Johnson & Johnson has become the next big pharma player to be accused in New York State’s Department of Financial Services opioid industry probe.
Johnson & Johnson has become the next big pharma player to be accused in New York State’s Department of Financial Services opioid industry probe. The state filed civil insurance fraud charges on Thursday against the company in connection with allegedly misleading marketing and promotional practices.
The suit asserts that J&J and its affiliate, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., violated two New York insurance laws that carry fines of up to $5,000 per violation. Among other allegations, the state claims that J&J downplayed the risks associated with the opioids’ side effects, and engaged in marketing and promotional practices that targeted the elderly by characterizing “opioid addiction as a dangerous myth” and embracing “the idea of ‘pseudoaddiction’”.
Johnson & Johnson contested the charges in a statement, calling their marketing of the opioids “appropriate and responsible”, and insisting that “Janssen provided these medicines for doctors treating patients suffering from pain and worked with regulators to provide appropriate information about their risks and benefits.”
New York becomes only the next state in line to charge J&J in connection with the national opioid epidemic, as the company previously reached a $20.4 million settlement in the Ohio counties of Cuyahoga and Summit. The deal did not contain an admission of liability, and J&J is currently in the process of an appeal. The Ohio case came on the heels of a far more sweeping payout, when a judge in Oklahoma ordered the pharmaceutical giant to pay $572 million for allegedly aggressive marketing practices and the lax distribution policies of opioids.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was unequivocal on the matter.
“Misrepresentation of opioids to consumers for profit is inexcusable and we will use every tool necessary to help ensure those responsible are held fully accountable,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Johnson and Johnson is not the first company to have charges brought against it by New York state for allegedly helping to accelerate the opioid epidemic. Allegations have previously been brought against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Allergan Plc, Endo International Plc and Mallinckrodt Plc.
The state claims that J&J manufactured opioid products in the state including Nucynta and the fentanyl patch Duragesic, and that they received multiple U.S. Food and Drug Administration letters challenging the marketing claims for Duragesic.
New York is looking to claw back approximately $2 billion in insurance premium overcharges.
