New Year Sees 400 More Lawsuits Added to Xarelto MDL

New Orleans, LAThe new year has seen more than 400 Xarelto lawsuits added to the multidistrict litigation, with almost 3,000 lawsuits now consolidated for pretrial proceedings. Xarelto lawsuits allege patients given the blood thinner were not properly warned about the increased risk of bleeding events, nor that the newer-generation anticoagulant did not have an approved antidote.

According to court documents, as of January 15, 2016, 2,826 lawsuits were consolidated in MDL 2592 before U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon (In Re: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation). That’s up from the 2,400 that were consolidated in December. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the makers of a variety of newer-generation anticoagulants, alleging patients were put at risk of serious bleeding injuries because they were not properly warned that the drugs did not have antidotes.

Now that the lawsuits have been consolidated, bellwether trials are being scheduled to go ahead. Reports from news releases indicate the first two bellwether trials will be heard on February 6 and March 13 of 2017, with two more reportedly set for April 24 and May 30 of the same year. Forty cases will be chosen for a bellwether pool from which the bellwether cases will be chosen.

Bellwether trials are run to give all sides a better idea of what outcomes subsequent trials are likely to have. Just because bellwether trials are being set, however, does not mean it’s too late for patients to file lawsuits of their own.

One such lawsuit, involves Hattie Deville-Goodwin, who died three months after taking Xarelto to treat deep vein thrombosis in her leg. Hattie's granddaughter, Ashlie Fluitt, filed a lawsuit against Janssen Research & Development, alleging Xarelto was to blame for her grandmother’s death.

Warfarin, an older anticoagulant, has an antidote, which critics say makes it safer than the newer anticoagulants. But newer-generation anticoagulants were allegedly marketed as being easier to use than warfarin, because they didn’t require constant blood monitoring. Critics argue that because there is no antidote, monitoring is necessary to ensure patients do not suffer a serious bleeding event, such as a hemorrhage.

The Ashlie Fluitt lawsuit is Ashlie Fluitt v. Janssen Research & Development LLC et al, case number 2:15-cv-05874, in US District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana. In addition to the federal lawsuits, there are also state lawsuits filed in Philadelphia.