|
 New York's Attorney General and Nassau and Suffolk Counties are
seeking to hold the two companies responsible for the cost of
dealing with opioid addiction. The companies have said they complied
with federal regulations and that changing standards of care were
behind surging opioid prescriptions.
The case is one of more than 3,300 filed by state, local and tribal
governments across the country accusing drugmakers of minimizing
opioid drugs' addictiveness and distributors and pharmacies of
ignoring red flags that they were being diverted into illegal
channels.
On Tuesday, jurors saw the last evidence in the case, including two
parody videos made in 2006 for a sales meeting at Cephalon Inc,
later bought by Teva.
One video showed the character Dr. Evil from the film "Austin
Powers" as a Cephalon employee complaining about child-resistant
packaging on the company's opioid drug Fentora. The other spoofed a
courtroom scene in "A Few Good Men" and featured a Cephalon employee
telling a lawyer that he "can't handle the truth" about how sales
representatives meet quotas.
[to top of second column] |
 More than 100,000 people died
from drug overdoses during the 12-month period
ending April 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said in a report in
November, a record driven largely by opioids.
The three largest U.S. drug distributors and
Johnson & Johnson in July agreed to pay up to
$26 billion to resolve the lawsuits against
them.
A bankruptcy judge in September approved a
settlement by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP,
including about $4.5 billion from its wealthy
Sackler family owners.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York,
Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)
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