$5.5 Million Awarded to Plaintiff in Duragesic Pain Patch Case

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A jury has awarded $5.5 million to the family of a man who died after using a Duragesic pain patch that was placed on the market despite an alleged manufacturing defect that the plaintiffs said caused fatal amounts of fentanyl to enter the man's blood stream. Hendelson v. Alza Corp., et al., No. 05-81116 (S.D. Fla.).

Jurors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida returned the verdict June 19 after two days of deliberation, finding that Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries Alza Corp. and Janssen Pharmaceutica were liable for failing to warn …