Transcript
On Tuesday, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson reached a 20.4 million dollar settlement with two counties in Ohio.
The announcement was made ahead of a landmark opioid trial scheduled to start later this month.
The settlement removes Johnson & Johnson from the federal trial against opioid manufacturers.
The federal trial combines nearly two-thousand cases involving cities, counties, communities and tribal lands.
The lawsuit accuses drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and practitioners of shipping “hundred to millions” of suspicious opioid doses over 20 years to their jurisdictions.
If the agreements are finalized, Johnson & Johnson will provide 10-million dollars to Cuyahoga and Summit counties in Ohio.
Five-million dollars would go towards reimbursing legal expenses.
And Johnson & Johnson will give 5.4 million to nonprofit groups in connection with opioid-related programs.
Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that it acted responsibly with its products and the settlement is not an admission of liability.
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