$5.5 Million Award in First Federal Fentanyl Patch Trial

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 nation’s first federal trial involving a patch form of the narcotic painkiller fentanyl.

The 2-man, 6-woman jury deliberated for 11 hours over two days before returning their verdict earlier today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, LP, and ALZA Corp. were sued by the family of 28-year-old Adam Hendelson following his death on Dec. 17, 2003. Both companies are subsidiaries of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson.

Mr. Hendelson suffered chronic hip pain as a result of an automobile accident, and wore a Duragesic (R) patch on his right arm. Duragesic is the brand name of a transdermal patch that contains a gel form of the drug fentanyl, an opium-like substance that is up to 100 times stronger than morphine.

“In essence, the jury found that Adam Hendelson did not have to die,” said the 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, more than a year after Mr. Hendelson’s death, the defendants issued new health warnings regarding the use of Duragesic.