Johnson & Johnson Hid Antibiotic’s Risk, Lawyer Says
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Johnson & Johnson knew its antibiotic Levaquin increased the risk of tendon damage and failed to properly warn patients or doctors, a lawyer said today at the start of a trial in Minnesota.
John Schedin, 82, who said he ruptured the Achilles tendons in both feet after taking the drug, sued the company and its Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical unit in 2008. The companies downplayed the risks of Levaquin even after receiving adverse reports from Europe in 2001, Schedin’s lawyer, Mikal Watts, said in his opening statement at trial today.