San Francisco squared off on April 25 against Walgreens Boots Alliance and three other companies accused of fueling an opioid crisis in the city, the first trial to target manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies over the addictive pain medicines.

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $99 million to settle claims by West Virginia that it helped fuel an opioid addiction crisis in the state, removing the company from an ongoing trial that began earlier in April.

West Virginia’s attorney general on April 4 urged a judge to hold Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and AbbVie Inc.’s Allergen liable for causing a “tsunami” of opioid addiction in the state.

One day after U.S. bankruptcy judge Robert Drain approved an opioid settlement plan that locks Purdue Pharma’s Sackler family into paying about $6 billion into the nationwide fund, family members of those whose lives were devastated by addiction to drugs like OxyContin confronted the de facto face of the nation’s opioid crisis in court.

Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. reported solid results for full-year 2021, posting $15.9 billion in revenue including a gain of $4.1 billion from the fourth quarter. The company recently settled an opioid-related case in Texas and is preparing to pay as much as $3.6 billion in cash and medicine to settle the lawsuits filed against Teva.

The three largest U.S. drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $590 million to resolve claims by Native American tribes that the companies fueled an opioid epidemic in their communities, according to court filings.

Rhode Island on Jan. 25 reversed course and threw the state’s support behind a $21 billion nationwide settlement it originally declined to back resolving lawsuits alleging that three large drug distributors fueled the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic.

Endo International agreed to pay up to $65 million to resolve claims by the state of Florida and local governments that the drugmaker helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic.

The state of Georgia decided to join a proposed $26 billion nationwide settlement resolving lawsuits alleging that three large drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson fueled the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic.

Johnson & Johnson

Nevada agreed to back a proposed nationwide settlement worth up to $26 billion resolving lawsuits against three large drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, the state’s attorney general said on January 4.