By Sara Randazzo Updated Sept. 26, 2019 8:28 am ET Drugmakers and distributors accused of triggering the opioid crisis argued Wednesday that a coming trial will unfairly malign them for running legal businesses and that the trial itself is shaping up to be unnecessarily chaotic.
Cardinal is among more than half a dozen companies slated to go on trial late next month in federal court in Cleveland along with fellow drug distributors McKesson Corp. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. ABC -1.05% and drugmakers Johnson & Johnson JNJ -0.35% and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Johnson & Johnson, which faces a $572 million judgment from an earlier opioid-crisis trial in Oklahoma, argued in its filing that while it “fully recognizes the opioid crisis that exists in this country,” the flow of illegal heroin and fentanyl into the communities is more to blame, not their prescription drugs.
The trial will test legal claims that the companies violated state and federal conspiracy laws and that the opioid epidemic is a “public nuisance” caused by the defendants. The counties are expected to ask for billions of dollars in recovery, which they said in a Wednesday filing is needed, otherwise “individuals will continue to misuse and become addicted to opioids at historically high levels.”
One major target, Purdue Pharma LP, filed for bankruptcy in recent weeks, which removed it from the trial. Three other drugmakers, Endo International PLC, Allergan PLC and Mallinckrodt PLC, reached settlements to avoid the trial, though they continue to face lawsuits from hundreds of other municipalities.
The companies and plaintiffs presented lists of questions Wednesday they think should be asked of potential jurors, including some aimed at rooting out bias against large corporations and others probing their views on opioid medications. The court has already dismissed 500 potential jurors based on written questionnaires, court filings show.
Don't they realize that only small drug dealers on street corners get to pay and end up in jail for many many years! These BIG CORPORATE DRUG dealer CEO's & Shareholders are immune to that kind of accountability for murder!
Opioids. 3.6 Billion pills in Ohio. Has any journalist asked 'Where did the raw material come from?” Afganistan? Is this what our military been doing for the past 15 years? Guarding the BigPharma supply chain?