Drugmaker Teva fuelled opioid addiction in New York, jury finds

NEW YORK • Teva Pharmaceutical Industries fuelled opioid addiction in New York state, a jury has found, a setback for a company still facing thousands of other opioid-related lawsuits around the United States.

Following a trial of nearly six months in a case brought by the state and two of its counties, the jury deliberated more than eight days before reaching a verdict, which does not include damages that will be determined later.

Teva shares, which had been trading higher, fell 6.1 per cent in New York on Thursday, after the court verdict.

New York Attorney-General Letitia James called the outcome "a significant day" for the state and for "every family and community torn apart by opioids".

Ms Jayne Conroy and Mr Hunter Shkolnik, who represent Suffolk and Nassau counties respectively, hailed it as a "massive victory".

In a statement, the Israel-based company said: "Teva Pharmaceuticals strongly disagrees with today's outcome and will prepare for a swift appeal as well as continue to pursue a mistrial."

It said the state and counties presented "no evidence of medically unnecessary prescriptions, suspicious or diverted orders".

New York and the counties had accused the drugmaker of engaging in misleading marketing practices that fuelled opioid addiction in the state, including by pushing drugs for off-label use.

They focused on Actiq and Fentora, cancer pain drugs made by Cephalon, a company Teva bought in 2011, as well as generic opioids sold by Teva.

The New York lawsuit is one of more than 3,300 filed by state, local and Native American tribal governments across the country.

The judge in the case is still considering a request Teva made for a mistrial after a lawyer for the state cited an inaccurate statistic about opioid prescriptions in his closing argument.

If the verdict stands, it could put pressure on Teva to reach a nationwide settlement with other states and local governments over opioid claims.

The evidence at the trial included a parody video made for a Cephalon sales meeting in 2006 in which the villain, Dr Evil from the Austin Powers films, talked about promoting the drugs for non-cancer pain.

Teva attributed a surge in opioid prescriptions to a change in medical standards of care emphasising pain treatment beginning in the 1990s, the court heard.

It also said its opioid sales complied with federal and New York state regulations.

The jury found the state partly to blame, assigning it 10 per cent responsibility.

US officials have said that by 2019, the health crisis had led to nearly 500,000 opioid overdose deaths over two decades.

More than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses during the 12-month period ending April last year, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report last November, a record driven in large part by deaths from opioids like Fentanyl.

Other defendants in the case settled before or during trial, including major pharmacies, distributors McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health, and drugmakers Johnson & Johnson, Endo International and AbbVie.

The settlement with J&J and the distributors was part of a nationwide deal worth up to US$26 billion. Teva did not take part in that deal.

REUTERS