August 13, 2014 via Prweb Newswire. Xarelto lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals who were allegedly harmed by the blood thinner continue to mount in U.S. courts. Court documents pending in the U.S. District Court, Eastern Districtof New York indicate that a woman from Texas has filed a case against Johnson & Johnson and Bayer HealthCare that accuses the companies of making misleading claims in order to market Xarelto.
Taking Xarelto For Just Four Months resulted In Serious Injury
According to the July 29th filing, the Plaintiff took Xarelto for just four months starting in March 2012, and suffered a life-threatening bleed that left her with severe and permanent injuries. Among other things, the complaint alleges that Johnson & Johnson and Bayer failed to warn doctors and patients about the irreversible nature of Xarelto bleeding. It further alleges that the companies wrongly touted the drug as a superior alternative to warfarin, a blood thinner that has been in use for decades. Among other things, the Xarelto lawsuit also points out that the Defendants received a letter from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Prescription Drug Promotion in July 2013 that characterized a Xarelto print ad as “false or misleading” because it minimized risks associated with the drug, and made a misleading claim regarding dosage adjustment.
A nationwide law firm representing victims of defective drugs and medical devices reported “Our firm has heard from a number of Xarelto patients who claim to have experienced life-threatening episodes of internal bleeding similar to the injuries alleged in this lawsuit.” People have described suffering serious injuries from the blood thinner including intracranial hemorrhage, spinal and epidural hematoma, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, adrenal bleeding, stroke, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or death.
Xarelto Litigation
According to a recent Reuters report, this claim is just one of several Xarelto lawusits pending in U.S. courts.* The Plaintiff in the New York case alleges that the manufacturers of the drug failed to warn that there is currently no approved antidote to reverse Xarelto bleeding. The complaint points out that while both warfarin and Xarelto can cause internal bleeding, this occurrence can be halted in warfarin patients via the administration of vitamin K. In June, the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices reported that adverse events associated with the use of Xarelto are on the rise. According to data from the FDA, the agency received a total of 680 Xarelto adverse event reports in the first quarter of 2013. For the first time, reports of Xarelto complications outpaced those associated with Pradaxa, another blood thinner in the same class, according to the ISMP.** *reuters.com/article/2014/06/14/us-bayer-suit-idUSKBN0EP0HW20140614, Reuters.com, June 14, 2014. **ismp.org/quarterwatch/pdfs/2013Q1.pdf, Institute for Safe Medication Practices, May 7, 2014
