NEW YORK (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Baxter Healthcare Services on Friday were ordered to pay a combined $500 million in punitive damages to a Nevada man who contracted Hepatitis C during an outbreak two years ago.
The Clark County District Court jury in Nevada ordered Teva to pay $356 million and Baxter to pay $144 million in the largest jury award in Nevada history, attorney Robert Eglet said.
A spokesman for Teva and a spokeswoman for Baxter did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Eglet said Henry Chanin and more than 100 others contracted the liver disease Hepatitis C after the anesthetic propofol were reused for colonoscopy or endoscopy procedures. Teva made the drug and Baxter distributed it, Eglet said.
Chanin's trial marked the first of what could be many, said Eglet, who is representing more than 40 Hepatitis C patients.
(Reporting by Steve Eder; editing by Carol Bishopric)
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