Independent Study Shows Nearly a Third of Emergency Department Physicians Received Payments to Prescribe Drugs Like Xarelto to Patients
A review published by the Open Payments program in March of this year revealed that 46,405 payments from the pharmaceutical industry were made to 30% of active emergency physicians in 2013. The average payment was only $16, but the incentive was for ER physicians to prescribe certain medications over others. One of the drugs associated with these payments was rivaroxaban, better known as Xarelto.
Xarelto’s popularity is deceiving.
Xarelto is a blood thinner that has grown in popularity due to the ease in dosage. Coumadin, the brand name for the blood thinner Warfarin, has long been a trusted blood thinner but requires multiple doses throughout the day. One of the advantages of Coumadin though, is that should the drug cause internal bleeding, which happens with blood thinners as the drug decreases the ability of blood to clot, the drug can be counteracted. With Xarelto, there is no treatment for internal bleeding.
Most of the payments to Emergency physicians were small in amount, 83% were under $100. The payments were not in relation to research or royalties, but rather aimed at driving prescriptions and sales for Xarelto. Xarelto, which is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and Bayer, is usually around $450 for a 10mg, 30 day supply. That is a large profit for the manufacturers compared with Coumadin’s $10-$20 price tag for a 10mg, 30 day supply.
More bad news for consumers.
This review comes at the same time as news that the researchers behind a study on the effectiveness of Xarelto in comparison with Warfarin hid data involving a defective blood testing device before publishing the study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The omission of the defective device may have turned the tables unfairly in favor of Xarelto.
While pharmaceutical companies are making millions off of drugs like Xarelto, many people are being injured by the hidden side effects. Thousands of lawsuits have been lodged against Johnson & Johnson and Bayer for their negligence in warning consumers of the dangers of their drug. If you’ve taken Xarelto and experienced an injury, call the Hollis Law Firm today. We will review your Xarelto lawsuit free of charge. All information with our firm is confidential and you never owe any money unless we win your case.
