Teva Pharm to Pay US $ 85 Million to Oklahoma to Settle Claims for Opioids

BOSTON / JERUSALEM: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced Sunday that it has agreed to a US $ 85 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma a few days before the company was tried for trial on charges that it would have helped, along with other drug manufacturers, to fuel the opioid epidemic in the United States.

Teva, the world's largest generic drug maker, said the regulation "does not establish any wrongdoing on the part of the company" and has denied contributing to the opioid abuse in l & # 39; Oklahoma.

The claims against Teva related to the Actiq and Fentora brand opioid products as well as the generic painkillers that it produced.

The trial against Teva, based in Israel, as well as Johnson & Johnson, was scheduled to open on Tuesday. The complaint alleged that the opioid epidemic was attributable to the marketing of pain killers by companies.

Johnson & Johnson has no immediate comment.

Oklahoma's Attorney General, Mike Hunter, alleged that J & J and Teva, as well as the manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma LP, had conducted misleading tag campaigns that minimized the risks of addiction. opioids while exaggerating their benefits.

The state also claims that the measures taken by the companies have created an overabundance of painkillers and a public nuisance that will cost between 12.7 and 17.5 billion US dollars to address it.

Oklahoma settled claims against Purdue Pharma LP in March for $ 270 million.

Complainants are closely monitoring the Oklahoma case in other opioid cases, in particular some 1,850 governments, mostly municipal and regional, who sued the same drug makers in federal court. l & # 39; Ohio.

"Teva is delighted to file the Oklahoma case and stands ready to vigorously defend any lawsuit against the company, including the upcoming trial in the Cleveland Federal Court, where the majority of cases are pending," the company said. .

Attorney General Hunter's office said in a statement that the money would be used to remedy the opioid crisis in Oklahoma and that the J & J deal was still to be made a trial Tuesday before Judge Thad Balkman of Cleveland District.

"Almost all Oklahomans have been negatively affected by this deadly crisis and we look forward to Tuesday, where we will prove our case against Johnson & Johnson and its affiliates," Hunter said in a statement.

(Report by Nate Raymond and Ari Rabinovitch, edited by Jane Merriman)