Update on Xarelto Lawsuit

Cases are piling up against the Xarelto manufacturers claiming that Bayer AG and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subdivision of Johnson & Johnson, had prior knowledge of the dangers of the drug, yet still released the product to market.

Xarelto was released in the United States market in 2011 after receiving approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis, and for use in patients who have recently undergone hip or knee replacement surgeries.

Since the release, reports of adverse events occurring in patients who were also taking Xarelto began to pour in to the FDA. A recent study on individuals who were taking Xarelto found that 73% of the 16,041 patients had suffered from side effects such as internal bleeding or anemia. After this study was performed, the FDA issued a warning regarding Xarelto in August 2013 that informed patients and doctors that ending a Xarelto regimen prematurely can lead to a higher risk of blood clots.

Despite this warning and the Phase III study, the manufacturers of Xarelto made $1.4 billion in sales in 2013. Xarelto also has two ‘black box’ warnings attached to it. A black box warning is the strictest warning the FDA can issue to a drug short of recalling it.

Victims Filing Xarelto Lawsuits 

The first Xarelto Lawsuit filed was in January of 2014. It alleged that Xarelto was the cause of the individual’s death due to complications from an uncontrollable internal bleed caused by Xarelto usage. Since then, many of the lawsuits filed also allege that Xarelto causes uncontrollable internal bleeding events, which can lead to serious injury or death. The lawsuit also alleges that Xarelto’s manufacturers were aware of the dangers of the drug and released it to market anyway.

The Xarelto lawsuits that are filed federally have all been consolidated into a federal multidistrict litigation, an MDL, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana located in New Orleans. Pretrial activities have been taking place since the creation of the MDL in December 2014 and the actual Xarelto trials are not scheduled to begin until early 2017.

If you believe that Xarelto harmed you or a loved one, call Balkin & Mausner immediately. We will give you a free case evaluation to see if you should be part of the Xarelto lawsuit. For more information, contact us here or call us at 888-751-5908.