The first quinolone peripheral neuropathy lawsuit was filed against Johnson & Johnson in September alleging severe and long-lasting side effects of taking its quinolone antibiotic Levaquin.

Plaintiff Karyn Grossman of Maryland filed this Levaquin peripheral neuropathy lawsuit in California federal court regarding claims of personal injury when she allegedly developed nerve damage she claims is directly related to her consumption of Johnson’s Levaquin.

Grossman further alleges that for years Johnson & Johnson ignored medical information suggesting a strong correlation between their popular antibiotic drug and peripheral neuropathy, but neglected to fully inform Levaquin users and doctors about the possible risk of developing permanent nerve damage.

According to the Levaquin lawsuit, Grossman claims, “the warning label for Levaquin during the period from September 2004 through August 2013 misled Plaintiff and her 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 the onset of certain symptoms.”

“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,” the Levaquin nerve damage lawsuit adds.

Grossman is not the only Levaquin patient to file a nerve damage lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for allegations of a peripheral neuropathy condition. Since she filed her quinolone lawsuit in September, a number of other plaintiffs have also claimed the drug maker knew or should have reasonably known about the risk of nerve damage thanks to fluoroquinolone drugs like Levaquin as early as 1992.

The Levaquin Peripheral Neuropathy Lawsuit is Grossman v. Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-03557, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Quinolone Peripheral Neuropathy

New research and recent adverse event drug reports have suggested that patients prescribed quinolone antibiotic drugs (also known as fluoroquinolones) have a higher chance of developing peripheral neuropathy, otherwise known as nerve damage, when compared to patients taking other types of antibiotics.

Drugs included in the quinolone drug family known to allegedly cause the development of peripheral neuropathy include:

• levofloxacin (Levaquin)
• ciprofloxacin (Cipro)
• moxifloxacin (Avelox)
• norfloxacin (Noroxin)
• ofloxacin (Floxin)
• gemifloxacin (Factive)

In general, peripheral neuropathy begins rapidly, and patients may begin symptoms just a few days after beginning a course of quinolone antibiotics. The extent of nerve damage a patient may incur will vary case to case.

Some patients have reported experiencing nerve damage symptoms for a few months after stopping their antibiotic treatment and other patient’s allege they have developed severe, permanent, and irreversible nerve damage.

Quinolone neuropathy studies have suggested that patients prescribed fluoroquinolone drugs for eye and ear infections are not at risk of developing peripheral neuropathy as much as those who are taking the antibiotics orally or by injections.

Some signs of quinolone peripheral neuropathy side effects include:

• Burning pain
• Sharp, jabbing pain or electric-like pain
• Extreme touch sensitivity
• Skin, hair or nail changes
• Lack of coordination
• Muscle weakness
• Paralysis
• Heat intolerance
• Bowel, bladder of digestive problems
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Tingling or numbness in the extremities starting in the hands and feet and spreading to the arms and legs

Many individuals and family of individuals who have allegedly suffered from severe nerve damage after taking Levaquin have filed quinolone peripheral neuropathy lawsuits or joined quinolone peripheral neuropathy class action lawsuits.