Texas To Receive $290M Opioid Settlement From J&J

Texas To Receive $290M Opioid Settlement From J&J

Introduction

Texas attorney general has announced a settlement of $290 million with the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson over the claims of deceptive marketing by the company that fueled the opioid crisis in the state.

The state will receive the settlement amount on January 1, with 70% of the money going to the Texas Opioid Abatement Fund through the Texas Opioid Council, which will help to deal with the opioid crisis in the state.

All the companies alleged in illicit marketing of opioids have denied the wrongdoings. The spokesperson for J&J said that the company is not paying the amount for admission of liability. It even stated that the opioids distributed by the company are no longer available in the U.S. market.

The distributor faces hundreds of lawsuits across the country over the last two decades, accusing that it overlooked the addictive properties of the drugs and used deceptive marketing strategies to boost sales.

Earlier in July, Texas joined the $26 billion multi-state opioid settlement involving McKesson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). The state is even expected to receive $1.2 billion from the three distributors, totalling the settlement amount to $1.5 billion.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half a million people in the United States died from opioid-related overdoses from 1999 to 2019. The attorney general even provided data that claimed the opioid death rate increased by 30% last year.

The attorney general of Louisiana and Teva Pharmaceuticals have reached a $15 million settlement to deal with the opioid epidemic and claims throughout the state against the company.

Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay $15 million over the period of 18 years to the state of Louisiana. An additional $3 million is also granted to the state as an opioid addiction and recovery plan that will be used for medicinal purposes.

Teva faces numerous litigations across the US states along with other drugmakers like Johnson & Johnson, Endo International and AbbVie’s Allergan. All the litigations claim that the companies illicitly marketed the opioid drugs without highlighting the addictions risks associated with them.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J), along with three other drug distributors, are proceeding with a $26 billion opioid settlement for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic across the U.S. Teva is not included in the settlement as the company did not offer enough cash for the settlement.

The spokesperson for Teva stated that the company is positively looking forward to settling the upcoming litigations and helping the opioid affected people by offering life-saving medicines against opioids.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 500,000 lives have been lost due to opioid overdose since 1999 in America.

Three major drug distributors namely AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson will pay $75 million to Cherokee Nation over six-and-a-half years to resolve opioid-related claims.

In April 2017, Cherokee Nation sued the distributors for selling opioids in the black market which is against the Cherokee laws and also had negative consequences on its communities.

The attorney general of Cherokee Nation said that the settlement would help to deal with the deadly consequences of the opioid crisis that has ruined the health of the tribe members. It would also help to execute mental health treatment facilities and other programs that would speed up the recovery process of the people affected because of the crisis.

The tribe is the first among the governments across the country that has sued Big Pharma. The tribe even has pending claims against Walmart, Walgreens and CVS which the tribe intends to pursue through trial.

There are many such claims across the U.S. from state and local governments, as well as other tribal nations. It also includes an MDL in Cleveland, Ohio, but the tribe's settlement is independent of all the other claims.

Earlier, three distributors along with drug maker Johnson & Johnson reached a $26 billion settlement for the states and counties across the country for fueling the opioid crisis, but Cherokee Nation is not part of the agreement.

In September 2021, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) agreed to pay a partial settlement of around $1.3 million to $3 million to Orange County for fueling the opioid epidemic that resulted in several deaths due to opioid addiction.

The officials representing the county said that the final settlement amount would depend on the number of counties accepting the agreement. The amount will be higher if the maximum number of counties sign the agreement.

J&J will make the first payment in the settlement in February. The funds would be used to tackle the opioid addiction in the county. It will even fund the opioid treatment programmes and support services that are designed to help the people struggling with addiction problems.

The spokesperson for Orange County said that the opioid manufacturers and distributors were aware of the addictive qualities of the drugs, yet marketed and sold them for profits. The settlement would not bring back the lost lives, but it will surely give some sigh of relief to the affected people and their families.

Orange County witnessed a 25% growth as compared to last year in the death rate due to opioid overdose. Last year, opioid overdose resulted in over 70,000 deaths in the U.S. To date, 500,000 deaths are linked to opioid overdose in the country.