Four drug manufacturers have helped provoke the deadly US opioid epidemic by misleading drug marketing and minimizing the risk of addiction, a California-based lawyer said Monday at the start of a closely watched trial.
Fidelma Fitzpatrick, a lawyer, 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) Allergan must be was held responsible for a drug crisis that only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teva’s lawyer, David Collie, disputed that the two drugs linked to his client were only a “tiny” part of the market and that doctors and patients were fully warned of the risks. Teva purchased the approved pain medication for cancer patients already treated with opioids with the purchase of Cephalon.
The other pharmaceutical companies are expected to make the opening statements later that day.
The plaintiffs – the popular counties of Santa Clara, Los Angeles and Orange and the city of Oakland – say drug manufacturers should pay more than $ 50 billion to cover the costs of reducing the public nuisance they have created, plus penalties.
Fitzpatrick told Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson that the case concerned the “deadly legacy” of companies trying to increase profits by promoting opioid painkillers to treat chronic pain, resulting in a “mountain” of addictive pills. which floods 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 experienced,” she said.
Collie said the county case was based on “suggestions and speculation.”
“You will not hear from a single doctor who has ever been deceived,” he said.
Opioids have killed nearly 500,000 people overdose in 1999 in 2019 in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 3,300 similar trials are pending nationwide due to the opiate crisis. The only other case that was tried in the opioid dispute was the fact that the state of Oklahoma won in 2019 a decision of $ 465 million against J&J, which is attractive.
Other cases should be tried in the coming months, creating new pressure for companies to come up with solutions. 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 pay $ 26 billion to settle cases against their. The proposed agreement has not been finalized.
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