Tampa, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/17/2016 -- Lawsuits are piling up against the manufacturers of a popular blood thinning drug.

Since arriving on the market in 2011, Xarelto has been prescribed to millions of Americans for the prevention of stroke and embolism. But thousands of lawsuits against Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, allege Xarelto puts patients at significant risk of uncontrollable bleeding. Some also accuse the companies of misleading marketing practices.

Greg Grambor is watching these developments with great interest. He is the president of Vascular PRN, a company that distributes pneumatic compression devices that offer an alternative method of blood clot prevention.

"Xarelto quickly became a top-selling drug when it received FDA approval in 2011," Grambor said. "Doctors were glad to finally have an alternative to warfarin, which itself had significant downsides. Now it appears Xarelto may not be much better."

Xarelto has partially supplanted warfarin, a 60-year-old blood thinner that requires very careful patient monitoring to achieve optimal dosage.

Grambor hopes the controversy surrounding Xarelto will lead doctors to take another look at therapies with less risk of complication, including compression therapy.

"In cases where embolism prevention is the primary concern, pneumatic compression is a terrific alternative or supplemental therapy to warfarin and Xarelto," Grambor said. "It uses alternating compression to enhance blood flow and prevent clotting in the limbs of immobilized patients, such as those recovering from surgery, or sedentary patients such as those in nursing homes."

The clinical trials that led to FDA approval of Xarelto have also come under scrutiny. A device used in the tests to measure blood thinness has since been recalled by its manufacturer for giving falsely low readings, which may have led to erroneous comparisons between warfarin and Xarelto.

"It's a complicated and unfortunate mess for doctors and patients," Grambor said. "I encourage doctors who are skeptical of these drugs to look into pneumatic compression therapy."

Learn more at http://www.vascularprn.com