Levaquin Trials Move Forward

Levaquin has been prescribed more than 430 million times worldwide. Those who experienced Levaquin tendon rupture after taking Levaquin may have a case against Johnson & Johnson for not properly disclosing the risks. In 2006, Public Citizen filed a petition with the FDA, requesting that stronger warnings be issued regarding Levaquin tendon rupture side effects. The consumer protection group then filed a federal lawsuit asking the court to require the FDA to act on their petition-- requesting that new warnings be added about side effects of antibiotics--in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

More than 2,500 Levaquin lawsuits have been filed on behalf of individuals who allege that the drug maker failed to adequately research their medication or warn about the risk of tendon damage. Of those cases, 1512 are pending in New Jersey state court and 990 are pending in federal court, where the litigation has been centralized for pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim. Only one Levaquin lawsuit has reached a jury so far, resulting in a $1.8 million verdict in federal court in December.

That case, brought by John Schedin, was the first of six federal claims selected to serve as a bellwether trial, which are designed to gauge how juries are likely to respond to testimony, evidence and arguments that will be similar in other cases. The second federal bellwether trial, set to begin on May 31, will be a case selected by the Defendants. Between November 1997 and the end of December 2005, 794 cases of quinolone-associated tendon rupture, tendonitis and other tendon disorders were reported to the FDA. Of those, 175 cases of tendon rupture occurred between 2003 and 2005. According to FDA estimates, these cases may make up only about 10 percent of all adverse events related to the use of these antibiotics. Potential plaintiffs who have any questions in regards to Levaquin litigation and filing a lawsuit of their own should first speak to an experienced Levaquin lawyer.