The first of more than 17,000 Xarelto class action lawsuit cases is set to begin later in April, according to a representative for consumer information site Xarelto-lawsuits.org. The representative states that unless a settlement is reached between the plaintiff and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, the trial will begin on April 24, 2017.
"A similar litigation involving another popular drug was settled out of court, just days before trial was to begin," says the representative for Xarelto-Lawsuits.org. "The settlement came in at $162 million."
There are currently more than 15,000 federal lawsuits against the pharmaceutical company in Louisiana with another 1,300 at the state level in Philadelphia. Federal courts are using the bellwether trials to help attorneys to determine how the jury may respond to the evidence presented and to help gauge the settlement values of these against similar lawsuits.
The first and second bellwether trials are set to take place in Louisiana. The representative for Xarelto-lawsuits.org explains, "Plaintiffs in these cases claim that they developed hemorrhages or uncontrollable bleeding after taking Xarelto for a short period of time."
The drug was originally prescribed as a blood thinner to replace warfarin, which caused similar bleeding. Studies, however, have shown that while the bleeding caused by warfarin could be reversed, no treatment has been found to slow down or stop the bleeding that is allegedly caused by Xarelto.
Johnson & Johnson, along with subsidiary company Janssen Pharmaceutical, are accused of continuing to market Xarelto even after studies have revealed the risks associated with taking the drug. Approved by the FDA in 2011 as a blood thinning drug, Xarelto has been prescribed to tens of thousands of patients and no reversal agent has been found to deactivate the blood thinning properties of the medication.
The manufacturer of Pradaxa, Boehringer Ingelheim, faced more than 4,000 similar lawsuits from patients who suffered from bleeding as a side effect. Some cases were filed by family members of those who died as a result of internal bleeding. Before the first bellwether trials, the manufacturer of Pradaxa settled out of court for an average payout per patient of $162,500 and a total settlement of more than $650 million. Those following the Xarelto trials state that they are expecting a similar end result from the upcoming lawsuits.
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