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news.The family of a Florida man has won a $5.5 million wrongful death verdict against two subsidiaries of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson in the first US federal trial involving a patch form of the narcotic painkiller fentanyl.
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Janssen Pharmaceutica Products and Alza were sued by the family of 28-year-old Adam Hendelson following his death on December 17, 2003. Both companies are subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson.
Mr Hendelson suffered chronic hip pain as a result of an automobile accident, and wore a Duragesic patch on his right arm. Duragesic is the brand name of a transdermal patch that contains a gel form of the drug fentanyl.
“In essence, the jury found that Adam Hendelson did not have to die,” said Jim Orr of Dallas’ Heygood, Orr, Reyes & Bartolomei, attorney for the Hendelson family. “The facts and the evidence clearly showed that Janssen and Alza knew that problems with the Duragesic patches could hurt or kill someone, and in Adam’s case, that’s exactly what happened.”
Janssen and Alza both manufacture and sell Duragesic patches, which accounted for $1.5 billion in total sales in 2005. In June 2005, the defendants issued new health warnings regarding the use of Duragesic.