Johnson & Johnson Reaches $230M Settlement With New York To End Sale Of Opioids Nationwide

On Saturday, Johnson & Johnson JNJ said it would end the manufacture and sale of opioids nationwide in a $230 million settlement with the New York state, Reuters reports. 

J&J will not face the jury trial scheduled to begin on Tuesday on Long Island with this settlement. Other opioids trials are underway in California and West Virginia. 

According to the settlement, J&J needs to stop selling painkillers nationwide.

Johnson & Johnson did not admit liability in settling with New York State, Nassau, and Suffolk counties.

As per their prior agreement, J&J has said that the settlements were to pay $5 billion to settle opioid claims.

The company has said that it has not marketed opioids in the U.S. since 2015 and has discontinued the business in 2020.

The settlement follows years of lawsuits against major pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, which killed nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. from 1999 to 2019. 

According to the New York Attorney General Letitia James, companies over-prescribed the medicines, causing people to become addicted and abuse other illegal forms of opioids. 

Along with J&J, AmerisourceBergen Corp ABC, Cardinal Health Inc CAH, and McKesson Corporation MCK have proposed to pay a combined $26 billion to end opioid lawsuits.

According to the report, Walmart Inc WMT, Rite Aid Corporation RAD, and CVS Health Corp CVS were severed from the trial during jury selection. 

Drugmakers AbbVie Inc ABBV, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd TEVA, and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA are also the defendant who will face trial in the case of the opioid in the coming weeks. 

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