On Friday, October 14, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) won a failure-to-warn product liability case over its antibiotic, Levaquin. Plaintiffs claim in more than 2,000 lawsuits that JNJ did not reveal the drug’s link to tendonitis.
Jurors in the New Jersey state court in Atlantic City heard lawyers for JNJ argue that the side effects were clearly displayed on the label which had been updated to make the warnings more prominent. Levaquin was approved in 1996 and had sales of about $1.5 billion last year, reports The New York Times. JNJ’s division, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, no longer markets the drug since its patent ran out and it is now sold as a generic. Two injured men filed the dangerous drug lawsuit after suffering tendon injuries and plan to appeal.
Their lawyers argued the tendon injuries were so serious that the FDA required the most serious warning, a “Black Box” warning, on the drug in 2008. Levaquin is found in the class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones.
This was the third case against JNJ over Levaquin. The plaintiff was awarded $1.8 million in the first case, which included punitive damages, and JNJ won the second case. A fourth case is set to go to trial in January.
Jacksonville product liability attorneys at Farah & Farah advise clients that just because a corporation markets a product does not mean it is safe and free from defects. Product liability law in Florida makes the manufacturer, the designer, the distributor, and even the entity in charge of producing the label liable if it fails the consumer in any of those areas and the user is injured. An experienced Florida product liability law firm will always offer you a complimentary consultation on your defective product case.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/business/johnson-johnson-wins-suit-over-levaquins-side-effects.html?_r=2
