A California resident who was diagnosed with nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy after taking the popular antibiotic Levaquin (levofloxacin) has filed a Levaquin lawsuit in federal court against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Plaintiff Scott R., a California resident, alleges that Levaquin caused him to develop peripheral neuropathy after he was prescribed the medication in October 2010 and used it as directed. Scott claims that the drug label lacked proper warnings and directions as to the dangers associated with Levaquin side effects.

According to the Levaquin lawsuit, “the warning label for Levaquin during the period from September 2004 through August 2013 misled Plaintiff and his treating physician by incorrectly advising patients and physicians that peripheral neuropathy associated with Levaquin was ‘rare.’” The Levaquin lawsuit further alleges that peripheral neuropathy cannot always be avoided by discontinuing Levaquin.

What is Levaquin?

Levaquin is in a class of drugs known as fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Levaquin is a commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotic intended to treat bacterial infections and illnesses.

Levaquin may be used to tackle a range of bacteria strains from bacterial pneumonia, bacterial chronic bronchitis, life-threatening bacterial infections such as meningitis, symptoms caused by multiple, concurrent bacterial infections, and bacterial infections that are resistant to other antibiotics.

According to IMS Health, which tracks prescription drugs sales, Levaquin was the best-selling antibiotic drug in the United States in 2010, with sales of about $1.5 billion.

What is Peripheral Neuropathy (PN)?

Peripheral neuropathy is a nerve disorder that can occur in both the arms and the legs. Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include:

• Paralysis
• Tingling
• Numbness
• Weakness
• Loss of reflexes
• Burning
• Shooting pain
• Change in the sense of body position
• Change in sensation to touch, pain or temperature

Peripheral neuropathy may occur any time during or after treatment with quinolone antibiotics, such as Levaquin, and can last up to many months or years after the treatment has stopped. It can also be permanent. Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy can develop rapidly, even within just a few days of starting Levaquin.

Peripheral neuropathy causes symptoms as it damages the nerves that send information between the brain and spinal cord and the rest of the body. The damage interrupts this connection, and the varying symptoms of peripheral neuropathy depend on which nerves the damage affects.

Levaquin Peripheral Neuropathy Lawsuits

New FDA warnings remove prior claims that Levaquin peripheral neuropathy rarely occurs, and indicate that problems may affect users for years after they stop taking the drug. In many cases the peripheral neuropathy causes permanent disability and limitations for the remainder of the user’s life.

Complaints allege that if the manufacturers had provided accurate and complete information earlier, many former users may have avoided permanent nerve damage following use of the antibiotics.

For Johnson & Johnson’s alleged deception in marketing Levaquin, Scott R. is seeking the full range of damages including general, economic, compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages, along with medical expenses and legal costs. He has demanded a jury trial.

The Levaquin Peripheral Neuropathy Lawsuit, filed April 8, 2015, is Case No. 4:15-cv-01610-DMR in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.