The first Xarelto bellwether trial has been pushed by another month and is now scheduled to begin in April 2017. This is the third time both parties agree to reschedule the four trials which are now set to begin in April, May, June and July. Last time the trial was postponed after the NBA All-Star Games were moved to New Orleans, in the Eastern District of Lousiana. Honorable Judge Eldon E. Fallon will oversee the first four cases that will set the trend for all future litigations that will be fought in court. Among the over 15,000 total lawsuits filed so far in the Xarelto Multidistrict Litigation (MDL), the first one that has been chosen as the bellwether is Boudreaux, Jr. et al v. Janssen Research & Development LLC et al (2:14-cv-02720).
Plaintiffs and their attorneys allege that the blood thinner is much less safe than advertised, and that the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture it never properly warned the public about its dangers. According to the litigations filed so far, patients who took Xarelto to prevent strokes and deep vein thrombosis often suffered grievous injuries caused by the drug’s dangerous side effects. Since no antidote is available, even a simple accidental bleeding may, in fact, evolve into a potentially fatal internal hemorrhage, and many died of the consequences of an uncontrolled bleeding. Rivaroxaban rapidly grew to be America’s top-selling blood thinner since it was originally approved in 2011.
The first trial involves Joseph Boudreaux Jr., a Louisiana citizen who took rivaroxaban to reduce the risk of stroke which was associated with his atrial fibrillation. The man took Bayer’s anticoagulant for less than one month in 2014, before ending in the emergency room because a severe gastrointestinal bleeding threatened his life. Court documents indicate that he needed five days of hospitalizations and several blood transfusions to save his life, requiring follow-up medical treatment that he had to personally account for. Lawyers accuse the defendants Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceutical of concealing critical information about Xarelto’s dangerousness to both patients and doctors.
Mr. Boudreaux’s case is set to be heard in New Orleans on April 24, 2017.
Article by Dr. Claudio Butticè, Pharm.D.
