Pharmaceutical giants Bayer and Janssen have been accused of trying to undermine the Xarelto bellwether litigation process by limiting early trial candidates to only a handful of states.

The plaintiff group has recently accused the drug manufacturers of proposing a “truly unprecedented” idea, which would restrict the bellwether selections to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

While the companies agree that the Xarelto bleeding lawsuits should be categorized, both parties argue over the geographical locations of the districts each case is filed in.  As of now the companies disagree with the lawsuits chosen going before juries, because they are from different districts then from where the companies’ headquarters are located.

According to the proposal from Bayer and Janssen, the companies name a specific amount of Xarelto lawsuits per designated state. More specifically the companies are calling for half of the bellwether trials to come from Louisiana, six from Mississippi, two from Texas, and 12 from other states.

Half of the specific geographic districts cases would be selected at random, with each competing party selecting a quarter of those cases that are also based on geographical location.

The plaintiffs responded by stating that the companies were impairing the selection process of the cases, and are basically “cherry picking” which Xarelto lawsuits they want.

The companies countered in a separate filing that their proposal would adhere to the multidistrict litigation (MDL) as envisioned by the presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Xarelto Bellwether Trial Status

In a previous proposal from the plaintiffs, they are requesting the Court to conduct a census of claims first so they can be sorted into categories that are representative of typical Xarelto injury cases.

Then the plaintiffs and defendants would then select their respective Xarelto injury claims based on said categories, with at least two of their 10 cases coming from the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Judge Fallon had previously ordered the parties to propose a selection process for the pool of 40 bellwether Xarelto lawsuits, as part of the coordinated pretrial proceedings. Each of the selected cases will go through a specific discovery process, to prepare for a series of early trial dates that are expected to begin with Aug. 01, 2016.

Xarelto Bleeding Allegations

Xarelto is a popularly prescribed anticoagulant manufactured jointly between Bayer and Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and is meant to be a direct competitor against other new generation anticoagulants and Warfarin.  The blood thinner is used to prevent strokes in patients who undergo hip or knee replacement surgery as well as treat or reduce the recurrence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

Unfortunately Xarelto and other new generation anticoagulants have been accused of causing internal bleeding injuries, including life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding, hemmorhagic strokes, and brain hemorrhages.

Many injured patients have filed Xarelto lawsuits alleging the drug manufacturers ailing to warn consumers that Xarelto does not have an antidote, leaving doctors without any effective means to treat and stabilize patients who experienced uncontrolled and excessive bleeding.

Ever since the Xarelto MDL was established in December 2014 the number of cases filed has grown dramatically. Six months after its establishment, in June 2015, there were approximately 500 lawsuits filed in the MDL. Court documents show that currently there are about 1,200 lawsuits filed in the MDL and that number is expected to continually rise as litigation continues.

The Xarelto MDL is In re: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.