What is Xarelto?
Xarelto is a prescription anticoagulant that consists of the active drug rivaroxaban. Xarelto is manufactured by Bayer AG and Johnson&Johnson’s pharmaceutical unit, Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2011 and released onto the U.S. market in the same year. Since its release, the manufacturers have engaged in a very heavy marketing campaign for the drug, pushing Xarelto’s convenience over Warfarin by advertising the drug’s ‘one size fits all’ method of dosing, lack of required blood testing, and lack of restrictive diet.
Xarelto is chemically different from other blood thinners because it is in a new class of anticoagulants called Xa Inhibitors. Xa inhibitors work differently from traditional anticoagulants, such as Warfarin, because Xa inhibitors block the chemical in the blood responsible for making it clot, thrombin. By blocking thrombin, Xarelto completely takes away the blood’s ability to clot. This is what makes Xarelto more convenient over Warfarin and more unique on the market, however, various studies have shown that Xarelto usage can be dangerous.
Xarelto’s Dangerous Side Effects
Despite the advertised conveniences, Xarelto is more dangerous than other blood thinners on the market because there is no reversal antidote for the drug’s anticoagulant effects. Since Xarelto blocks thrombin and takes away the bloods ability to clot, in an emergency situation such as a serious internal bleed, there is no way to stop the bleeding. If a patient taking Warfarin experiences internal bleeding, a doctor can administer Vitamin K to counteract the Warfarin and make the blood clot. There is no such drug that exists for Xarelto.
Several studies have linked Xarelto to uncontrollable internal bleeding events and excessive blood clots which can lead to serious injuries such as brain bleeds, gastrointestinal bleeds, hematoma, and pulmonary embolism.
Xarelto currently has two ‘Black Box’ warnings attached to it. The Black Box warning is the most strict warning the FDA can attach to a drug short of recalling it. The Black Box warning means that there is reasonable evidence of a hazard associated with the drug in question. The FDA has also released a list of drugs that should not be taken with Xarelto due to potentially dangerous drug interactions. The full FDA report can be found here and if you are prescribed any of these medications and also prescribed Xarelto, contact your doctor immediately.
- Itraconazole – Sporanox and Onmel
- lopinavir – Kaletra
- Ritonavir – Norvir
- Indinavir – Crixivan
- Conivaptan – Vaprisol
- Carbamazepine – Tegretol, Tegretol-XR, Equetro, Carbatrol, Epitol, and Teril
- Phenytoin – Dilantin
- Rifampin – Rifater, Rifamate, Rimactane, and Rifadin
- St. John’s wort – Hypericum Perforatum
Xarelto Injuries in Vermont
By using known data, our team has been able to estimate the number of Xarelto users in Vermont and the number of people who may have been injured by Xarelto. We are able to get these numbers by comparing the population of the United States to the number of internal bleeding injuries nationally, then comparing these numbers to the population of Vermont and its top five most populous cities at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census. At the time of the 2010 Census, there were 625,741 residents living in Vermont. 22,293 of these Vermont residents were prescribed Xarelto and 379 people across the entire state of Vermont may have experienced an internal bleeding injury due to Xarelto usage. We have broken this data down by Vermont’s top five most populous cities below:
Xarelto Users in Vermont’s Top Five Cities
- Burlington – 42,417
- South Burlington – 17,904
- Rutland – 16,495
- Essex Junction – 9,271
- Barre – 9,052
Xarelto Injuries in Vermont’s Top Five Cities
- Burlington – 25
- South Burlington – 10
- Rutland – 10
- Essex – 5
- Barre – 5
Vermont Lawyers Working With Xarelto Victims
If you or a loved one are Vermont residents and have been injured by Xarelto, you are not alone and there are resources available to help you. Our Xarelto lawyers at Osborne & Associates are experienced trial lawyers who are dedicated to bringing Xarelto victims justice in court. If you feel that you may have a case against Xarelto, do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation and case evaluation. Through our work on Xarelto litigation, we have built an extensive network of working relationships with lawyers across the country and we would be happy to refer you to a lawyer in your home state if you wish to keep your case local.
Currently, federally filed lawsuits against Bayer AG and Johnson&Johnson regarding Xarelto are being consolidated into a federal multidistrict litigation. The MDL is based out of New Orleans, Louisiana and is being presided over by Judge Eldon Fallon. The MDL was put into place to consolidate judicial resources and save time, since many of the Xarelto lawsuits filed make similar allegations against the manufacturers. Currently there are 1,213 lawsuits filed in the MDL. There is also a mass tort group in Philadelphia where about 400 cases have been consolidated. These numbers are expected to rise as pretrial litigation continues. For more information, visit our Xarelto Lawsuits page.