Oklahoma state attorneys asked a judge to hold Johnson & Johnson responsible for the state’s opioid epidemic and make the company pay more than $17 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. “We are in a state of crisis,” Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said in closing arguments in the nation’s first trial seeking to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable for opioid addiction and overdoses. Hunter said the company “blamed everyone, everyone except themselves for causing this crisis.” Over a seven-week trial, Oklahoma presented evidence they say proves Johnson & Johnson was the kingpin of the state’s prescription opioid supply.
Oklahoma has proposed a $17.5 billion, 30-year plan to abate the costs of opioid addiction that it says Johnson & Johnson should fund. The plan includes money for addiction treatment, education of the public and medical community, and overdose prevention programs. The state says 6,100 Oklahomans died from prescription-drug overdoses between 2000 and 2017. Johnson & Johnson rejected allegations that it marketed its opioid drugs too broadly and played down addiction risks. The firm says it is being scapegoated as the only company willing to take the claims to trial, and argues its marketing of drugs was legally protected speech regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “These drugs help patients function,” said Larry Ottaway, an attorney representing Johnson & Johnson. The decision is in the hands of state Judge Thad Balkman. The outcome will be closely watched in light of 2,000 similar lawsuits brought against drugmakers and distributors by states and municipalities. The trial became a showcase for the societal cost of all opioid abuse and addiction. Johnson & Johnson’s primary opioid painkillers are Duragesic, a fentanyl patch, and a pill called Nucynta that it sold in 2015. Johnson & Johnson was the lone defendant after two companies settled. Purdue Pharma LP agreed to pay $270 million and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. contributed $85 million.