Endo Health Solutions will pay $26 million as a settlement to West Virginia for the company's role in fueling the opioid crisis in the state, which created havoc among the communities.
The company announced the settlement just before the trial that took place on Monday, where the state has sued three opioid manufacturers Allergan, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey informed that even Endo would have been part of the trial if the company would have failed to reach a settlement over the last several months with the state. In 2019, West Virginia sued all four drug companies and their subsidiaries.
As per the settlement, the money would be used to develop programmes that would help to fight the opioid addiction problems in the state. It even mandates Endo not to make false or deceptive statements about opioids and stop the promotion of opioids for treating pain.
In a similar lawsuit in 2019, Boone County Circuit Court accused Endo of mischaracterizing and failing to disclose the severe risk of opioid addiction by overstating the benefits of opioid therapy and promoting higher dosage of opioids by withholding the risks. The state alleged that Endo rebranded the drug with a new name Opana with a new colour.
West Virginia alleges that the manufacturers used a deceiving strategy to sell the drugs by persuading doctors to prescribe opioids for minor pain conditions. The attorney general’s office notified that the trial could take up to two months.
