Quoted from http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-14/j-j-unit-cleared-of-liability-for-alleged-levaquin-injuries.html
J&J Unit Cleared of Liability for Alleged Levaquin Injuries
October 14, 2011, 12:18 PM EDT
By Jef Feeley
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- A unit of Johnson & Johnson isn’t responsible for tendon damage suffered by two New Jersey men who took the drugmaker’s Levaquin antibiotic, a jury found.
The state court jury in Atlantic City, New Jersey, deliberated about eight hours over two days before clearing J&J’s Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical unit of liability for Paul Gaffney’s and Robert Beare’s injuries. The two men contend their Achilles tendon snapped after they took Levaquin to treat respiratory infections.
It’s the company’s second win in a Levaquin case. In June, a Minnesota jury rejected a man’s claim that the antibiotic caused his Achilles injury. Another Minnesota jury in December 2010 awarded another former Levaquin user a total of $1.8 million in damages over his tendon injury.
“The evidence showed Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals properly informed of the benefits and risks associated with the use of Levaquin and that the company acted responsibly by providing appropriate and timely information about” the drug, William Foster, a spokesman for the J&J unit, said in an e- mailed statement.