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Canadian lawsuit against Xarelto

jadesfire
jadesfire
There was an article (link below) in my local paper about a class-action suit being filed against Xarelto because bleeding could not be reversed.

While I'm sorry for these people, weren't they aware that there wasn't an antidote? It was stressed over and over again by the doctors, nurses and pharmacists I talked to when deciding which anti-coagulant to take.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2015/02/14/calgary-class-action-lawsuit-against-bayer-alleges-negligence-over-xarelto-anticoagulant-drug
stefan014
stefan014
There has been some work carried out to try to find some antidote for xarelto, but so far, no or limited success. The difference between xarelto and warfarin is the much shorter half-life of xarelto, i.e xarelto is much quicker in leaving the body than warfarin. This means that while you are on warfarin, forgetting a dose one day does not matter so much. However, skipping a dose for xarelto one day could really reduce the anticoagulant effects. In other words, in the case of bleeding event it is generally enough to stop taking xarelto for few days and the bleeding is reversed. Another story is if there is a serious bleeding that requires immediate action. In these cases, it can be much more difficult to stop bleeding among patients taking xarelto than warfarin (which can be administered K-vitamin). This is the problem that everyone wants to solve. but again, not yet any real success. In critical cases, various untested reversal strategies have been used: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23821689

Low-molecular weight Heparin is another anticoagulant that has no antidote, but that has even shorter half-life than xarelto.
rmb
rmb
Lawyers are soliciting for these lawsuits. It's just a form of ambulance chasing.

Also there was a big payout for law suits related to Pradaxa, so lawyers appear to just be following the money: http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-270B-547
JEB2007
JEB2007
Many patients DON'T know all the side effects of their medications. Patients trust their doctors as the expert, as they should. With new medications, some of the short and long term effects aren't known because they're so new, and I honestly don't expect my doctors to know everything about every new drug. Some doctors prescribe the newer medications for financial reasons. My doctor wanted to place me on Xarelto when I clotted this year, but there wasn't enough of a track record for my comfort level. I chose Warfarin, and that worked for me.
In a related note, i was one of only 27 who participated in a class action lawsuit as a patient who clotted while using Yasmin. I hope that pharmaceutical companies will take heed and ultimately be more concerned about the patient and less about their revenue.
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