A company that makes an oral cancer detection kit has launched a $60m lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, claiming that the multinational prevented its product from being sold to protect its own Listerine mouthwash, which, along with other mouth rinses, has been linked to mouth cancer.

In a complaint filed in a New Jersey court, Oral Cancer Prevention International says the multinational's executives were "leery of highlighting" the risk of oral cancer if Listerine were to be sold alongside the detection kit, as the OCPI and a division of Johnson & Johnson had previously agreed.

In February last year OCPI signed a contract with OraPharma, then part of Johnson & Johnson, the healthcare product manufacturer, to sell the company's Oral CDx Brush Test. However, almost immediately it allegedly found its product sidelined by the sales team. Johnson & Johnson sold OraPharma to a private equity firm this year.

OCPI alleges that Johnson & Johnson had been worried by a 2008 study in the Australian Dental Journal that concluded that mouthwashes with high alcohol content could cause oral cancer.

According to the allegations, the effect of sidelining the test "is that an estimated 584 cases of otherwise preventable oral cancer in the state of New Jersey and 7,300 such cases throughout the US" would have occurred. Alcohol and smoking have both been linked to the cancer, and symptoms include loss of teeth and bleeding.

"This is a case of concealment," said Mark Rutenberg, chief executive and founder of OCPI. "Johnson & Johnson wanted to conceal that studies had shown there was a problem with Listerine and oral cancer. In the US alone Listerine sales exceed $1bn a year."

The OCPI product was a "Brush Test" that dentists could use to determine if a common oral spot contained abnormal cells that could develop into oral cancer.

Rutenberg claims that the company's response to the Australian study was to secretly commission a new product, Listerine Zero, an alcohol-free product launched in 2009 in the US. Listerine has high concentrations of alcohol, between 21.6% and 26.9%. Both Listerine and Listerine Zero are sold in Britain.

The American Dental Association said in 2009 that "the available evidence does not support a connection between oral cancer and alcohol-containing mouthrinse".

There are around 5,000 oral cancer cases diagnosed every year in the UK.

Chris Steele, a GP who appears on ITV's This Morning and edits an influential newsletter, www.drchrisconfidential.com, said: ""This test is available in the UK privately at £80, but only a handful of dentists are using it at the moment. It's not available on the NHS, but experts are calling for more widespread use to combat this deadly cancer, which is only diagnosed once it's in an advanced state."

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said: "We are aware of the complaint that has been filed by OCPI. The company is confident that we have engaged in proper business practices and we look forward to the opportunity to resolve this matter through the legal system."