Oklahomas $572 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson will likely be followed by more trials and legal settlements seeking to hold a drug company accountable for a U.S. opioid crisis that has ripped apart lives and communities.
Mondays ruling could help shape negotiations over roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio.
Following are questions and answers about the opioid crisis.
Q: Why are so many governments suing over opioids?
A: Forty-eight states plus around 2,000 local and tribal governments have sued companies in the drug industry, arguing those that make, distribute and sell the drugs are partly responsible for a crisis that has killed more than 400,000 people across the country since 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The plaintiffs argue that drugs were improperly marketed and that companies failed to stop suspicious orders from shipping.
Q: Whats the financial toll of the crisis?
A: The White House Council of Economic Advisers published a report in 2017 pegging the cost of the crisis at just over $500 billion in 2015. That includes lost productivity as well as costs borne by taxpayers, such as ambulance runs, jail treatment costs, and the costs of caring for children whose parents have died from opioid overdoses.
Q: What are opioids and how are they used?
A: Theyre an addictive family of drugs that block pain signals between the body and brain. They include prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin, as well as illegal drugs such as heroin and illicit versions of fentanyl. Until recent decades, they were prescribed largely for pain for patients with cancer, at the end of their lives, or with acute pain, such as after surgery. Since the 1990s, theres been a push in the medical world, partly funded by drug companies, to do better at treating pain and opioids came to be seen as part of the solution.
Q: So whats the problem?
A: Recent studies have questioned their effectiveness with chronic pain and the CDCP has told prescribers to be cautious about using the powerful drugs to treat patients with long-term pain. Experts say the longer patients are on the drugs and the higher the doses they receive, the more likely they are to develop addictions.
Q: When did the opioid crisis begin?
A: By the early 2000s, the death toll from opioids was rising and there were growing numbers of thefts of drugs from pharmacies. In 2007, Purdue paid a $634 million fine and pleaded guilty to understanding the addiction risks of the drug. But the crisis only deepened after that. Prescriptions flowed freely at pill mill clinics, especially in Florida, where drug dealers would get drugs and spread them around the country.
Q: How widespread is the problem?
A: In recent years, opioid overdoses have been the nations largest cause of accidental deaths, ahead of even automobile accidents. The death tolls per capita have been the highest in places with the highest prescription rates. The Appalachian region has been hardest hit.
Q: Whats next?
A: The first federal trial, involving claims from Ohios Cuyahoga and Summit counties, is scheduled for Oct. 21.
Other cases in state and federal courts could be tried as soon as next year.
