December 12, 2017 — Bayer and Johnson & Johnson have been slammed with a $28 million jury verdict in favor of a woman who suffered bleeding after taking Xarelto.
After a 1-month trial in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the jury awarded $1.8 million in compensatory damages to plaintiff Lynn Hartman, plus another $26 million in punitive damages.
Hartman used Xarelto for about 1 year, and she filed a lawsuit after she was hospitalized with severe gastrointestinal bleeding in 2014.
The lawsuit accused Bayer and Johnson & Johnson of failing to warn about the risk of severe bleeding. Unlike other blood-thinners on the market, such as Pradaxa and warfarin, Xarelto lacks a reversal agent to counteract its blood-thinning effects. In an emergency, doctors may struggle to stop uncontrollable bleeding.
Hartman required 4 blood transfusions to counteract Xarelto and stop her gastrointestinal bleeding. She has not experienced any similar problems after switching to a different blood-thinning medication.
Xarelto has been linked to at least 370 deaths, according to the FDA. Bayer and Johnson & Johnson are facing approximately 18,000 federal lawsuits, plus another 1,500 lawsuits.
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