J&J unit wins lawsuit over antibiotic Levaquin drug side effects
15 Oct 2011
US health care major Johnson & Johnson (J&J) yesterday won a lawsuit on the risks associated with use of the company's popular antibiotic, Levaquin.
Two people had sued the company's unit Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical for protecting sales by leaving out information about Levaquin's ''comparative risk'' from its warning label.
Two of the three men claimed that they had taken Levaquin, a prescription drug used to cure bronchitis brought on by sinus infections, but ended up with Achilles-tendon injuries that required surgery and left them unable to walk for an extended period of time.
Janssen Pharmaceutical, which has recently been in the centre of numerous recalls, is facing more than 2,600 lawsuits on not adequately warning doctors about the danger linking Levaquin to tendonitis and tendon ruptures.
Janssen Pharmaceutical told a New Jersey state court in Atlantic City that it has acted responsibly by providing enough information on the Levaquin label including information about tendon problems since the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved it in 1996.
The FDA had ordered Janssen Pharmaceutical to upgrade warnings after it found out that several complaints were made on the antibiotic increasing the risk of tendon ruptures.