2015 Sees New Xarelto Lawsuits Filed

New Orleans, LAWith multiple Xarelto lawsuits consolidated into a multidistrict litigation for pretrial proceedings, more plaintiffs are coming forward and filing their own Xarelto side effects lawsuits. As of the time of consolidation there were 21 lawsuits pending in 10 districts, but that number is likely to grow as more lawsuits are filed.

One recent lawsuit was filed in January 2015 by a woman who alleges her use of Xarelto resulted in her blood not congealing properly. According to the Madison Record (2/3/15), Sonja Lemoins (St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 15-L-35) filed her lawsuit on January 22, alleging that Janssen Research and Development and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals downplayed the risks associated with the use of Xarelto, specifically the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Lawsuits filed against the makers of Xarelto allege the drug - a blood thinner used to prevent strokes - prevents blood from clotting properly, resulting in uncontrolled bleeding. They further allege that Xarelto was marketed as being safe and effective when in fact it was linked to an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and other serious bleeding events, some of which could be fatal.

Xarelto (known generically as rivaroxaban) is in a new class of blood thinners (anticoagulants), widely marketed as being more effective than Coumadin because newer blood thinners reportedly do not require medical monitoring. Coumadin (generic name warfarin), however, has an antidote to uncontrolled bleeding, whereas the newer blood thinners currently have no accepted antidote.

When the Xarelto MDL was first approved, there were 21 lawsuits pending in 10 districts. According to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation monthly report, as of January 15, 2015, there were 86 lawsuits pending in MDL 2592 before US District Judge Eldon E. Fallon. That’s more than double the 33 lawsuits that were pending in the MDL as of December 15, 2014.

The defendants had argued against consolidation of the lawsuits, claiming that consolidation would encourage the filing of unmerited copycat complaints. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation disagreed, ruling that consolidation before one judge would likely be more efficient for addressing meritless claims. The panel also ruled that the lawsuits had similar important questions of fact, including whether or not Xarelto’s warning label properly conveyed the risk of side effects and whether or not patients were warned that there was no available antidote to reverse the uncontrolled bleeding.

More lawsuits could join the 86 pending in the multidistrict litigation as the start of the bellwether trials draws near.