An Oklahoma Judge on last Monday, in a landmark decision, has ruled that pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson had intentionally brought dangers and oversold the opioid benefits among a large group of people. The judge has ordered the pharmaceutical company to pay the state $572 for its intentional role in the state’s opioid crisis. Just after the judgment on Monday, the company has said it would appeal again.
Disease control and prevention center of the US has shared that Opioids are directly involved in near about 40000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2017 in the US. According to the sate lawyers, from 2000 near about six thousand people have died due to opioid overdose in Oklahoma.
Previously in 2019, Oklahoma has settled with two pharma companies- Prude Pharma for $270m and Teva Pharma for near about $85. And Johnson and Johnson were the unaccompanied defendants there.
The actual case against Johnson and Johnson
Lawyers for the state the government argued that during Oklahoma’s seven-week non-jury trial the pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson had continued years-long campaigns where they skipped the harmful sides of addictive painkillers and keep promoted only for their sale benefits. The lawyers have addressed this pharma giant as an opioid ‘Kingpin’ and described its marketing attempts as the creator of public nuisance and even doctors over-prescribed the drugs and led the death of many people due to overdose in Oklahoma.
But Johnson and Johnson continued to deny its wrong activities. Along with this, it also claimed that it had the scientific support and they use a tiny quantity of Opioids in its Duragesic, Nucynta, painkillers.
Thad Balkman, the judge of Cleveland County District Court in Norman said that this pharma giant had contributed to ‘public nuisance’ by its enormous promotion of addictive painkillers by the prosecutors. He added in his ruling, “Those actions compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans. The opioid crisis is an imminent danger and menace to Oklahomans,”. He also said that money will be used for proper treatment and care of the opioid-addicted people.
What did Johnson and Johnson say in the Opioid crisis?
Johnson and Johnson said that this state case rested on the fundamental understanding of its public nuisance law. In a statement, this company has shared that since 2008 its generic medicines and painkillers had covered even less than 1% of the United States market. It also added, “The decision, in this case, is flawed. The State failed to present evidence that the company’s products or actions caused a public nuisance in Oklahoma,”, and “This judgment is a misapplication of public nuisance law that has already been rejected by judges in other states.” Lawyer Sabrina Strong representing Johnson and Johnson and she said “We have sympathy for all who suffer from substance abuse, but Johnson & Johnson did not cause the opioid abuse crisis here in Oklahoma, or anywhere in this country. We do not believe that the facts or the law support the decision today. We have many strong grounds for appeal, and we intend to pursue those vigorously.”
