Four drugmakers are slated to go on trial Monday in California over claims they fed the opioid crisis, in a proceeding that could help finalize multibillion-dollar settlements between state and local governments and pharmaceutical companies.
The case is just the second to go to trial out of thousands of similar lawsuits accusing the drug industry of fueling an opioid epidemic that has killed nearly 500,000 people since 1999, according to federal data.
In the trial set to begin Monday fully by videoconference, four California communities allege that Johnson & Johnson , Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd. , Allergan and Endo International PLC ran misleading marketing campaigns that played down the risks of opioid addiction to boost sales of powerful prescription painkillers.
“So many families have been affected, so many lives have ended or been completely devastated,” said Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams, whose county will be pursuing its claims at trial alongside those of Los Angeles and Orange counties and the city of Oakland. “Now the question is, how is there a measure of accountability for these manufacturers?”
