What Happened
According to many state officials around the country spearheaded by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, Johnson & Johnson acted as the “kingpin” behind America’s current opioid crisis. Hunter alleges that Johnson & Johnson utilized a chain of foreign and domestic companies that supplied the necessary raw materials needed to manufacture the opioids in question. Johnson and Johnson acted as the top supplier, seller, and lobbyist for opioids within the country since the 1990s.
Hunter urges that Johnson & Johnson should release millions of pages of documents that record their role in this epidemic. Hunter calls for complete transparency from J&J in this situation.
Johnson & Johnson along with its parent company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, deny all allegations against them, claiming them as baseless and saying that Hunter wishes to “batter Oklahomans with sensationalistic headlines and to poison potential jurors against Janssen in advance of trial.”
Oklahoma will be the first to host a case that goes before a jury in all the country and could shed light on the role big pharmaceutical companies played in the opioid epidemic and whether they should be held responsible.
Hunter also argues that the defendants, all part of Big Pharma, lied to the public about their opioids being safe to use over a long period of time. However, these companies claim their marketing was appropriate and truthful. The state of Oklahoma is also claiming that J&J targeted vulnerable populations including children, the elderly, and veterans for painkiller prescriptions. The state alleges that the group blocked legislation and funded groups to make access to opioids much easier.
Hunter notes that if Johnson & Johnson is innocent of targeting these vulnerable populations, then it should be no problem to make these documents public. Many state officials note how J&J’s marketing was manufactured to deceive the public into believing their drugs were not as addictive as they really were purely to increase their profits. J&J Chairwoman and Executive Vice President Jennifer Taubert defended the company’s handling of opioids by saying, “Everything that I have seen leads me to conclusively believe that everything that we have done with our products when we promoted opioid products … was very appropriate and responsible.”
Johnson & Johnson produced raw narcotics through a subsidiary named Tasmanian Alkaloids in Tasmanian poppy fields, creating other active opioid ingredients. The company even boasted at one time how some of their opium poppies “enabled the growth of oxycodone,” and the morphine content in a different poppy was “the highest in the world,” coming to light after investor slides were obtained by Axios. J&J eventually sold this subsidiary and other groups that handled this business in 2016 for $650 million to a private equity.
What’s Next
Oklahoma state officials claim that since J&J divested its opioid businesses, their documents related to these business ventures are no longer valuable trade secrets and should be made available to the public. However, the court has said that even though Johnson & Johnson removed itself from the opioid business, it did not forfeit its confidentiality.
While Purdue Pharma has remained the primary target all across the country, Oklahoma has its eyes set on Johnson & Johnson as its new target.
Since 2000, well over 600,000 Americans have lost their lives following a drug overdose with the majority falling victim to opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Trump declared a state of public health emergency regarding the opioid crisis in October of 2017. With 36 states having already filed cases against Big Pharma and 14 more still investigating, all eyes will be on Oklahoma in May to watch precedence be set. This will be the first of what appears to be many cases being seen in courts throughout the country in the coming months.
How Can Wormington & Bollinger Help
Due to the increasing severity of the opioid epidemic in the United States, it is only natural for many Americans to question whether or not they have been affected by these medications. With such a staggering number already fallen victim to the effects of opioid overdose, many may be in danger of suffering the same fate. If you or a loved one have been prescribed opioid painkiller medications and potentially developed an addiction to the same medications, you may be entitled to take legal action. The team at Wormington & Bollinger is here to help you navigate this difficult time in your life and advise you on the next steps you should take.
Within the coming months, the fight against Big Pharma companies like Johnson & Johnson will begin to take off with Oklahoma being the first to take legal action with these allegations. The current state of the opioid epidemic is a serious matter and should be treated with the utmost care and respect to ensure the safety of the victims and that they receive the justice they deserve. Contact Wormington & Bollinger if you or a loved one have become a victim of this crisis or to learn more.