Jury awards nearly $16.6M in Ill. skin patch case
Jury awards nearly $16.6M in Ill. skin patch case; finds Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries liable
NEW YORK (Associated Press)
November 18, 2008: 08:21 AM EST
Two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries that make and distribute a painkilling skin patch must pay nearly $16.6 million to the family of a suburban woman who died from a drug overdose while using the product, a jury ruled Monday.
Janice DiCosolo, 38, of Cicero died on Feb. 15, 2004, while using a Duragesic patch that her doctor prescribed to reduce pain caused by a neurological condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy, her attorneys said.
The mother of three died because the patch delivered a fatal dose of its main ingredient, the powerful narcotic pain reliever fentanyl, jurors ruled Monday in Cook County Circuit Court following a three-week trial.
The defendants, Titusville, N.J.-based Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. and Mountain View, Calif.-based ALZA Corp., knew about problems with the Duragesic patch that allowed it to leak fentanyl in doses large enough to kill patients, the lawsuit claimed. Both companies are subsidiaries of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson.
"They knew this patch was dangerous and defective but they continued to sell it and make money, and that's the only reason Janice DiCosolo is dead," Jim Orr, an attorney for DiCosolo's family, said in a statement.
Greg Panico, a spokesman for Janssen and ALZA, said Monday that the companies sympathize with DiCosolo's family but disagree with the jury's verdict.
The companies are considering options for an appeal, Panico said in a statement.
"This is a very unfortunate case for everyone, but we maintain that the patch was not defective," he said.
An independent expert and company expert inspected the patch that DiCosolo used and concluded there was no defect, Panico said. The companies believe DiCosolo's cause of death was polypharmacy, "a mix of multiple and potentially incompatible medications," he said.
Duragesic is a prescription-only product that is intended for cancer patients and others with chronic pain and is designed to dispense the medicine slowly through the skin.
The verdict is the fourth trial loss for the companies since 2006, DiCosolo's attorneys said.
A Sanford, Fla., jury last month awarded $13.3 million to the family of Susan Hodgemire, 34, who died after undergoing back surgery and using the Duragesic patch. In June 2007 a federal jury awarded $5.5 million to the father of a 28-year-old man who died in 2003 while wearing the patch.
The Food and Drug Administration issued two warnings in two years about improper use of fentanyl patches.
Some of the deaths came after doctors prescribed the patches to the wrong patients, the FDA said in December 2007. Patients could also accidentally overdose by using the patches wrong, the FDA said.
Some patches containing fentanyl were recalled in February 2008 because of a flaw that could cause them to leak. Those patches were sold in the United States by Actavis South Atlantic LLC and had both that name and the company's former name, Abrika Pharmaceuticals Inc., on the packaging.
Also in February, PriCara, another Johnson & Johnson division announced a recall of fentanyl patches manufactured by ALZA Corp.
The patches were first approved under the brand name Duragesic in 1990. A generic version hit the market in 2005.
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NEW YORK (Associated Press)
November 18, 2008: 08:21 AM EST
Two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries that make and distribute a painkilling skin patch must pay nearly $16.6 million to the family of a suburban woman who died from a drug overdose while using the product, a jury ruled Monday.
Janice DiCosolo, 38, of Cicero died on Feb. 15, 2004, while using a Duragesic patch that her doctor prescribed to reduce pain caused by a neurological condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy, her attorneys said.
The mother of three died because the patch delivered a fatal dose of its main ingredient, the powerful narcotic pain reliever fentanyl, jurors ruled Monday in Cook County Circuit Court following a three-week trial.
The defendants, Titusville, N.J.-based Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. and Mountain View, Calif.-based ALZA Corp., knew about problems with the Duragesic patch that allowed it to leak fentanyl in doses large enough to kill patients, the lawsuit claimed. Both companies are subsidiaries of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson.
"They knew this patch was dangerous and defective but they continued to sell it and make money, and that's the only reason Janice DiCosolo is dead," Jim Orr, an attorney for DiCosolo's family, said in a statement.
Greg Panico, a spokesman for Janssen and ALZA, said Monday that the companies sympathize with DiCosolo's family but disagree with the jury's verdict.
The companies are considering options for an appeal, Panico said in a statement.
"This is a very unfortunate case for everyone, but we maintain that the patch was not defective," he said.
An independent expert and company expert inspected the patch that DiCosolo used and concluded there was no defect, Panico said. The companies believe DiCosolo's cause of death was polypharmacy, "a mix of multiple and potentially incompatible medications," he said.
Duragesic is a prescription-only product that is intended for cancer patients and others with chronic pain and is designed to dispense the medicine slowly through the skin.
The verdict is the fourth trial loss for the companies since 2006, DiCosolo's attorneys said.
A Sanford, Fla., jury last month awarded $13.3 million to the family of Susan Hodgemire, 34, who died after undergoing back surgery and using the Duragesic patch. In June 2007 a federal jury awarded $5.5 million to the father of a 28-year-old man who died in 2003 while wearing the patch.
The Food and Drug Administration issued two warnings in two years about improper use of fentanyl patches.
Some of the deaths came after doctors prescribed the patches to the wrong patients, the FDA said in December 2007. Patients could also accidentally overdose by using the patches wrong, the FDA said.
Some patches containing fentanyl were recalled in February 2008 because of a flaw that could cause them to leak. Those patches were sold in the United States by Actavis South Atlantic LLC and had both that name and the company's former name, Abrika Pharmaceuticals Inc., on the packaging.
Also in February, PriCara, another Johnson & Johnson division announced a recall of fentanyl patches manufactured by ALZA Corp.
The patches were first approved under the brand name Duragesic in 1990. A generic version hit the market in 2005.
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