Rhode Island takes Teva to trial in multibillion-dollar opioid case
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[March 14, 2022]
By Dietrich Knauth
(Reuters) - Rhode Island is set to square
off on Monday against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, as a
multibillion-dollar trial begins over whether the Israeli company
contributed to an opioid crisis that has caused more than 500,000 deaths
over the past two decades.
Rhode Island says Teva created a "public nuisance" by downplaying the
risks of opioid addiction and promoting the off-label use of powerful
fentanyl-based opioids that were approved only for certain types of
cancer pain.
Rhode Island is seeking $5.9 billion from the companies, according to a
Teva court filing. Rhode Island officials declined to comment on the
specific amount.
Teva subsidiaries Actavis Pharma and Cephalon Inc are also defendants in
the case in Rhode Island Superior Court in Providence.
The companies have denied the allegations, saying they sold drugs that
were legal and approved for pain treatment.
In court filings by Teva, it calls Rhode Island's lawsuit an improper
attempt to blame a wide-ranging public health crisis on "a small subset
of opioid manufacturers" that make "niche" medicines like Actiq and
Fentora. According to Teva's filings, those cancer drugs account for
just 0.02% percent of all opioid prescriptions in the state since 1998.
The company also sells generic opioids such as oxycodone.
The Rhode Island lawsuit is one of more than 3,300 filed by state, local
and Native American tribal governments across the country accusing
drugmakers of minimizing the addictiveness of opioid pain medications.
The lawsuits also accuse distributors and pharmacies of ignoring red
flags that the drugs were being diverted into illegal channels.
The trial will begin as Teva attempts to negotiate a nationwide
settlement of its opioid liability. After a recent $225 million
settlement with the state of Texas, Teva Chief Executive Kåre Schultz
told Reuters the company will likely end up paying $2.7 billion to $3.6
billion to resolve opioid claims.
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The logo of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is seen in Tel Aviv,
Israel February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Other defendants in the Rhode Island
case settled before trial, including drug distributors McKesson
Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc, which joined a
nationwide $21 billion settlement.
Purdue Pharma LP, which was also a defendant, won
initial approval last week for a $6 billion settlement funded by its
Sackler family owners that would resolve litigation over its role in
the opioid crisis.
The public nuisance theory has been used with mixed results in cases
against other opioid distributors, manufacturers and pharmacies.
The Rhode Island trial comes more than two months after a New York
jury found Teva liable for creating a public nuisance in the state.
And a federal jury in November found that pharmacy chain operators
CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Walmart Inc
created a public nuisance in two Ohio counties, in the first trial
against those companies over the opioid epidemic.
Damages have not yet been decided in either the New York or Ohio
cases.
Courts in California and Oklahoma have ruled the other way, finding
in favor of opioid defendants, including Teva and Johnson & Johnson,
in public nuisance cases.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York and Nate Raymond in
Boston; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)
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