An Oklahoma judge on Monday ruled against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in the state’s opioid case, forcing the company to pay $572 million in the first ruling in the U.S. holding a drugmaker accountable for helping fuel the epidemic.
Calling the opioid crisis an "imminent danger and menace," District Judge Thad Balkman said, "the state met its burden that the defendants Janssen and Johnson & Johnson’s misleading marketing and promotion of opioids created a nuisance as defined by [the law]," including a finding that those actions compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans.
The ruling, which J&J intends to appeal, says that the company and subsidiary Janssen repeatedly downplayed the risks of addiction to opioids, training sales representatives to tell doctors the risk was 2.6% or less if the drugs were prescribed by a doctor.
Physicians who prescribed a high amount of opioids were targeted as "key customers."
The $572-million judgment against J&J covers one year of costs under the state’s plan to combat the crisis, even though the attorney general’s office presented several witnesses who said it would take at least 20 years to carry out.
"The state did not present sufficient evidence of the amount of time and costs necessary, beyond year one, to abate the opioid crisis," the ruling says.
The fine was significantly less than the penalties sought by the "Sooner State." Experts said investors were expecting J&J to be fined between $500 million and $5 billion.
Shares hiked $1.52, or 1.2%, to $129.32
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