CHARLESTON — Janssen Pharmaceuticals has reached a $99 million settlement with West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office.
Morrisey's office says the amount is more than double Janssen's national settlement proposal of $48 million. The deal was announced April 18, and it means Janssen no longer is involved in the ongoing trial in Kanawha Circuit Court. The trial continues against the other defendants -- Teva and Allergan.
“This settlement will provide significant help to those affected the most by the opioid crisis in West Virginia,” Morrisey said in a press release. “We are still arguing our case in court involving Teva and Allergan and my office is steadfast in holding everyone in the pharmaceutical supply chain accountable for their actions in causing this scourge in West Virginia.
Morrisey
“I’ve always said that at the end of the day, through our office’s opioid work, West Virginia will have the highest per capita settlement results in the nation fighting for our people. It was absolutely the correct decision to proceed to trial and double the amount of relief we can provide to our citizens.”
According to the settlement, West Virginia – and all its cities and counties – will receive a $99 million lump sum payment within 45 days of approval by the state’s political subdivisions.
"The $99 million settlement will directly support local community efforts to seek meaningful progress in addressing the opioid crisis in West Virginia," Johnson & Johnson said in a news release. "This settlement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing and marks continued progress in resolving opioid-related claims and litigation by states, cities, counties, and other subdivisions in the United States. The company will continue to defend against any litigation that the final agreement does not resolve.
"The company’s actions relating to the marketing and promotion of important prescription opioid medications were appropriate and responsible. Duragesic, Nycynta and Nycynta ER accounted for less than 1 percent of total opioid prescriptions in West Virginia and the U.S. since launch. The company no longer sells prescription opioid medications in the United States as part of its ongoing efforts to focus on transformational innovation and serving unmet patient needs."
The money will be distributed under the terms of the West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding that was announced in February. That memo is an agreement with cities and counties on how future settlement dollars would be used to abate the opioid crisis throughout the state. It contains a comprehensive road map to abate the nuisance caused by the flood of opioids into West Virginia. The state’s counties and cities are in the process of approving the West Virginia First MOU.
The lawsuits, filed separately in 2019 in Boone Circuit Court, allege the defendants’ concealed misconduct, mischaracterized and failed to disclose the serious risk of addiction, overstated the benefits of chronic opioid therapy and promoted higher dosage amounts without disclosing inherently greater risks. One lawsuit is against the Janssen family of opioid manufacturers, the second lawsuit is against the Teva and Allergan family of companies.
The state claimed Janssen and co-defendant Johnson & Johnson persuaded doctors the opioids they had been unwilling to prescribe were more effective and safe enough for wide and long-term use, even for treatment of relatively minor pain conditions.
Both lawsuits allege the manufacturers’ conduct and campaign of misrepresentations led to opioids becoming a common treatment for chronic pain in West Virginia, a reality that fueled substance abuse and the state’s skyrocketing rate of overdose deaths.
The state alleges the manufacturers’ conduct violated the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act and caused a public nuisance. The remaining lawsuit involving the Teva and Allergan family of companies seek injunctive and equitable relief.
