Drugmakers Go on Trial Over Opioid Epidemic By Sara Randazzo...

Drugmakers Go on Trial Over Opioid Epidemic

By Sara Randazzo

Four drugmakers are slated to go on trial Monday in California over claims they fed

the opioid crisis, in a proceeding that could help finalize multibillion-dollar

settlements between state and local governments and pharmaceutical companies.

The case is just the second to go to trial out of thousands of similar lawsuits

accusing the drug industry of fueling an opioid epidemic that has killed nearly 500,000

people since 1999, according to federal data.

In the trial set to begin Monday fully by videoconference, four California

communities allege that Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd., Allergan and Endo

International PLC ran misleading marketing campaigns that played down the risks of opioid

addiction to boost sales of powerful prescription painkillers.

"So many families have been affected, so many lives have ended or been completely

devastated," said Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams, whose county will be

pursuing its claims at trial alongside those of Los Angeles and Orange counties and the

city of Oakland. "Now the question is, how is there a measure of accountability for these

manufacturers?"

The concept of legally pinning blame for the opioid crisis on the pharmaceutical

industry was a novelty when the case going to trial was filed in May 2014. Since then,

nearly every state and more than 3,000 counties, Native American tribes, hospitals and

others have sued companies up and down the drug supply chain.

The companies are expected to argue at trial that they marketed their drugs

responsibly with regulatory oversight and that each had a small fraction of the pill

market in the California communities. A Teva spokeswoman said the company will vigorously

defend itself against the claims but is also ready to settle the opioid litigation

nationally. J&J said it will challenge the claims and that it worked with regulators to

provide appropriate information on the risks and benefits of its prescription opioids.

AbbVie Inc., which acquired Allergan in 2020, and Endo declined to comment.

Only one other opioid case has gone to trial, resulting in a $465 million judgment

against Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma in 2019. The company is appealing. Several trials

slated to take place last year were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic but are

once again approaching.

The California trial, along with trials expected to start in West Virginia federal

court in May and New York state court in June, could spur drugmakers and distributors to

finalize settlements to end the lawsuits nationwide.

J&J, along with the three largest drug distributors in the country, McKesson Corp.,

AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc., have offered to pay a collective $26

billion to resolve their piece of the litigation. Talks between the companies and states

have been under way since late 2019 but have been delayed by the pandemic as well as

details around attorneys' fees and how to account for communities that opt out of the

deal.

Israel-based Teva also made a proposal in 2019 to resolve the cases, offering to

donate a decade's worth of opioid-addiction treatment drugs along with a cash payment of

$250 million.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, one of the original targets of the California case

and the broader opioid litigation, filed for bankruptcy in 2019 to resolve the

liabilities and is currently negotiating a $10 billion payment plan with creditors.

The first phase of the trial, expected to last for months, would determine if the

companies are liable. If Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson decides that

they are, the counties next would argue that they deserve billions of dollars in

penalties and money to help abate the impacts of opioid addiction.