Paul Danziger

The Case That Changed an Industry

Retractable Technologies, Inc. v. Becton Dickinson & Co. (1998–2004)

In 1998, engineer Thomas Shaw approached Paul Danziger and Mike Weiss with a problem that was killing healthcare workers. Shaw had invented a retractable safety syringe — a device that could virtually eliminate accidental needlestick injuries — but couldn't get it into hospitals. The reason: a cartel of Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) had locked American hospitals into exclusive contracts with Becton Dickinson, which controlled 90% of the syringe market.

Danziger and Weiss filed a federal antitrust lawsuit on behalf of Retractable Technologies against Becton Dickinson, Novation, Tyco, and Premier. The case alleged that GPOs — originally created to negotiate lower prices for hospitals — had been corrupted by a 1986 Medicare anti-kickback exemption that allowed them to collect fees from the very manufacturers they were supposed to negotiate against. The result was a system where billion-dollar corporations chose which medical devices reached patients, regardless of safety.

Tragedy struck on October 2, 1999, when Mike Weiss died of a drug overdose at age 32. Danziger was left to carry the case alone against opponents with revenues exceeding $4.5 billion — while Retractable Technologies earned just $19 million annually. He persevered for five more years.

On July 2, 2004, Retractable Technologies announced a $100 million settlement with Becton Dickinson. Separately, the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act became law in 2000 amid a broader national response to occupational sharps injuries and safer-device technology.

From the Courtroom to Hollywood

Executive Producer & Co-Writer, Puncture (2011)

In 2004, after the settlement was secured, Danziger wrote an autobiographical screenplay about the case. With no Hollywood connections and no film industry experience, he hired screenwriter Ela Thier to refine his vision, then sent copies to production companies across the country — a move that every industry insider told him was futile.

Two responded. Danziger partnered with directors Adam and Mark Kassen, who brought on screenwriter Chris Lopata for a final rewrite and signed Chris Evans to portray Mike Weiss. When funding fell through, Danziger personally invested his own money to finance the production — breaking yet another Hollywood rule.

Puncture premiered as a spotlight selection at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2011. Millennium Films acquired distribution rights, and the film opened in theaters on September 23, 2011. It went on to win the inaugural Texas Independent Film Award from the Houston Film Critics Society in January 2012.

The film has been recognized as one of the most authentic legal dramas of its era — a David-and-Goliath story about a flawed lawyer who believed in a case when nobody else did, and the partner who carried it to the finish line.