Peripheral Neuropathy from Levaquin Caused Permanent and Severe Injury, Lawsuit Alleges

Johnson & Johnson, and it’s Janssen subsidiary, continue face lawsuits over peripheral neuropathy from Levaquin, a popular antibiotic that has been plagued by a number of severe health risks that allegedly were not adequately disclosed by the drug maker.

One of the latest cases was brought by Linda Aslinger, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, indicating that the drug maker knew for some time that users may be at risk of suffering severe and permanent nerve damage, yet provided false and misleading information for consumers and the medical community.

In the complaint (PDF) filed last week, Aslinger was prescribed Levaquin to fight an infection, and subsequently developed symptoms like numbness, pain and muscle weakness, which was eventually diagnosed as a form of nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy.

Levaquin is part of a widely used class of antibiotics, known as fluoroquinolones, which also includes Avelox and Cipro. While the medications have been prescribed for a variety of different infections in recent years, use of the antibiotics has been curtailed over the past year as more information has become available about the risk of peripheral neuropathy and other health problems linked to the drugs.

While Levaquin warnings mentioned that users may experience nerve damage, Aslinger indicates that the drug makers provided false and misleading information.

“The warning label for Levaquin during the period from September 2004 through August 2013 misled Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s treating physician by incorrectly advising patients and physicians that peripheral neuropathy associated with Levaquin was “rare” and in any case could be avoided by discontinuing the drug upon onset of certain symptoms,” alleges Aslinger in the lawsuit. “The truth, however, is that the onset of irreversible peripheral neuropathy is often rapid and discontinuation of the drug will not ensure that the peripheral neuropathy is reversible.”

In August 2013, the FDA required the makers of Levaquin and other fluoroquinolone-based antibiotics, such as Avelox and Cipro, to provide stronger warnings about the peripheral neuropathy risk, adding information to the label for the first time that suggested problems may last for months or years after an individual stops taking the drug. The new label now warns patients to contact their doctors and consider switching to a different class of antibiotics if they experience symptoms of peripheral neuropathy.

The case filed by Aslinger joins more than 400 similar Levaquin lawsuits, Avelox lawsuits and Cipro lawsuits filed throughout the federal court system over peripheral neuropathy caused by the antibiotics.

Given the risk of nerve damage and other injuries associated with the antibiotics, the FDA issued a new drug safety communication in May 2016, urging doctors not to prescribe fluoroquinolones for many common infections that are uncomplicated and have other available treatment options, indicating that the risks associated with the antibiotics outweigh the benefits. The federal regulatory agency considered available information on the risk of peripheral neuropathy, tendon ruptures, retinal detachments and other health concerns linked to the drugs at that time.

More recently, research has also suggested that the same collagen degradation issues that cause the drugs to increase the risk of tendon ruptures and retinal detachment may impact the aorta.

As a result, a growing number of aortic aneurysm lawsuits and aortic dissection lawsuits are also being pursued against the drug makers, alleging that the painful and potentially life-threatening complication may have been avoided if proper warnings had been provided to users of the antibiotics.