Johnson & Johnson at center of first opioid crisis trial

Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below to see how the opening statements unfolded, and read more about the trial here.

Opening arguments in the Oklahoma opioid trial just ended.

Larry Ottaway, an attorney representing Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, defended his client’s conduct. 

“Janssen’s conduct was not a nuisance. They provided medically necessary mediations…. They were lawfully subscribed by doctors in the state of Oklahoma.  

Total documented cases of addictions or death due to one of the Janssen’s medication in this case? Zero, Ottaway says.  

Still, the state of Oklahoma wants Johnson & Johnson to pay $17.5 billion, Ottaway says.  

That would go for, among other things, universal screenings for all Medicaid patients 30 times a year for substance abuse.  

The state wants Janssen to pay for a needle exchange program – but the company never made an opioid you needed a syringe for, he said.

Larry Ottaway, a defense lawyer representing Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, just cited a DCD report in his opening statement.

The report says: “Public health interventions to reduce prescription drug addiction must strike a balance between reducing misuse and abuse and safeguarding legitimate access to treatment.”

He asked those in the courtroom to think about what it would be like if pain “never went away.”

“When we talk about the balance between risk of addiction and unrelenting pain, that is the balance the government is speaking about,” Ottaway said.

There are 50 million adults with chronic pain, he said citing CDC data.

“Janssen did not invent this disease,” he said, but is trying to treat pain.

The trial Oklahoma Johnson & Johnson trial has resumed.

The Norman, Oklahoma court room is at capacity, and two television cameras operated by the Courtroom View Network are sharing images of the trial with other media.

Judge Thad Balkman is allowing the defense to continue making opening statements.

Earlier today, the State of Oklahoma, in its opening statements, accused Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, of fueling the opioid epidemic and causing a “public nuisance.”

Defense lawyer Larry Ottaway began laying out the case for Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals in his opening statement.

He cited John Adam’s famous quote – “Facts are stubborn things” – criticized some of the allegations made by Oklahoma, which brought the lawsuit against his clients.

He said that in 2009, when Janssen said opioids were rarely addictive, the Food and Drug Administration also said that opioids “rarely caused addiction.”

The court is now on a lunch break. The defense team will continue its opening statements when they return at 1:30 p.m.

Attorney Michael Burrage just concluded the opening statement for the State of Oklahoma.

He cited the book, “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten,” and said Johnson & Johnson should be responsible for cleaning up their own messes.  

What happens next: Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals will begin their opening statements after a 20-minute recess.

Brad Beckworth, a private attorney hired by the State of Oklahoma, said Johnson & Johnson “aggressively” marketed its products to anyone and everyone.

He also broke down some of the numbers behind the opioid crisis in Oklahoma:

Brad Beckworth, a private attorney hired by the State of Oklahoma compared Johnson & Johnson to Oxycontin maker Purdue — and said the two drug giants were in a competition over opioids.

Beckworth quoted a song from the musical “Annie Get Your Gun” — “Anything you can do, I can do better” — when describing Johnson & Johnson mirroring actions of Purdue and finding ways to get people to start taking their drug and keep taking it.

“Johnson & Johnson was in a race with Purdue to do the same things,” he said.

The state of Oklahoma continues their opening statement in the civil trial where they allege Johnson and Johnson and their subsidiary Jensen Pharmaceuticals fueled the opioid crisis and created a “public nuisance.”

Mike Hunter, the state attorney general, called the opioid crisis “the worst manmade public health crisis in the history of our state and country.”

In their zeal to produce a magic drug, the company engaged in a “multimillion dollar brainwashing campaign,” he said, that impacted real families.

Brad Beckworth, a private attorney hired by the State of Oklahoma said Johnson & Johnson’s marketing of the drugs as safe and effective for everyday pain made them too widely available.

“We must act deliberately, we must ask decisively,” he said. “There is no better place than right here, right now.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter laid out the state’s case against Johnson & Johnson in his opening statement this morning.

Trial evidence will show that 4,653 Oklahomans died of unintentional overdoses involving prescription opioids from 2007 to 2017, Hunter said.

Why this trial matters: This historic trial is the first major test in the nation of whether a state can make a pharmaceutical company pay for the opioid epidemic. 

Hunter and his team have focused their efforts on Johnson & Johnson, alleging the company acted as a drug “kingpin,” created a public nuisance and cost the state billions of dollars, destroying thousands of lives in the process. Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, have vehemently denied the allegations and said the public nuisance charge is being misused.