On Monday, a judge in Oklahoma handed down a ruling that Johnson & Johnson must pay $572 million to the state for the company’s role in the opioid epidemic. It’s the first ruling of its kind to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable for the opioid crisis. Meanwhile,Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, is offering to settle over 2,000 lawsuits from states, cities and counties for $10 billion to $12 billion dollars. We’ll discuss what these developments could mean for other health care and drug companies, the public interest and the fight to end the opioid epidemic.
Read The Guardian article mentioned on air “Opioid addiction rising in India as US drugmakers push painkillers.”