidotes exist, which can effectively turn off the drug if a patient experiences uncontrollable bleeding like gastrointestinal bleeding or pulmonary bleeding.

However, if a patient experiences Xarelto bleeding, there is no known antidote, and doctors must use more general treatments like transfusions and artificial clotting factors to try and reverse it.

Despite hundreds of Xarelto lawsuits, Xarelto and other newer-generation anticoagulants are steadily gaining popularity over older drugs of this type. This has much to do with the alleged benefits of Xarelto.

First, Xarelto supposedly does not require the same regular blood tests as older drugs. Additionally, Xarelto has fewer dietary and drug interactions than older drugs. However, concerns about a lack of an antidote and questions about the efficacy of once-a-day dosing have lead to hundreds of Xarelto lawsuits.

Xarelto lawsuits allege that drugmakers knew that Xarelto was allegedly potentially more dangerous that existing drugs, but marketed it anyway, exposing patients to the risk of alleged Xarelto side-effects like Xarelto bleeding. Xarelto lawsuits typically seek to recoup the cost of medical care and other costs allegedly stemming from Xarelto side-effects.

So many Xarelto lawsuits have been filed that the legal system has resorted to a process called a multidistrict litigation or MDL. In MDLs, similar cases are coordinated together to help streamline the legal process. Since Xarelto lawsuits typically make similar claims, hinge on similar evidence, and seek similar damages, they have been grouped together into a single Xarelto lawsuit MDL.

The Xarelto Lawsuit MDL MDL is In RE: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2592, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.