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 Lawyers for the state and J&J are scheduled to appear on Tuesday in
a state court in Norman, Oklahoma, to deliver their opening
statements at the start of the first trial to result from more than
2,000 similar lawsuits against opioid manufacturers nationally.
The lawsuits by state and local governments seek to hold the J&J and
other companies responsible for a drug abuse epidemic that the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says led to a record
47,600 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2017.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter alleges J&J, along with
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd, carried out deceptive marking campaigns that downplayed opioids'
addictive risks while overstating their benefits.
Hunter alleges J&J, which marketed the painkillers Duragesic and
Nucynta, was "the kingpin behind this public health emergency,"
growing and importing the raw materials other drugmakers used for
their products.
The state claims 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 in March for $270
million and against Teva on Sunday for $85 million, leaving only J&J
as a defendant in the nonjury trial before Cleveland County District
Judge Thad Balkman.
"We believe our evidence is persuasive and compelling with regard to
their legal responsibility for thousands of deaths and hundreds of
thousands of addictions in the state," Hunter said.
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J&J denies wrongdoing, arguing that its marketing efforts were
proper and that the state cannot prove it caused the opioid epidemic
given the role doctors, patients, pharmacists and drug dealers
played.
"We acted responsibly in providing FDA-approved pain medications,
and we are ready for trial," J&J said in a statement on Sunday.
But J&J also said it was open to an "an appropriate resolution" that
would avoid the expense and uncertainty of a trial.
The case is being closely watched by plaintiffs in other opioid
lawsuits, particularly the 1,850 cases consolidated before a federal
judge in Ohio, who has been pushing for a settlement agreement ahead
of an October trial.
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.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Scott Malone and
Jonathan Oatis)
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