Levofloxacin - Current Litigation

Current Litigation

An official complaint has been filed by The US Justice Department with a Federal Court in Boston (January 2010) accusing Johnson and Johnson of illegally paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare, one of the nation's largest pharmacies specializing in nursing home patients. In return, Omnicare nearly tripled its annual purchase of Johnson and Johnson's products; including Levaquin.

There is also cases currently pending before the United States District Court, District of Minnesota, involving Levaquin. On 13 June 2008, a Judicial Panel On Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) granted the Plaintiffs' motion to centralize individual and class action lawsuits involving Levaquin in the District of Minnesota over objection of Defendants, Johnson and Johnson / Ortho McNeil. On 6 July 2009, The New Jersey Supreme Court had also designated litigation over Levaquin as a mass tort and has assigned it to an Atlantic County, N.J., judge. The suits charge that the drug has caused achilles tendon ruptures and other permanent damage. Additional lawsuits have also been recently filed in the Illinois State Court. Of a total of about 3400 cases, 845 were recently settled out of court after Johnson and Johnson prevailed in three of the first four cases to go to trial

On 8 April 2010 in the Beaumont Division of the Eastern District of Texas, a class action lawsuit was filed by Lisa Presley on behalf of herself and others similar situated against Johnson and Johnson, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development LLC. (Case No 1:10cv00200.)

The various manufacturers have countered these allegations stating that they believe that these drugs are both safe and effective antibiotics, well tolerated with a minimum of side-effects, that such reactions are rare and the benefits of such therapy outweigh the perceived risks.