Drug Injury Lawyers Blog
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Bayer AG (BAYN) are combatting efforts to consolidate Xarelto injury lawsuits filed by plaintiffs who claim that the blood thinner caused patients to suffer fatal bleeds. Bayer makes the medication, and J & J owns the rights to the drug in the United States.
Some 65 fatalities are being blamed on the drug, which does not have an antidote. Some patients say that they began to bleed internally and so profusely that they ended up going to the hospital.
The plaintiffs contend that the defendants played down the risks involved with taking Xarelto. They are accusing the companies of neglecting to tell the public about these health risks while continuing to sell the drug. J & J, however, maintains that all anticoagulants place patients at risk of bleeding and patients are made aware that this could be a potential side effect.
Regulators approved Xarelto to prevent blood clots in patients who had hip and knee surgeries. Since then, the drug has been approved for use by patients with irregular heartbeats and potentially fatal lung and leg blood clots. It also is used prevent stroke and pulmonary embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation.
The medication has been marketed as more effective than competitor Coumadin (warfarin) at stroke prevention. Also, because Xarelto users don’t have to undergo regular tests to monitor blood plasma levels, the drug makers have said their drug was easier to use than the other anticoagulant.
Meantime, patients’ lawyers are accusing Bayer and J& J of not properly test Xarelto before making it available to consumers. They claim that drug companies concealed that there was no antidote, and overstated the medication’s effectiveness.
The plaintiffs who are seeking to consolidate their Xarelto injury lawsuits want 21 cases that were submitted in 10 federal courts sent to a district court in Illinois for pretrial information exchanges. Although Bayer and Johnson & Johnson oppose the move, they’ve said that if consolidation were granted they would like the cases to be sent to a federal court in New Jersey instead.
Serious Xarelto complications and reported injuries and side effects:
• Embolism • Internal bleeding • Hemorrhaging • Blood clots • Brain hemorrhaging • Rectal bleeding
• Death • Intestinal bleeding
The move to bring together multiple Xarelto defect case comes in the wake of the $650 million Pradaxa injury settlement reached with Boehringer Ingelheim. Pradaxa is also a blood thinner. With that deal, the company settled over 4,000 drug defect cases. According to notifications made to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, Pradaxa has been blamed for excessive bleeding, linked to over 12,000 injuries and more than 1,000 deaths
Plaintiffs accused Boehringer Ingelheim of misrepresenting Pradaxa as a better drug than the blood thinner Warfarin. Pradaxa also doesn’t have an antidote to stop internal bleeding should that happen.
You want to speak with a Boston Xarelto injury lawyer or a Pradaxa injury attorney to explore your legal options to receive Massachusetts drug defect compensation.
Bayer, J&J Fight Calls to Unify Blood-Thinner Death Suits, Bloomberg, December 4, 2014
More Blog Posts:
Xarelto Injury Lawsuits Sue Bayer and Johnson & Johnson, Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, September 15, 2014
German Drug Maker Agrees to Pay $650M to Settle Pradaxa Claims, Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, May 30, 2014
$18.5M Transvaginal Mesh Verdict Awarded to Four Women, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, November 26, 2014
