Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday announced it had reached an agreement worth more than $20 million with two Ohio counties, becoming the latest company to settle a lawsuit to get out of the first federal trial over the nation’s opioids crisis. It was announced less than three weeks before the scheduled start of the first federal trial over the opioid crisis. Like most of the others, Johnson & Johnson still faces some 2,000 other lawsuits related to the nation’s opioids epidemic. “The settlement allows the company to avoid the resource demands and uncertainty of a trial as it continues to seek meaningful progress in addressing the nation’s opioid crisis,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement. Johnson & Johnson has sold three opioids in the U.S.: Duragesic fentanyl patches; the oral opioid Nucynta; and an extended-release version of Nucynta.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 02, 2019 01:18 UTC