Posts Tagged ‘ Levaquin ’

Is Avelox the next Levaquin?

June 29th, 2009. By janem

Attorney Mike Stratton points out that Bayer’s patent on Cipro will expire soon and Ortho-McNeil’s blockbuster Levaquin has been targeted for the majority of lawsuits against the flouroquinolones family, so it is likely that Bayer may soon push sales of its more quiet cousin Avelox—described by Stratton as “the elephant in the room”.

Flouroquinolone antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics, yet many of them have been removed from the market due to their severe toxicity (e.g., Trovan, Tequin, Zagam, and Omniflox). Is it just a matter of time until Avelox is taken off the market or does Bayer have more control over its drugs than the FDA? (According to one website, the FDA gets about half of its funding for the review of drugs directly from the pharmaceutical industry in what is called prescription drug user fees.)

Although Avelox was slapped with a black box warning regarding tendon tears and ruptures, Bayer says that Avelox (and its close relative Cipro) are “effective and well tolerated” but try telling that to the many victims who have registered complaints on medical websites and their own personal blogs.  This from one Avelox victim: “…yes, the potential for a ruptured tendon was mentioned in the [Avelox] box insert. But it was printed, like everything else was, in teeny tiny type. And of course, we never think WE are the people who will have the problems, do we?)”

Like that woman who suffered ankle tears, not everyone prescribed Avelox and suffering from tendon ruptures will make the connection between the drug and adverse events right away. After all, drug side effects actually reported to the FDA typically only involve about 1 percent to 10 percent of all problems experienced by users.  However, there will likely be many Avelox lawsuits soon–just take a look at Levaquin.

Tags: Avelox, Cipro, Levaquin
Posted in Drugs/Medical | 19 Comments »