With a high-profile opioid trial set to begin in New York this week, Johnson & Johnson has inked a $230 million settlement to remove itself as a defendant.
As part of the settlement, J&J agreed to permanently end its manufacturing and distribution of opioids nationwide. The company stopped selling and producing opioids last year and halted marketing of them in 2016.
The opioid crisis has killed approximately 500,000 Americans over the last two decades, CDC data show. Drugmakers and distributors face more than 3,400 lawsuits alleging they've played a role in creating the crisis.
“Johnson & Johnson helped fuel this fire, but today they’re committing to leaving the opioid business—not only in New York, but across the entire country,” New York attorney general Letitia James said in a statement.
The trial follows similar litigation by other states and local governments [such as Newtown - see below] in response to the opioid crisis.
Newtown is supposedly in the process of suing many opioid producers, including a J&J company. I say "supposedly" because this suit was approved years ago and I haven't heard anything about since October, 2019. Like the Oklahoma case, which J&J settled as well, the NY settlement undoubtedly increases pressure on the defendants in the Newtown case to settle. I will see if I can get a further update regarding this case.
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I’m on record saying “If [Newtown] Township were to get some money out of this, small as it might be, it is my hope that the funds are used to support opioid anti-addiction programs and implement educational programs for the general public and students.” See the video here: http://bit.ly/OpioidSuitPost