Teva Settles Oklahoma Opioid Case for $85 Million

By Sara Randazzo

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. agreed Sunday to pay $85 million to resolve claims by the state of Oklahoma that the company's marketing helped fuel a rise in opioid addiction.

The deal comes days before Teva was set to defend itself at a landmark trial, the first to unfold out of some 2,000 lawsuits brought by states and local municipalities against pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis.

The trial is expected to move forward Tuesday in Norman, Okla., against Johnson & Johnson. The state earlier reached a $270 million settlement with the third defendant in the case, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP.

Israel-based Teva said Sunday that while the company "has long stated that the courtroom is not a place to address the crisis, Teva is pleased to put the Oklahoma case behind it" and will continue to defend itself against the hundreds of other cases. Teva didn't admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement and said it "has not contributed to the abuse of opioids in Oklahoma in any way."

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter's office said Sunday that details of how the $85 million will be allocated will be announced in the coming weeks, but added that the money "will be used to abate the opioid crisis in Oklahoma."

Purdue's settlement funds are being used to establish a national opioid-addiction center in Oklahoma, as well as going toward local municipalities and covering plaintiffs' attorney fees.

Teva and its subsidiaries make generic opioid painkillers, including a generic version of OxyContin, along with two branded drugs used for breakthrough cancer pain. Teva has argued that it doesn't market its generic opioids, which likely weakened Oklahoma's case.

The state says aggressive marketing by the companies that played down the risk of addiction while touting the drugs for widespread pain management helped create a culture of dependence that led to a "public nuisance" under state law.

Mr. Hunter said Sunday the settlement "is a testament to the state's legal team's countless hours and resources preparing for this trial and their dedication and resolve to hold the defendants in this case accountable for the ongoing opioid overdose and addiction epidemic that continues to claim thousands of lives each year."

From 2011 to 2015, more than 2,100 Oklahomans died of an unintentional prescription opioid overdose, the state has said in court filings. In 2015, more than 326 million opioid pills were dispensed to Oklahoma residents, enough for every adult to have 110 pills.

Oklahoma has set the cost to abate the opioid epidemic in the state at between $12.7 and $17.5 billion.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2019 12:24 ET (16:24 GMT)

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