Image by Ricky Romero via FlickrYesterday a jury in Minneapolis today awarded a verdict in the case of John Schedin, who sued J&J and its Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit in 2008. Schedin said he ruptured both Achilles tendons after taking Levaquin. He claimed the companies failed to warn doctors and patients of the drug’s association with tendon damage.This is the first case of more than 2,600 claims in U.S. courts alleging that Levaquin caused tendon damage in patients and that J&J failed to disclose the risk adequately.
In a report, particularly telling is a juror's statement: “We talked a lot about the responsibility the company had to the general public, as far as safety goes,” Zach Rawson, a juror from Rochester, Minnesota, said after the trial. “ We felt that they didn’t warn adequately, that they didn’t use enough means of warning the public, especially the doctors.”
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-08/johnson-johnson-must-pay-1-1-million-in-punitive-damages-jury-says.html
