Local couple receives $19M in damages: Centocor's drug Remicade caused lupus, records say

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Local couple receives $19M in damages

Centocor's drug Remicade caused lupus, records say

December 15, 2006

http://www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_5215919,00.html

A Corpus Christi couple was awarded more than $3.4 million in actual damages

plus $16 million in punitive damages this week after a Nueces County jury

found a Pennsylvania biomedicine company guilty of fraud in marketing its

drug Remicade.

The drug, produced by Centocor, is mostly prescribed to treat conditions of

Crohn's disease, an often debilitating bowel disorder, and rheumatoid

arthritis, according to the Web site for the company.

Jurors in Nueces County Court at Law No. 4 on Wednesday awarded total

damages of more than $19 million to 47-year-old Hamilton, who

received the Remicade treatments, and her husband, Hamilton, 48.

The drug caused Hamilton to develop drug-induced lupus after two

years of use, according to court records.

Hamilton on Wednesday deferred all questions to her attorneys. One of her

attorneys, Gsanger, said Thursday the treatments also caused Hamilton

to have severe pain and worsened the condition of her liver, which already

sustained damage because she was suffering from Hepatitis C, Gsanger said.

Gsanger said he expected Centocor to appeal the award to the Hamiltons, but

Centocor did not return calls to its company offices Thursday seeking

comment.

Attorneys for defendants, Centocor and former Corpus Christi physician

J. Hauptman, now living in Arizona, could not be reached for comment.

Another defendant, Corpus Christi rheumatologist Pop-Moody, declined

comment. But her attorney, Bill Abernathy,said an agreement had been reached

with the plaintiffs for Pop-Moody not to pay more than $50,000.

Hauptman could not be reached for comment.

Centocor negligently mislabeled and untruthfully advertised Remicade by not

disclosing all of its risks, including damage to the liver and inflamed

rheumatoid arthritis, Gsanger said.

In the trial of more than two weeks, the jury heard evidence showing that

the company knew the drug caused liver damage, Gsanger said.

Hauptman and Pop-Moody were found partially responsible for Hamilton's

worsened condition, according to court officials.

According to Gsanger, the doctors didn't know of the effects of the drug on

the liver, but Hauptman knew it could worsen Hamilton's arthritis.