Teva Pharmaceuticals, Two Other Drugmakers to Pay $20M to Injured Colonoscopy Patients

eva Parenteral Medicines Inc. — a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Unit — along with Baxter Healthcare Corp. and McKesson Corp. were ordered by a Nevada 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, Bloomberg reports.Jurors in state court in Las Vegas deliberated a total of seven hours Thursday before finding that Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc., Baxter Healthcare Corp. and McKesson Corp. wrongfully sold Propofol in vials large enough to be used on multiple patients.According to Bloomberg, 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 $20.1 million in compensatory damages and will consider punitive damages Friday. During the trial, the plaintiffs may seek a punitive award of as much as $600 million, the plaintiffs’ lawyers told Bloomberg.The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that Teva stopped making smaller Propofol vials because the larger containers were more profitable. Teva marketed the 50-milliliter vials knowing doctors and staff would reuse them to save money, the attorneys added.