Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is getting out of the propofol business, the company announced today, giving no reason for its decision to discontinue manufacturing the sedative.

Teva, based in Israel, is currently facing nearly 250 propofol-related lawsuits, according to reports. Earlier this month, Teva and its partner, Baxter International, were ordered to pay a combined $500 million in damages to a patient who contracted hepatitis C when vials and syringes of the drug were reused on multiple patients at a Las Vegas endoscopy center. Both companies are appealing the verdict, the first in a number of civil lawsuits stemming from the Las Vegas hepatitis C outbreak.

Teva says that while it will no longer manufacture the drug, it will continue to market vials of propofol that are already made. The company's announcement comes amid an ongoing shortage of the anesthetic drug, spurred in part by manufacturing problems last year at both Teva and Hospira, the 2 major manufacturers of generic propofol.

Irene Tsikitas

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