New disconcerting information concerning the deadly blood thinner, Xarelto has made headlines. This time it doesn’t involve the faulty Rocket AF clinical trial, which was responsible for Xarelto’s approval, or about the malfunction of the device used in that faulty trial. This is about payoffs. Journalists at ProPublica uncovered Johnson & Johnson’s spending budget on convincing doctors to use Xarelto was more any other drug in 2016. Their payouts to physicians and hospitals not just boosted Xarelto prescriptions, but also caused them to slash their research budget.
The Xarelto Bribes
Johnson & Johnson spent close to $30 million on Xarelto bribes. The company used this money to convince doctors and hospitals to use Xarelto. They paid for promotional speakers, consulting, meals, travel, gifts, and royalties to doctors. However, none of that money went toward research of the safety of the drug. In fact, research funding declined.
This tactic was successful since these documents saw a correlation between doctors who were given gifts by Johnson & Johnson and higher Xarelto prescription rates. For example, in 2016 medical industry payments made to physicians in Massachusetts saw these higher prescribing rates. For every $1,000 a doctor received, his rate of prescribing Xarelto increased by .01 percent.
Another study uncovered that a doctor who receives a single meal from a drug company is more likely to prescribe that drug over others. If the meal cost more than $20, the physician was even more inclined. This means that manufacturers know they do not need to waste time with research making a drug safe. They simply need to bribe doctors into giving the drugs to the American people.
Xarelto Risks
This mindset of profits over safety has caused the blood thinner, Xarelto to kill over a thousand people and harmed tens. There is no antidote. If someone experiences uncontrollable bleeding, there are few options for doctors to treat it. Xarelto prevents clotting, so organs rapidly lose some or all of its functionality while pools of blood formed within a body.
Johnson & Johnson will keep pushing Xarelto regardless of safety concerns. Now, they will even bribe doctors to keep making money off your pain and suffering. Xarelto made close to $2 billion last year alone. The fact that the effects of these drugs are devastating makes no difference to them.
At The Michael Brady Lynch Firm, we take these bleeding side effects very seriously, and we fight to make sure that pharmaceutical companies understand the seriousness as well. If you or a loved one have experienced a bleeding event from taking Xarelto, I urge you to contact us at 877-513-9517. We have decades of experience of going up against these pharmaceutical giants. Let us fight for you.
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