A Louisiana federal judge managing the tide of lawsuits against the blood thinner Xarelto (rivaroxaban) ordered them to be prepared for trial in individual federal courts nationwide, with selection and discovery to take place in two waves of 600 cases each.

The consolidated multidistrict litigation follows more than 18,000 product defect lawsuits against Janssen and Bayer, with plaintiffs saying Xarelto caused bleeding complications and death. A mass tort civil action has also been filed in Philadelphia federal court.

For each 600-case wave, 200 will be selected randomly by the Eastern Louisiana federal court, 200 will be selected by defendants and the remaining 200 will be chosen by a plaintiffs’ steering committee. The cases will be remanded to their original trial courts.