Johnson & Johnson will have to pay the state of Oklahoma for its role in the opioid epidemic, a judge ruled in the country’s first civil case seeking to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable for the crisis.
Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman announced Monday that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, must pay the state $572,102,028 for worsening the opioid crisis in Oklahoma. The state originally asked for more than $17 billion over 30 years to help prevent and treat addiction and to help those whose lives were upended due to drug use.
“The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma and it must be abated immediately,” Balkman said Monday.
Oklahoma’s Attorney General Mike Hunter alleged that Janssen Pharmaceuticals sold opioids to doctors without being forthright about the products’ addictive qualities, thus contributing to thousands of overdose deaths throughout Oklahoma.
Despite falling short of the $17.5 billion goal, Hunter called Monday’s ruling “a great triumph.”
“I do hope that today Judge Balkman’s decision will provide some solace to the thousands of families that have tragically lost a loved one to an opioid overdose,” Hunter said in a press conference following the ruling. “Today should also inspire a sense of optimism for those suffering with opioid addiction because we’re committed to getting you the help you need to reclaim your life.”
Johnson & Johnson immediately announced it will appeal Balkman’s decision.
“Janssen did not cause the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, and neither the facts nor the law support this outcome,” said Michael Ullmann, Executive Vice President, General Counsel of Johnson & Johnson. “The unprecedented award for the State’s ‘abatement plan’ has sweeping ramifications for many industries and bears no relation to the Company’s medicines or conduct.”
Hunter said Johnson & Johnson violated the state’s public nuisance statute, which is defined as unlawfully endangering someone’s health, well-being, and standard of living. The public nuisance argument was the fundamental point of contention in lawsuits against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, which ended with giants of the tobacco industry settling for a total of $246 billion over 25 years.
Johnson & Johnson has argued that its medications serve a legitimate medical purpose, unlike tobacco products, and thus do not fit the bill of a public nuisance.
Lawyers working for the state said regardless of an opiate’s medical legitimacy, Johnson & Johnson hoodwinked doctors into over-prescribing medications, leading to a deluge of pills and Duragesic fentanyl patches and thousands of subsequent overdoses.
“What we do have in Cleveland County is 135 prescription opioids for every adult,” Brad Beckworth, one of the state’s attorneys, said in July’s closing arguments. “Those didn’t get here from drug cartels. They got here from one cartel: the pharmaceutical industry cartel. And the kingpin of it all is Johnson & Johnson.”
Johnson & Johnson has not admitted any wrongdoing. The defense argued its products were only two of many opioids to pour into Oklahoma and the state is using the pharmaceutical company as a scapegoat.
Larry Ottaway, an Oklahoma-based attorney representing Johnson & Johnson, said during closing arguments that chronic pain affects Oklahomans just as opioid addiction does, and doctors know the risks when they prescribe the drugs.
“The FDA label clearly set forth the risk of addiction, abuse and misuse that could lead to overdose and death. Don’t tell me that doctors weren’t aware of the risks,” Ottaway said.
Johnson & Johnson was accused of aggressively marketing their products to doctors, strong-arming them into prescribing copious and unnecessary amounts of Nucynta as well as the fentanyl patch Duragesic that is designed to treat chronic pain in cancer patients.
Judge Balkman had deliberated on the case since July. Oklahoma legislators say the case, the first in which a state has sought to hold the industry accountable in court for the opioid crisis, could affect some 2,000 cases against pharmaceutical companies across the country.
Oklahoma settled with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, for $270 million in March, which state Rep. Mark McBride said “may be a test case to see what people can do because it is the first [case of its kind].”
Opioids contributed to 47,600 overdose deaths nationwide in 2017, according to CDC data.
