Bayer and Johnson and Johnson manufacture Xarelto. Xarelto is an anticoagulant drug used to reduce the risk of blood clots and strokes. These newer direct thrombin inhibitors, Xarelto and Pradaxa, drugs are heavily marketed, with direct to consumer advertising, as a replacement for Coumadin, or Warfarin, which has been the standard anti-coagulation therapy for the past 30 years.
Xarelto, Pradaxa and other newer anticoagulants have no reversal agent. Doctors use vitamin K and plasma to reverse any bleeding problems with Warfarin. Unfortunately, no antidote is available for the direct thrombin inhibitors. It is impossible to prevent serious injury or death if patients suffer bleeding problems. The lack of antidote is where the danger lies with Xarelto.