Quoted from http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202431984309&Litigation_Over_Johnson__Johnson_Antibiotic_Levaquin_Designated_NJ_Mass_Tort
Litigation Over Johnson & Johnson Antibiotic Levaquin Designated N.J. Mass Tort
Charles Toutant
New Jersey Law Journal
July 6, 2009The New Jersey Supreme Court has designated mounting litigation over the Johnson & Johnson antibiotic Levaquin as a mass tort and has assigned it to an Atlantic County, N.J., judge. The suits charge that the drug, which is prescribed for bacterial infections of the lungs, urinary tract and skin, has caused Achilles' tendon ruptures and other damage....
Levaquin, made by J&J subsidiary Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1996, but in July 2008, the FDA warned that Levaquin, and other drugs in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics, put users at heightened risk of developing tendonitis and tendon ruptures. The FDA ordered Ortho-McNeil to include on Levaquin's label a warning about the incidence of those injuries.
The most common injury associated with Levaquin, a ruptured Achilles' tendon, may require surgery to repair and frequently entails two months of immobility, then surgery and a rehabilitation period of six months or more....
Other reported injuries are ruptures of the rotator cuff, hand, biceps and thumb.
Most ailments occur during or soon after a course of Levaquin, although cases occurring several months after completion have been reported, and injuries are most frequent in users over age 60, people taking steroids, or persons who have had a kidney, heart or lung transplant, the plaintiffs allege.
