Johnson & Johnson said it has asked regulators to approve its anticlotting drug Xarelto as a treatment for blood clots in the legs that can travel to a patient's lungs. The company said today it filed for approval of Xarelto as a treatment for deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and as a preventative treatment for recurring venous thromboembolism. Deep vein thrombosis is a blood clot in large veins, usually in the legs. Those blood clots sometimes dislodge and travel to the lungs, where they can block the pulmonary artery in a condition called pulmonary embolism that can be fatal.
