The multi-district litigation (MDL) for Xarelto in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana is underway. Right now, attorneys are presenting the first of four Xarelto Bellwether trials to a New Orleans jury in hopes that they will hold manufacturer Johnson and Johson along with Bayer accountable for Xarelto’s fatal side effects.
First Xarelto Bellwether Trial
A Bellwether trial is a sample case to give both sides an idea of how strong the case may be. The first Xarelto Bellwether centers around Joesph Boudreaux. He says that taking the blood thinner, Xarelto was one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
Xarelto was supposed to cut his risk of stroke, instead, it caused Boudreaux to bleed internally. This required a week-long hospital stay in the intensive-care unit. It was there doctors gave him several blood transfusions, which led to multiple heart procedures.
In court, Boudreaux begged the New Orleans jury to hold both companies responsible for their drug’s potentially fatal side effects. He isn’t alone in his thinking. Most noteworthy, the FDA admitted to knowing of almost 400 deaths due to Xarelto use.
Huge Profits with Serious Complications
Introduced in 2011, Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) is a blood thinner or anticoagulant. It became an instant financial success. Last year alone, the drug generated over $3 billion in sales. However, Johnson & Johnson fast-tracked this drug to market without an antidote.
Xarelto, a blood thinner, works by stopping the blood from clotting. Blood-thinners can prevent blood clots in people suffering from conditions such as atrial fibrillation. Due to the risk of unstoppable bleeding, researchers developed an “antidote” to stop this effect in the case of emergency in users of warfarin, the most popular anticoagulant for decades.
Xarelto users aren’t so lucky. There is no antidote to reverse the anti-clotting effect of Xarelto in an emergency. This means doctors and surgeons may have limited options. It means that what could be a treatable injury for most people can be a fatal one for Xarelto users.
Other Xarelto Bellwether Trials
Boudreaux’s case is just the first of four suits overseen by U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans slated for trial over the next three months. The next one will be Joesph Orr. He is the husband of a woman who took Xarelto a month before dying of a brain bleed.
After the Orr case, Dora Mingo will have her day in court. It centers around suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding after taking the blood thinner to treat blood clots. Attorneys will try her case in Mississippi. Finally, the fourth Bellwether involves William Henry. He allegedly died from a gastrointestinal bleed after taking Xarelto to treat his atrial fibrillation. His case will also be tried in a different state –Texas.
The outcomes of these Bellwether trials may help determine the value of certain injuries and settlement negotiations for the thousands of other federal Xarelto lawsuits consolidated in the MDL.
Get Justice
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious bleeding incident due to Xarelto – or if such an incident claimed the life of a loved one – you need to contact us today. The Michael Brady Lynch Firm has decades of experience representing plaintiffs. We have stood up against huge pharmaceutical companies and recovered millions for our clients.
Currently, we are accepting new bleeding complication cases in all 50 states.