Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. agreed to pay $85 million to settle an Oklahoma lawsuit claiming that illegal marketing of its opioid painkillers contributed to a public health crisis in the state.

The deal, announced Sunday, was reached just as the case was about to go to trial next week. The state had alleged Teva and co-defendant Johnson & Johnson persuaded doctors to boost prescriptions of the powerful medications to treat ailments for which they weren’t approved, causing overdose deaths and drug addiction.

The trial against remaining defendant J&J, which the state has called the “kingpin” of the U.S. opioid crisis, is expected to start on Tuesday.

The terms of the settlement may take up to two weeks to finalize, and the money will be used to “abate the opioid crisis in Oklahoma,” Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement.

Oklahoma had been seeking at least $10 billion in damages and penalties. The trial will be the first test of public-nuisance laws against opioid manufacturers and distributors. At least 42 states and more than 1,600 municipalities have sued companies in the industry, demanding billions of dollars in damages.

The last-minute deal in Oklahoma means some of the focus on opioid litigation shifts to Cleveland, where a federal judge has set two test trials for October to allow juries to consider public-nuisance claims over drug-marketing campaigns.

The accord comes about two months after Purdue Pharma LP agreed to pay $270 million to resolve Oklahoma’s claims over sales pitches for its opioid-based painkiller, OxyContin. Purdue sought a deal to ease mounting liabilities that have threatened to push the company into bankruptcy. The money was earmarked for research and treatment.

Oklahoma said J&J and Teva helped create a public-health crisis from opioid abuse that killed thousands of its residents. The state, in its lawsuit, accused the companies of overstating the painkillers’ benefits and understating their risks, which created a “devastating cycle of over-prescription” that was “built on addiction, dependence and a market saturated with misinformation regarding the benefits and safety of those drugs.”

Teva’s settlement doesn’t establish any wrongdoing on the part of the company.

The case is State of Oklahoma v. Purdue Pharma LP, CJ-2017-816, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, District Court (Norman). </s> Teva settles with Oklahoma for $85 million in opioid case

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — One of the drugmakers named in Oklahoma's lawsuit over the opioid crisis has agreed to a settlement in which it will pay the state $85 million.

Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceuticals and Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter both announced the settlement Sunday in separate statements. Teva, its related affiliates and Johnson & Johnson and several of its subsidiaries were set to go to trial Tuesday in Norman.

Hunter said the case against Johnson & Johnson will proceed on schedule.

He also said the funds from the settlement with Teva will be used to fight the opioid crisis in Oklahoma.

Teva did not admit any wrongdoing under the settlement.

Earlier this year, Oklahoma settled with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma for $270 million. </s> Oklahoma says it has reached an $85 million settlement with an Israel-based company over its alleged role in the state’s opioid epidemic.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter announced a settlement with Teva Pharmaceuticals in a news release Sunday. It came just days before the company was to appear in court alongside health care conglomerate Johnson & Johnson, which the state has accused of providing the narcotic ingredients for much of the U.S. prescription opioid supply.

“Nearly all Oklahomans have been negatively impacted by this deadly crisis and we look forward to Tuesday, where we will prove our case against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries,” Hunter said in the statement.

Teva Pharmaceuticals is the second company to have settled with Oklahoma in its efforts to fight the opioid crisis. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin and a central figure in the opioid crisis, settled out of court with Oklahoma on March 26, removing the state’s prime target in the lawsuit.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, which primarily sells generic drugs, issued a statement saying the settlement does not establish any wrongdoing on the part of the company, and that Teva “has not contributed to the abuse of opioids in Oklahoma in any way.”

Terms of the settlement agreement may take up to two weeks to finalize. Hunter said the money will be used by the state to abate the opioid crisis in Oklahoma.
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• Disabled California man’s lawyers try to block his separation from husband who exhibited ‘abusive behavior’ After Purdue Pharma settled, Hunter, a Republican, has refocused on Teva Pharmaceutical and Johnson & Johnson, utilizing Oklahoma’s “public nuisance” law. Some of the more than 1,500 other jurisdictions around the country that have filed lawsuits against drug companies have made the same claim, alleging that the marketing, sales and distribution of opioids hurt people. </s> BOSTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries said on Sunday it had agreed an $85 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma days before the company was set to face trial over allegations that it and other drugmakers helped to fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic.

Teva, the world’s largest generic drugmaker, said the settlement “does not establish any wrongdoing on the part of the company” and denied contributing to opioid abuse in Oklahoma.

Claims against Teva focused on the branded opioid products Actiq and Fentora as well as generic painkillers it produced.

The trial against Israel-based Teva, along with Johnson & Johnson, was set to begin on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleged the companies’ marketing of the painkiller was to blame for the opioid epidemic.

Johnson & Johnson had no immediate comment.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has alleged that J&J and Teva, along with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, carried out deceptive marking campaigns that downplayed opioids’ addictive risks while overstating their benefits.

The state also alleges the companies’ actions created an oversupply of painkillers and a public nuisance that will cost $12.7 billion to $17.5 billion to remedy.

Oklahoma resolved its claims against Purdue Pharma LP in March for $270 million.

The Oklahoma case is being closely watched by plaintiffs in other opioid cases, particularly some 1,850 mostly municipal and state governments that have sued the same drugmakers in the federal court in Ohio.

“Teva is pleased to put the Oklahoma case behind it and remains prepared to vigorously defend claims against the company, including the upcoming federal court trial in Cleveland where the majority of the cases are pending,” the company said.

Attorney General Hunter’s office said in a statement the money would be used to address the opioid crisis in Oklahoma and that the J&J case is still scheduled to go to trial on Tuesday before Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman.

“Nearly all Oklahomans have been negatively impacted by this deadly crisis and we look forward to Tuesday, where we will prove our case against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries,” Hunter said in a statement. </s> One of the drugmakers named in Oklahoma's lawsuit over the opioid crisis has agreed to a settlement in which it will pay the state $85 million.

Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceuticals and Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter both announced the settlement Sunday in separate statements. Teva, its related affiliates and Johnson & Johnson and several of its subsidiaries were set to go to trial Tuesday in Norman.

Hunter said the case against Johnson & Johnson will proceed on schedule.

He also said the funds from the settlement with Teva will be used to fight the opioid crisis in Oklahoma.

Teva did not admit any wrongdoing under the settlement.

Earlier this year, Oklahoma settled with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma for $270 million. </s> NORMAN, Okla. -- An Oklahoma judge is expected to rule Monday in the first state case to go to trial accusing an opioid drugmaker of being responsible for the devastating consequences arising from addiction to the powerful painkillers.Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman is scheduled to deliver his judgment in open court at 3 p.m. The case is at the forefront of a wave of similar lawsuits by states, cities, counties and Indian tribes against drug companies over the wreckage caused by the national opioid crisis.Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has called consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson, the last remaining defendant group in the case, a "kingpin" company that helped fuel the most devastating public health crisis in the state's history.Before the six-week trial started in late May, Oklahoma reached a $270 million settlement with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and an $85 million deal with Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd."The judge will probably find in favor of (Oklahoma), but will decline to give it a huge damage award, particularly since Purdue, the real bad boy in all of this, was able to cap its liability at the relatively modest sum of $270 million," said University of Kentucky law professor Richard Ausness, who has written extensively about opioid litigation."Whatever happens, the losing side will probably appeal, so the matter will drag on for several more years."Attorneys for Oklahoma outlined a plan developed by state mental health and addiction specialists to abate the opioid crisis that would range between $12.6 billion for 20 years or $17.5 billion over 30 years.Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson say that estimate is wildly inflated and claim the state is trying to hold the company liable for damages without any evidence that it caused the crisis."Throughout trial our team repeatedly laid waste to the state's case, which it built on misstatements and distortions," John Sparks, local counsel for Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., said following closing arguments. "The facts are that Janssen appropriately provided essential pain treatment options to Oklahomans while balancing the inherent risks associated with these medicines." </s> An Oklahoma judge on Monday ruled against Johnson & Johnson in the first trial of an opioid manufacturer, ordering the company to pay the state $572 million for its role in the nationwide epidemic.

“The opioid crisis is an imminent danger and menace to Oklahomans,” said Judge Thad Balkman in Cleveland County District Court, CNBC reports. “The state meant its burden that the defendants Janssen and Johnson & Johnson’s misleading marketing and promotion of opioids created a nuisance as defined by [the law], including a finding that those actions compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans.”

Johnson & Johnson plans to appeal the decision. The company was the only remaining defendant in the case, which began on May 28th. Teva Pharmaceutical and Purdue Pharma, the widely criticized maker of OxyContin — both of whom denied wrongdoing — reached settlements with the state before the trial (Teva for $85 million, Purdue for $270 million).

The state argued that, dating back to the 1990s, Johnson & Johnson and pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen aggressively marketed its opioids to doctors while downplaying the associated risks. According to the New York Times, Johnson & Johnson imported 60 percent of the opiate materials that were used to manufacture opioids in the U.S., while Janssen made an opioid pill and a fentanyl patch. “Defendants caused an opioid crisis that is evidenced by increased rates of addiction, overdose deaths and neonatal abstinence syndrome,” Balkman ruled.

Throughout the seven-week trial, Oklahoma’s attorneys characterized Johnson & Johnson as the “kingpin” of the opioid epidemic, creating an abundance of addictive painkillers and causing a “public nuisance” that could cost the state upwards of $17.8 billion, Politico reports.

While the legal fallout remains to be seen, the Oklahoma ruling could set a precedent for future cases, including more than 2,000 similar lawsuits already filed across the county. </s> NORMAN, Okla./BOSTON (Reuters) - An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) to pay $572.1 million to the state for its part in fueling an opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing addictive painkillers, a sum that was substantially less than investors had expected, driving up J&J;’s shares.

The state’s attorney general had filed the lawsuit, seeking $17 billion to address the impact of the drug crisis on Oklahoma. It had been considered a bellwether for other litigation nationwide over the opioid epidemic.

“The expectation was this was going to be a $1.5 billion to $2 billion fine,” said Jared Holz, healthcare strategist for Jefferies & Co. “$572 million is a much lower number than had been feared.”

J&J; said it would appeal the decision.

Shares of J&J; were up 2% in extended trading following the decision, after an initial gain of more than 5%. Other drugmakers that sell opioid painkillers and are defending against similar lawsuits also rose after-hours, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) up 2.6%, and Endo International Plc (ENDP.O), up 1.4% higher.

Opioids were involved in almost 400,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2000, some 6,000 Oklahomans have died from opioid overdoses, according to the state’s lawyers.

Roughly 2,500 lawsuits have been brought by states, counties and municipalities nationally seeking to hold drugmakers responsible for opioid abuse nationwide. Oklahoma’s case was the first to go to trial. Some drugmakers have chosen to settle cases.

In holding J&J; liable after a seven-week, non-jury trial, Judge Thad Balkman of Cleveland County District Court in Norman, Oklahoma, said the state proved that J&J;’s misleading marketing and promotion of its Duragesic and Nucynta painkillers created a public nuisance.

“The opioid crisis is an imminent danger and menace to Oklahomans,” Balkman said.

Oklahoma wanted J&J; to help it address the epidemic for the next 30 years by funding addiction treatment and prevention programs.

Balkman said in his written ruling that the award covered only one year of addressing the crisis because Oklahoma did not demonstrate the time and costs needed beyond that.

Lance Lang, a 36-year-old recovering user of opioids turned activist in Oklahoma City, said it was “short sighted” for the judge to have only ordered funding for a year. “There’s going to be people struggling with this for years,” he said in an interview.

J&J; said it will ask that the award be put on hold during an appeal process that could stretch into 2021. The company also said Oklahoma failed to show that its products and activities had created a public nuisance.

“You can’t sue your way out of the opioid abuse crisis,” Sabrina Strong, a lawyer for J&J;, said at a news conference after the verdict. “Everyone must come together to address this. But J&J; did not cause the opioid crisis.”

“ACCOUNTABLE FOR DEATHS AND ADDICTIONS”

The case was brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, who alleged that J&J;’s marketing practices helped fuel the opioid epidemic by flooding the market with painkillers.

“Johnson & Johnson will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addictions caused by their actions,” Hunter said.

The trial came after Oklahoma had resolved claims against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP in March for $270 million and Teva in May for $85 million, leaving J&J; as the lone defendant.

FILE PHOTO: The Johnson & Johnson logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 29, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

The verdict came as two Ohio counties prepare for a scheduled October trial before a federal judge in Cleveland. About 2,000 lawsuits out of some 2,500 filed nationwide are consolidated in the case in Cleveland.

Endo International Plc (ENDP.O) and Allergan Plc (AGN.N) last week agreed to pay $15 million to avoid going to trial in October in a case by two Ohio counties, subject to court approval.

Some plaintiffs’ lawyers have compared the opioid cases to litigation by states against the tobacco industry that led to a $246 billion settlement in 1998.

Joe Rice, a lead plaintiff’s attorney for municipalities in the federal litigation, said if the Oklahoma award were extrapolated to other states, it could mean an annual abatement cost of around $38 billion.

“It does indicate that if I’m in the pharmaceutical business, I’ve got to think long and hard about annual payments of my share of that,” he said.

The judge overseeing the federal litigation in Ohio has been pushing for a global settlement.

J&J;, which is among multiple pharmaceutical companies that are defendants in the federal litigation, said it remains “open to viable options” to resolve the Ohio case, including through settlement.

During the Oklahoma trial, lawyers for the state argued that J&J; carried out a years-long marketing campaign that minimized the painkillers’ addiction risks and promoted their benefits.

The lawyers called J&J; an opioid “kingpin” and argued that its marketing created a public nuisance as doctors over-prescribed the drugs, leading to a surge in overdose deaths.

J&J; countered that its marketing claims had scientific support and its painkillers accounted for a tiny fraction of opioids prescribed in Oklahoma. The company said in a statement that since 2008, its painkillers accounted for less than 1% of the U.S. market, including generics.

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Teva said the ruling supported its rationale for settling the case before trial, and said it was preparing to defend itself in the upcoming trial in Ohio.

Purdue, which is also among the defendants in the Ohio litigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. </s> An Oklahoma judge on Monday found an opioid drugmaker liable for the ongoing epidemic “ravaging” the state, issuing the first ruling in a state lawsuit.

Calling the opioid crisis a “danger and menace” to Oklahomans, Judge Thad Balkman in Norman, Okla. said attorneys for the state had proven their case that Johnson & Johnson and its Belgium subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, helped create an addiction crisis and ordered they pay $572 million as part of an abatement plan.

Judge Balkman ruled that Johnson & Johnson’s misleading marketing created a “public nuisance” that compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans.

“Defendants caused an opioid crisis that is evidenced by increased rates of addiction, overdose deaths and neonatal abstinence syndrome,” Judge Balkmansaid in court Monday. “The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma. It must be abated immediately.”

Johnson & Johnson, the New Jersey-based medical products company, immediately released a statement saying they planned an appeal.

The judge’s verdict from could set the precedent for the thousands of other lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies across the country.

The $572 million the judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay is a significant decrease from the $17.5 billion over 30 years the state of Oklahoma demanded to abate the crisis.

Judge Balkman did not read from his 42-page ruling in culminating the 8-week trial which saw nearly 50 witnesses brought by the state and Johnson & Johnson. Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals were dropped from the case after reaching multi-million dollar settlements with Oklahoma.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announces, two days before their scheduled trial, it has agreed to pay $85 million to the U.S. state of Oklahoma in connection with allegations that it helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic.