
J&J coughs up $40.5M in New Hampshire opioid settlement, evading upcoming trial
J&J has agreed to shell out $40.5 million to settle New Hampshire state’s alleged claims over the company’s role in fueling the US opioid crisis.
The state sued the company in 2018 alleging that J&J’s subsidiaries “aggressively marketed” opioid painkillers and falsely declared them as safer than alternatives. The accusation included that J&J promoted the false concept of pseudoaddiction, which refers to desperate drug-seeking that is caused not by true drug addiction, but rather by undertreatment of pain. In addition, the state alleged the subsidiaries misrepresented that the opioids were rarely addictive when used for chronic pain.
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