Amara Julliet OttiThe state of New York’s attorney general said Saturday that Johnson & Johnson will pay $230 million to resolve an opioid lawsuit with the state.
The company has “committed to halting the manufacture and sale of all opioids and opioid products for distribution in the state of New York, as well as to no longer ship these goods anywhere within the United States,” according to a statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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In a statement released Saturday, the company stated it “took the commercial choice to stop all of its prescription pain drugs in the United States in 2020.” Johnson & Johnson is no longer a defendant in a trial set to begin in New York on Tuesday, but it remains a defendant in other cases across the United States in which local governments, states, and Native American tribes have sued pharmaceutical companies over the flow of opioids into their communities. In 2019, Johnson & Johnson was fined $465 million in an opioid case in Oklahoma.
In a statement, James said, ” that the company helped feed this fire, but today they’re pledging to quit the opioid industry – not just in New York, but across the country.” “J&J will no longer manufacture or sell opioids in the United States.”
The payment is “compatible with the conditions of the previously announced $5 billion all-in settlement agreement in principle for the resolution of opioid litigation and claims by states, cities, counties, and tribal governments,” according to a statement released by the pharmaceutical on Saturday.
Amara Julliet Otti
Angela M.
Collins
