Revised opioid ruling: $465M
NORMAN — A judge issued a final order Friday directing pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries to pay the state $465 million to help remediate the deadly opioid crisis.
The amount was $107 million less than Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman initially ordered the companies to pay last August.
The difference was due to the judge correcting a math error that he acknowledged making.
Balkman rejected a request by Johnson& Johnson to reduce the judgment by an additional $355 million to give the company credit for payments other drug companies have paid the state as the result of settlement agreements.
The judge also rejected arguments by state attorneys that they should be allowed to come back and request more money in future years if they can show the state's opioid crisis has not been fully abated.
Attorneys for Johnson& Johnson said they plan to appeal, even though the judgment was lowered.
“We are moving forward with our appeal of this judgment because it is neither supported by the facts nor the law,” the company said in prepared statement. “We recognize the opioid crisis is
a tremendous ly complex public health issue and have deep sympathy for everyone affected. We do not believe litigation is the answer and are continuing to work with partners to find solutions.”
Sabrina Strong, outside counsel for Johnson &Johnson, said Friday' s ruling “marks another procedural step on the way to appeal.”
“As was said when the judgment was announced, the company has very strong grounds to have this decision overturned,” Strong said .“The company manufactured FDA-approved pain medicines, took steps to educate doctors so they could make informed treatment decisions with their patients, and trained their sales representatives to lawfully provide appropriate and accurate information to doctors.”
Attorneys for the state of Oklahoma have not yet said whether they, also, plan to appeal the decision.
Alex Gerszewski, spokesman for Attorney General Mike Hunter, said attorneys for the state are reviewing the 44-page order and will provide “a formal response in a few days.”
From 2011- 2015, more than 2,100 Oklahomans died from unintentional opioid prescription over doses, Balkman noted in his final order.
“It was undisputed that in 2015, over 326 million opioid pills were dispensed to Oklahoma residents, enough for every adult to have 110 pills,” the judge wrote. “Defendants promoted their specific opioids using misleading marketing. Among other things, they sent sales representatives into Oklahoma doctors' offices to deliver misleading messages, they disseminated misleading pamphlets, coupons, and other printed materials for patients and doctors, and they misleadingly advertised their drugs over the internet.”
Balkman retained jurisdiction of the case for the purpose of “administering
the Abatement Plan and the associated Abatement Plan Funds.”
“To the extent possible,” Balkman plans to work with the Legislature and governor regarding how abatement funds are spent, he said in his ruling.
In August, Balkman initially ordered Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries to pay $572 million to help abate the public nuisance caused by misleading marketing of opioid painkillers. The state had sought more than $17 billion.
However, in October the judge admitted to making a $107 million math error in his order. He corrected that error and reduced the judgment in his final order Friday.
Balkman found no merit to Johnson& Johnson' s request to reduce the judgment another $355 million to give them credit for the state' s settlements with other drug companies before trial. A group headed by Purdue Pharma agreed to pay the state $270 million to settle their case and a group headed by Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. agreed to pay the state $85 million.
Under Oklahoma law, Johnson & Johnson is not entitled to a settlement credit as a result of the other drug companies' settlements with the state “because there has been no finding of fault” against the other drug companies in those settlement agreements, the judge wrote in his final opinion.
Just as he had in his previous ruling, the judge found that even though witnesses forth estate testified it would take at least 20 years to abate the opioid crisis, the state did not present sufficient evidence to support payments beyond one year.
The exact amount of the abatement plan the judge ordered Friday was $465,026,711.
“It was undisputed that in 2015, over 326 million opioid pills were dispensed to Oklahoma residents, enough for every adult to have 110 pills.”
Judge Thad Balkman