This week, Johnson & Johnson doled out $99 million to remove itself from ongoing opioid litigation in West Virginia. But the pharma giant isn’t stopping there.
As part of a new state-specific settlement, Alabama's attorney general Steve Marshall said the state will collect $70.3 million from J&J, $10 million from Endo Pharmaceutical and $141 million from distributor McKesson over nine years, totaling $276 million. The state also collected approximately $40 million for attorney fees and state costs.
Alabama held off on joining the national opioid settlements finalized in February, a decision Marshall stood behind this week.
“These three settlement agreements affirm my decision to decline participation in the national opioid settlements, which did not adequately acknowledge the unique harm that Alabamians have endured,” Marshall said in a statement.
Alabama’s settlement payout will go toward addressing harms caused by Alabama’s opioid addiction crisis.
J&J said the settlement is not an admission of any liability or wrongdoing.
The pharma giant also noted that it no longer sells its three prescription opioid medications and that the drugs accounted for less than 1% of total opioid prescriptions in Alabama and the U.S. since launch.