Four drug companies helped trigger the deadly American opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing their drugs and downplaying their addiction risks, a lawyer from several California counties said at the start of a closely-watched trial on Monday.
Fidelma Fitzpatrick, the attorney, told a California judge that Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA), Endo International PLC (ENDP.O), and AbbVie’s (ABBV.N) were to become Allergan units blamed for a drug crisis that got worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teva’s attorney, David Collie, countered that the two drugs linked to his client were only a “miniscule” share of the market, and that doctors and patients had been fully warned of the risks. With the purchase of Cephalon, Teva had obtained the drugs approved for breakthrough pain in cancer patients who are already on opioids.
The other pharmaceutical companies are expected to issue their opening statements later today.
The plaintiffs – the populous counties of Santa Clara, Los Angeles and Orange and the city of Oakland – say the drug makers would have to pay more than $ 50 billion to cover the costs of reducing the public nuisance they caused, plus fines.
Fitzpatrick told Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson that the case was about the companies’ ‘deadly legacy’ of increasing their profits by promoting opioid painkillers to treat chronic pain, resulting in a ‘mountain’ of addictions. pills that flooded the state and the country. .
“The evidence will show that each of these companies, all of them, knew what was going to happen: that their opioids would cause the crushing burden of addiction, overdose, and death that California and its people have endured,” she said.
Collie said the county’s case was based on “suggestion and speculation.”
“You will not hear of a single doctor who has ever been deceived,” he said.
Between 1999 and 2019, opioids led to the overdose deaths of nearly 500,000 people in the United States, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 3,300 similar lawsuits are pending nationally over the opioid crisis. The only other case to go to court in the opioid lawsuit resulted in the state of Oklahoma winning a $ 465 million judgment against J&J in 2019, which is appealing.
Other cases will be tried in the coming months, creating new pressure on companies to reach settlements. read more
The country’s three largest drug distributors – McKesson Corp (MCK.N), AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N) and Cardinal Health Inc (CAH.N) – and J&J have proposed to jointly pay $ 26 billion to take the case against them. to unload. The proposed deal has not yet been finalized.
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