Massachusetts sued a unit of French advertising company Publicis Groupe SA on May 6, accusing it of fueling the U.S. opioid crisis by using unfair and deceptive marketing to help drugmaker Purdue Pharma sell more OxyContin.

Drugmakers Johnson & Johnson, Endo International, AbbVie’s Allergan unit, and Teva Pharmaceutical headed to court on April 19 in California over claims the companies engaged in deceptive marketing practices that fueled the opioid crisis in America.

Four drugmakers, including Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., will go to trial on April 19 over claims they helped fuel an opioid crisis that has resulted in nearly 500,000 overdose deaths in the United States.

The U.S. Justice Department sued Walmart Inc., accusing the world’s largest retailer of fueling the opioid crisis in the United States, ignoring warning signs from the company’s pharmacists and filling thousands of invalid prescriptions.

Purdue Pharma LP pleaded guilty to criminal charges over the handling of the company’s addictive prescription painkiller OxyContin, capping a deal with federal prosecutors to resolve an investigation into the drugmaker’s role in the U.S. opioid crisis.

McKesson Corp. said the company and two other major U.S. drug distributors could be expected to pay up to $21 billion under a new proposal by state attorneys general to resolve lawsuits alleging they helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson will contribute up to $1 billion more to a potential settlement of lawsuits alleging the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based drugmaker and other companies fueled the U.S. opioid epidemic, bringing J&J’s total payment to $5 billion.

Mallinckrodt filed for bankruptcy protection, saddled with lawsuits alleging the company helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic.

A federal appeals court overturned a judge’s approval of a novel plan by lawyers representing cities and counties suing drug companies over the U.S. opioid crisis that would bring every community nationally into their settlement talks.

Insys founder John Kapoor is using the coronavirus pandemic as part of his legal defense to remain out of prison while he appeals his January 2020 racketeering conviction for kickback schemes to boost prescriptions of his company’s powerful opioid Subsys.