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Johnson & Johnson accused of 'cynical, deceitful' bid to drive up painkiller sales Johnson & Johnson boosted opioid sales via 'cynical brainwashing', court hears
(about 5 hours later)
Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest drug companies, has been accused of “a cynical, deceitful multimillion-dollar brainwashing campaign” to drive up sales of its powerful painkillers at the opening of the first trial of a pharmaceutical giant over the US opioid epidemic. Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest drug companies and best known for baby products, has been accused of “a cynical, deceitful multimillion-dollar brainwashing campaign” to drive up sales of its powerful painkillers at the opening of the first trial of a pharmaceutical giant over the US opioid epidemic.
Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Hunter, told the civil trial, which opened on Tuesday, that Johnson & Johnson played a leading role in “the worst manmade health crisis in the history of the country and the state”.Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Hunter, told the civil trial, which opened on Tuesday, that Johnson & Johnson played a leading role in “the worst manmade health crisis in the history of the country and the state”.
Calling the trial a “day of reckoning” for the company, Hunter said it played a leading role in “the worst man made health crisis in the history of the country and the state”.
“How did it happen?” Hunter asked. “Greed.”“How did it happen?” Hunter asked. “Greed.”
The corporation’s trial is a closely watched test case over the extent of big pharma’s responsibility for the opioid drug crisis. The state of Oklahoma is suing Johnson & Johnson for damages, claiming that it worked to push opioids to people who did not need the drugs in competition with Purdue Pharma, whose high strength OxyContin was a leading driver of the epidemic that has claimed 400,000 lives in the US over the past two decades.
The New Jersey-based firm, better known around the globe for baby powder and shampoo, is fighting allegations by the state of Oklahoma that it conspired with other drug makers to market opioids deceptively by downplaying the significant risk of addiction and by pressuring doctors to prescribe narcotic painkillers, including to children. “J&J – a ‘family company’ – acted as the kingpin behind this public health emergency, profiting at every stage,” the lawsuit alleges. The company denies the allegations.
The civil lawsuit also says J&J was “the supplier and the source of the materials used to manufacture these opioid drugs” through subsidiaries in Tasmania, Australia, that grew poppies and refined them for use in narcotic painkillers. The case sets the stage for about 2,000 other civil lawsuits by US states, cities and Native American tribes looking for a settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors to match the $246bn paid by the tobacco companies 21 years ago over their misrepresentation of the dangers of smoking.
Among the customers was Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma. That company’s high-strength opioid, OxyContin, has been a leading driver of the epidemic that has claimed 400,000 lives in the US over the past two decades. The state accuses J&J of falsely and deceptively promoting opioids for treatment of chronic pain, leading to overprescription, addiction and overdoses that claimed 4,653 lives in Oklahoma in the decade to 2107 and wrecked many times more.
Brad Beckworth, another lawyer for the state, told the judge hearing the case without a jury that the company created a web of influence, in part through paid doctors and front organisations, that underplayed the dangers of addiction and overstated the effectiveness of the drugs.
“It is a manmade crisis. The evidence will show this is a drug company made crisis,” he said.
Beckworth said that the company launched a fentanyl patch, Duragesic, in 1991 that for the first few years was used to treat only severe pain in people with cancer or who were dying. But after Purdue brought OxyContin onto the market in 1997, J&J saw an opportunity and relaunched Duragesic for more routine chronic pain in order to grab a much wider market.
The following year, J&J created a highly potent poppy in Tasmania that was refined to supply the narcotic sold in American prescription opioids, including by Purdue. J&J’s pharma division, Janssen, also manufactured an opioid tablet, Nucynta, described by Hunter as a “deadly heroin pill”.
Beckworth said that J&J followed Purdue’s blueprint by ignoring long established evidence that opioids are addictive and the old adage that “if you oversupply, people will die”.
“J&J knew that opioid drugs are addictive and cause harm,” he said.
Instead, Beckworth said, the company “created a need so they could sell to the need” with false claims that its opioids were safe and effective for long term treatment of chronic pain despite a lack of clinical studies and the history of narcotics creating addiction. He likened the result to the mass addiction to opium in 19th century China.
The state accuses J&J of deliberately ignoring warnings about addiction and death. Beckworth showed internal company emails by one of its sales rep, Melinda Dickson.
US medical group that pushed doctors to prescribe painkillers forced to closeUS medical group that pushed doctors to prescribe painkillers forced to close
“J&J – a ‘family company’ – acted as the kingpin behind this public health emergency, profiting at every stage,” the lawsuit by Oklahoma against the company that has led to this week’s civil trial alleges. After a meeting with a doctor in Tulsa who expressed concerns about opioids creating addiction, the rep wrote a message about the ‘need to continue to bring up his comfort level for using higher doses of Duragesic’.”
The company has denied the allegations. In another email, Dickson said she told a doctor concerned about addiction and abuse that he should not worry because the result was “either fatal or they do not get affect (sic) they are looking for”.
The legal action by Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Hunter, is expected to set the stage for about 2,000 other civil lawsuits by US states, cities and Native American tribes looking for a settlement with the drug industry to match the $246bn paid by the tobacco companies 21 years ago over their misrepresentation of the dangers of smoking. Beckworth said that confronted with evidence of the growing epidemic, J&J “saw it as an opportunity”.
Although the suit is likely to be decided over legal arguments about the extent of J&J’s liability, the case also promises to offer emotional insight into the human impact of an epidemic. 
The court will hear testimony from families hit by opioid addiction, including those whose loved ones have died. Among the state’s lawyers is an attorney whose niece died from an opioid overdose and another whose son was addicted.
J&J’s pharmaceutical division, Janssen, manufactured an opioid pill, Nucynta, described by Hunter as a “deadly heroin pill”.
The state accuses J&J of practices seen across the opioid industry including targeting vulnerable groups, understating the risks of addiction and overstating the benefits of prescription opioids, and funding front groups to push prescribing.
Hunter filed the suit against two other companies that the state alleged worked with J&J, Purdue and Teva. But Purdue Pharma agreed to pay $270m to settle the case in March, which included a contribution from the members of the Sackler family that wholly own Purdue, even though they were not named in the suit.
And Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceuticals settled on Saturday by paying $85m. “J&J was there arm-in-arm with Purdue (and Teva) the whole way,” the state alleged.
Opioids crisisOpioids crisis
OpioidsOpioids
OklahomaOklahoma
Pharmaceuticals industryPharmaceuticals industry
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