Johnson & Johnson settles with two Ohio counties in opioid cases

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $20.4 million in settlements with two Ohio counties that sued the major for its role in the opioid crisis.

Geoff Mulvihill reported the news for the AP:
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday announced it had reached an agreement worth more than $20 million with two Ohio counties, becoming the latest company to settle a lawsuit to get out of the first federal trial over the nation’s opioids crisis.

The deal with Cuyahoga and Summit counties comes a little more than a month after an Oklahoma judge ordered the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based health care conglomerate to pay $572 million over its marketing of opioids in that state.

It was announced less than three weeks before the scheduled start of the first federal trial over the opioid crisis. Four other opioid makers also have reached settlements in recent months and will not be defendants in the trial, scheduled for federal court in Cleveland. Like most of the others, Johnson & Johnson still faces some 2,000 other lawsuits related to the nation’s opioids epidemic.

The Ohio agreement calls for the company and its Janssen Pharmaceutical subsidiary to pay $10 million without admitting liability. The deal also includes provisions for the company to reimburse the counties up to $5 million for legal expenses and contribute another $5.4 million to nonprofit organizations that deal with the opioid crisis in northeastern Ohio.

The BBC noted Johnson & Johnson was the fourth company to settle with Ohio plaintiffs:

Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that the deal was not an admission of liability for the state’s epidemic.

It is the fourth drugmaker to settle claims in Ohio amid more than 2,600 lawsuits by state and local governments against painkiller manufacturers.

Tuesday’s announcement comes after a landmark ruling in August which ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572m (£468m) for its part in fuelling Oklahoma’s opioid addiction crisis.

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said it would pay $10m to Cuyahoga and Summit counties, and another $5m to cover their legal expenses.

Another $5.4m will be given to charities involved with opioid-related programs in the counties.

Opioids are a group of drugs that range from codeine, to illegal drugs like heroin.

Prescription opioids are primarily used for pain relief. They can be highly addictive.

On average, 130 Americans die from an opioid overdose every day, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Opioids were involved in almost 400,000 overdose deaths in the US from 1999 to 2017, according to its research.

CNN’s Rob Frehse and Josh Girsky reported:

“The settlement allows the Company to avoid the resource demands and uncertainty of a trial as it continues to seek meaningful progress in addressing the nation’s opioid crisis,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement. “The Company recognizes the opioid crisis is a complex public health challenge and is working collaboratively to help communities and people in need.”

Johnson & Johnson noted the settlement agreement would resolve “all of the counties’ claims with no admission of liability,” according to a statement.

The landmark trial is scheduled to begin October 21 and combines nearly 2,000 cases involving cities, counties, communities and tribal lands. It accuses drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and practitioners of shipping “hundreds of millions” of suspicious opioid doses over 20 years to their jurisdictions.

In August, a state judge in Oklahoma issued a landmark decision directing Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its part in that state’s opioid crisis. Oklahoma reached settlements with two other opioid drugmakers: a $270 million deal with Purdue Pharma, and an $85 million settlement with Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s leading providers of generic drugs.