Four New Levaquin Suits Filed Over Tendon Rupture Risks

By Danielle Briones

Published on September 18, 2009

Four civil lawsuits have been filed in Illinois state court against Johnson & Johnson and their subsidiary, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., the makers of Levaquin. A complaint was also filed against Walgreen Co., which sold the drug. Levaquin is a powerful antibiotic prescribed to treat lung, sinus, skin, and urinary tract infections.

The lawsuits were filed on the behalf of patients who maintain they suffered severe tendonitis or tendon ruptures as a result of Levaquin use. The suit states that the makers knew of the risks, but tried to prevent efforts to warn patients by manipulating data and downplaying the dangers. The suit against Walgreen alleges that the company was negligent in its failure to warn patients about the potential dangers of Levaquin.

These recent suits are similar to hundreds of other Levaquin suits filed throughout the country that claim the drug makers were negligent and irresponsible in providing adequate warnings to the public.

Levaquin is generically known as levofloxacin, which is part of a class of medications known as fluoroquinolones that are prescribed to prevent infection. Fluoroquinolones were approved by the FDA in December 1996, but have since been found to be toxic to tendons. As a result of these findings, the FDA required that a black box warning be added to Levaquin in 2008.

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