Oklahoma Wanted $17 Billion To Fight Its Opioid Crisis: What's The Real Cost?
The $572 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson will cover one year of addiction treatment and prevention the judge says. But health economists predict it will take decades to abate the problem.
by Selena Simmons-Duffin
Aug 26, 2019
3 minutes
Today, the judge hearing the opioid case brought by Oklahoma against the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson awarded the state roughly $572 million.
The fact that the state won any money is significant — it's the first ruling to hold a pharmaceutical company responsible for the opioid crisis.
But the state had asked for much more: around $17 billion. The judge found the drugmaker liable for only about 1/30 of that.
"The state did not present.
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