Xarelto Among Group of Highly Dangerous Drugs

Anticoagulants such as Xarelto are considered by many to be among the most dangerous drugs because of the high number of serious side effects that are being reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Xarelto belongs to a class of anticoagulants called direct factor Xa inhibitors. Also known as blood thinners, anticoagulants hinder the normal clotting of the blood. While clotting is essential if a person is injured to stop bleeding from an open wound, some people experience clotting when they are not injured due to the following conditions:

• Atrial fibrillation, a heart condition characterized by an irregular heartbeat that can cause blood to pool in the heart and may lead to clots. If these travel to the brain, they may cause a stroke.
• Deep vein thrombosis, or blood clots that develop in the legs, and pulmonary embolism, or blood clots in the lungs, that can cause serious complications and/or death if left untreated.
• Patients who undergo knee or hip replacement surgery, who are typically at an elevated risk for blood clots.

When people experience side effects they suspect were caused by a prescription or over-the-counter medicine, they or their doctors may report the incidents to the FDA, and these events are recorded in the FDA Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS). There have been more than 2,100 total reports involving Xarelto, with 1,821 listing the drug as the primary suspect for an adverse event.

Thousands of prescriptions have been written for Xarelto since it was released in 2011, but concern has grown among patients and doctors that the medication may cause the same serious bleeding risks as another anticoagulant, Pradaxa. Like Pradaxa, Xarelto has no known antidote, and there is no effective way to stop the hemorrhaging that the medication may cause.

Some of the injuries that have led to Xarelto lawsuits include:

• Death resulting from uncontrolled bleeding
• Intestinal and rectal bleeding
• Brain hemorrhaging

According to Reuters, at the present time approximately 10 lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. against Bayer, Xarelto’s inventor and manufacturer. The suits allege that Bayer concealed important safety information about Xarelto and did not thoroughly test the drug before it was placed on the market.