Teva Pharma found responsible in US opioid crisis

The pharmaceutical Teva was found responsible for contributing to the crisis of the opioids in U.S, in a trial that lasted half a year in New York and which is a pioneer in bringing to justice the large companies involved, after all the other defendants agreed to multi-million dollar agreements to leave the bench.

The jury of the process, which began last June in the state Supreme Court, issued a guilty verdict on Thursday for Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and several of its subsidiaries, which had been accused by the Attorney General of the charges of “public prejudice” for its role in a health crisis that has cost the lives of nearly half a million Americans in recent decades.

Democratic prosecutor Letitia James, who is leading the case, claimed a “victory” and said the jury held that opiate manufacturer “responsibility” for “the death and destruction inflicted on Americans” whom it “deceived about the real dangers of opioids, “according to a statement.

In March 2019, James filed the nation’s largest lawsuit to hold more than a dozen manufacturers and distributors accountable for the opioid epidemic, including Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly addictive drug OxyContin, and its owners, the family. Sackler.

However, prior to the start of the trial, the defendants began to negotiate and sign agreements with the Prosecutor’s Office. The first of these was Johnson & Johnson (J&J), which promised to pay US $ 230 million and to suspend nationwide production and sales of its opiate products to resolve the lawsuit.

The last pact came a month ago, that of Allergan – a subsidiary of AbbVie and known for making Botox -, which agreed to pay $ 200 million and stop producing, selling and promoting opioids to escape the trial.

In total, the Office has raised about US $ 1.5 billion that will be used to alleviate the devastation of the opioid crisis in New York, with treatment for the recovery of addicts and educational programs.

Much of that amount, around US $ 1 billion contributed by large distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health, Amerisource Bergen and J&J, is part of a global agreement of US $ 26,000 million that the four companies signed to end thousands of lawsuits brought by numerous states and cities of the country against them.

Teva, the only pharmacist left standing in the trial, described as a “marathon” by the judge, will now have to undergo another process that will determine how much it must pay to fuel the opioid crisis in the United States, as determined by the jury with his verdict after about two weeks of deliberations.