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| Drug and consumer products maker Johnson & Johnson was the first pharmaceutical company tried over the US opioid crisis (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU) |
Washington
(AFP) - An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered US health care giant Johnson &
Johnson to pay $572 million in damages for its role in fostering the state's
opioid addiction crisis.
In the
first civil trial of a drugmaker over an epidemic that has caused hundreds of
thousands of overdose deaths, Judge Thad Balkman said prosecutors had
demonstrated that J&J contributed to a "public nuisance" in its
deceptive promotion of highly addictive prescription painkillers.
"Those
actions compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans," he
said.
According
to the ruling, the company and its Janssen pharmaceuticals division will fund
an "abatement plan" for care for addicts, families and communities
ravaged by the crisis.
"The
defendants Janssen and Johnson & Johnson's misleading marketing and
promotion of opioids created a nuisance," Balkman said.
Landmark
case
J&J was
the first pharmaceutical company tried over the US opioid crisis, which fueled
over 70,000 overdose deaths in 2017 alone.
But there
are some 2,000 outstanding lawsuits against many drugmakers and distributors
filed by state and local governments, many overwhelmed by the costs of an
epidemic that has only slightly abated.
Most of
those are being rolled into a case to go to trial in October in Ohio that will
likely set the basis for potentially many billions of dollars in settlements
across the country.
Prosecutors
had sought $17 billion in damages against J&J for an abatement program to
be spread over 30 years.
But Balkman
said the state had not made a strong case for the future costs of the crisis to
it and the community beyond one year, and so limited his ruling to that.
J&J's
shares rose about two percent to $130 in after-market trade following the
decision.
The company
immediately said it would appeal the decision.
"Janssen
did not cause the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, and neither the facts nor the law
support this outcome," said J&J executive vice president Michael
Ullmann.
"The
unprecedented award for the state's 'abatement plan' has sweeping ramifications
for many industries and bears no relation to the company's medicines or
conduct."
Company
downplayed addiction claims
J&J
argued that the law was being inappropriately applied and that its products had
a very small role in the addiction epidemic in Oklahoma and nationally.
Balkman
said J&J had promoted its drugs by telling doctors and patients that pain
was not being treated enough and that "there was a low risk of abuse and a
low danger" in the drugs themselves.
"The
defendants used the phrase 'pseudoaddiction' to convince doctors that patients
who exhibited signs of addiction... were not actually suffering from addiction,
but from the undertreatment of pain," he said in his decision.
He also
said the company consciously downplayed risks it knew were present, pointing to
the 2007 $600 million fine in a Virginia trial of Purdue Pharma, one of the
leading prescription opioid makers, for misleading the health industry and the
public about the highly addictive properties of its Oxycontin painkiller.
J&J is
the first drugmaker to go to trial and the case is seen as a bellwether for
thousands of possible criminal and civil suits over the seeming uncontrolled
distribution of highly addictive painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone,
and J&J's Nucynta and Duragesic, between 2000 and 2015.
Two other
major drugmakers accused in the same suit, Purdue Pharma of the United States
and Israel's Teva, settled with Oklahoma before the case went to trial.
Purdue,
which produced the widely abused opioid Oxycontin, agreed to pay the state $270
million in March and Teva negotiated an $85 million settlement.
Dozens of
local and state governments across the country have also already exacted
settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors to address their
problems.
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".... Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.
There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."
There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
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