Teva, Baxter, McKesson Must Pay $20 Million, Nevada Jury Says

A Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. unit and two other drugmakers were ordered by a jury to pay at least $20.1 million for selling the anesthetic Propofol in a way that led three colonoscopy patients to develop Hepatitis C.Jurors in state court in Las Vegas deliberated a total of seven hours yesterday before finding Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc., Baxter Healthcare Corp. and McKesson Corp. wrongfully sold Propofol in vials large enough to be used on multiple patients. Anne Arnold, Richard Sacks and Anthony Devito contend they contracted Hepatitis C from reused vials during colonoscopy procedures.The jury awarded Arnold, Sacks and Devito a total of $20.1 million in compensatory damages and will consider punitive damages today. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said during the trial that they may seek a punitive award of as much as $600 million.“We believe that the allegations against Teva are without merit and we plan to appeal this decision,” Denise Bradley, a U.S.-based spokeswoman for Teva, said in an e-mailed statement.It’s the second verdict against Baxter and the unit of Petach Tikva, Israel-based Teva over a 2008 hepatitis outbreak in Nevada tied to Propofol. The trial of the first case resulted in a verdict of more than $500 million against the drugmakers.Deborah Spak, a Baxter spokeswoman, and Megan Hawkins, a McKesson spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment on the verdict after regular business hours.