With more than 6,400 cases pending against Xarelto’s manufacturers, the stakes for the upcoming bellwether trials are incredibly high. Scheduled to begin in February 2017, the drug manufacturers will face consolidated multidistrict litigation regarding personal injury, wrongful death, and product liability claims centralized in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Xarelto Bellwether Case Selection

In order to facilitate resolution of the large number of cases, specially selected cases will be tried as bellwethers to represent the litigation. The first bellwether trial case will be selected from plaintiffs who originally filed their claim in the state of Louisiana and are between the ages of 50 and 90 at the time of the bleeding event.

The second bellwether trial will be selected from plaintiffs who experienced a brain bleed, or hemorrhagic stroke, which resulted in injury or death.

The third bellwether trial will focus on plaintiffs who suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, were between the ages of 40 and 80 at the time of the event, and originally filed a claim in Mississippi federal court.

The fourth bellwether trial will be selected from cases filed in the state of Texas.

What Is Xarelto?

Xarelto is a prescription medication used to prevent blood clots from forming as the result of an irregular heartbeat, also called atrial fibrillation. Patients with other types of blood clots including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolus (PE) may be given Xarelto along with those who need to prevent past blood clots from forming again. Xarelto works by blocking specific clotting proteins in the patient’s blood. Xarelto is manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the United States and by Bayer A.G. internationally.

Xarelto Lawsuits

Unlike its predecessor, Warfarin, there is no consistent way to reverse the effects of severe Xarelto bleeding incidents. This has led to many patients experiencing uncontrollable bleeding. Plaintiffs in the Xarelto litigation allege manufacturers failed to warn them of the serious bleeding risks associated with drug.