Pharmaceutical giant J&J paid West Virginia $99 million for opioid crisis

Controversial big pharma company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) paid off another big deal this week, paying nearly $100 million to settle a lawsuit in West Virginia over the company’s role in the opioid epidemic.

The payment allows the company to avoid a wider lawsuit brought by state officials against pharmaceutical companies, which they say played a role in the Mountain State overdose crisis, the worst in the country.

J&J allegedly sold too many opioid drugs in the state – many more claims that followed – and encouraged doctors to overprescribe the addictive drug.

That settlement is just some of the turmoil the company is currently facing, with nearly 40,000 lawsuits over the sale of baby powder products containing carcinogenic chemicals, and allegations of paying doctors to conduct human experiments on inmates in recent years.

J&J and other major pharmaceutical companies are accused of using their relationships with doctors to prescribe highly addictive opioids (file photo)

Under the agreement, J&J accepts no responsibility for its role in the opioid crisis or admits to misconduct.

The company also paid out a $5 billion settlement earlier this year to settle state and local lawsuits across the country.

Because West Virginia was not involved in this lawsuit, it chose to sue J&J itself and add it to a lawsuit that also included Teva Pharmaceuticals and Allergan.

West Virginia had previously reached a $26 million settlement with Endo International Plc, which was a defendant in the ongoing lawsuit.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the mountain state is worst affected by the drug epidemic in the United States than any other country, which kills more than 100,000 people every 12 months.

The latest CDC data released earlier this month, covering the 12-month period from November 2020 to 2021, found that 1,519 West Virginia residents died from drug overdoses during this period.

With 84.9 deaths per 100,000 population, West Virginia has the highest number of deaths per capita – Tennessee is second at 56.4 per 100,000 population, more than triple the national overdose rate.

Controversial J&J also faced thousands of lawsuits over allegations that its talc-based baby powder product was contaminated with asbestos (archive photo)

The United States has recorded more than 106,000 drug overdose deaths in 12 months, the CDC reported.

According to a CDC report, approximately 106,854 Americans died of overdose from November 2020 to 2021. This is the sixth consecutive monthly report to break the all-time record, and the eighth in a row with over 100,000 reported deaths.

Opioids, and especially synthetic versions of the drug, such as fentanyl, are most responsible. More than 80,000 deaths are believed to be caused by opioids, of which about 70,000 are synthetic opioids.

The 106,000 figure is a slight increase from the 105,000 deaths recorded from October 2020 to 2021 in a report published last month. At the same time, there is an annual increase of 16%.

The drug overdose crisis, mostly associated with the opioid epidemic, has developed over the past two decades due to several factors.

Relationships between doctors and pharmaceutical companies are blamed for the rise in prescriptions for addictive painkillers, with many employees being laid off and turning to the black market to buy illegal versions.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Monday that the deal, which also settles local government cases, will allow the state to rapidly fund programs designed to address opioid addiction and its effects in the state. .

“We can and will save lives this year,” Morrisey said at a news conference.

J&J completed a $5 billion nationwide opioid deal in February, largely resolving state and local opioid lawsuits against the healthcare conglomerate.

West Virginia was one of five states that did not accede to this treaty at the time. If the state had joined the previous deal, it would have received about $50 million.

Morrissey said J&J’s growing recovery justified its decision not to join the national agreement.

The New Jersey-based New Brunswick company, which has since removed opioid products from shelves, has been described in previous lawsuits as the “King” behind the opioid epidemic.

“We believe Johnson & Johnson is at the center of the opioid crisis that has claimed the lives of thousands of Oklahoma residents and created a generation of opioid addicts in our state,” said Mike Hunter, former U.S. Attorney General of Oklahoma.

“The evidence is clear that they should be held accountable for the public nuisance they have caused and ordered to reduce.”

Opioids aren’t the only product J&J has had to take off the shelves after a series of lawsuits.

J&J has faced nearly 40,000 lawsuits in recent years over allegations that its talc-based baby powder product is contaminated with asbestos, a carcinogenic chemical linked to mesothelioma and other cancers.

It has since been shelved in the United States, and the company has been able to settle some lawsuits by claiming liability and filing for bankruptcy against a Texas-based shell company.

However, tight suits did not harm the company financially. According to an analysis by Feroce PharmaJ&J, it is still the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, with sales growth of up to 14% last year.

The worldwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, along with many other consumer products, has proven to be a boon for the company.