On August 26 Oklahoma State Judge Thad Balkman ruled that Johnson & Johnson must pay $572 million to the state of Oklahoma for contributing to the local opioid addiction crisis. Johnson & Johnson sold two opioids: a fentanyl skin patch with the brand name Duragesic, and Nucynta,a synthetic opioid similar to tramadol but stronger.
Nucynta is not as addictive as most other synthetic and semi‐synthetic opioids and has been shown to have low levels of abuse in post‐marketing studies. Fentanyl skin patches are very difficult and inconvenient to convert for non‐medical use. The Drug Enforcement Administration claims that nearly all the fentanyl seized is so‐called “illicit fentanyl,” manufactured mostly in powdered form in clandestine labs in Asia and Mexico, and then smuggled in to the U.S., sometimes via the Postal Service.
Johnson & Johnson was also charged with contributing to the overdose crisis because it owns two subsidiaries that make the active ingredients and narcotic raw materials used by other opioid manufacturers.
Two other opioid manufacturers, Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals, settled with the state, but Johnson & Johnson decided to take the case to trial. Their attorneys say the company plans to appeal the decision.
Read more at https://www.cato.org/blog/shakedown-drug-makers-will-make-one-iv-drug-user-pull-needle-out-their-arm
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