Articles by Andrew Harris, Bloomberg, Jef Feeley and Jared S. Hopkins

Liability Test Case Against Opioid Makers Allowed to Move Forward

A lawsuit seeking to hold drugmakers and distributors responsible for a nationwide opioid epidemic should be allowed to move forward, a federal magistrate said in a preliminary ruling that may increase the likelihood of a settlement. Companies including Johnson & …

Purdue Includes Free Opioid Treatment Drugs in Settlement Offer

The company that created OxyContin is offering free doses of an opioid-abuse treatment as part of its offer to resolve more than 1,000 lawsuits accusing the drugmaker of helping fuel the opioid crisis, according to people familiar with the negotiations. …

California Attorney General Expects State to Play Role in Opioid Deal

California’s attorney general signaled that he expected to play a major role in settling a nationwide legal fight over the opioid crisis even though the state hasn’t been as hard-hit as others. Drugmakers and pharmaceutical wholesalers are facing more than …

The Legal Engine Driving More Than 800 Lawsuits Against Opioid Makers

The place might sound familiar, even if you’ve never been there: the Appalachian foothills, down by the Ohio River, where the sirens scream addiction and death. Twenty-six overdoses in one afternoon. The highest death rate in the state. One in …

Drug Firms Sue Illegal Web Sites for Opioid Crisis

Two pharmaceutical companies say the real culprits in the opioids epidemic are illegal dealers of the painkillers and want them to be on the hook financially for any damages potentially assessed against drugmakers. Endo International Plc and Mallinckrodt Plc sued …

Drugmakers Scale Back Marketing of Opioids

Purdue Pharma LP’s decision to stop promoting its opioid drugs to doctors is being hailed as the first result of a judge’s push for concrete solutions to a nationwide epidemic, even though the company says the move has nothing to …

How Payment Policies of Insurers, Government Discourage Opioid Alternatives

For the drug industry, building a better pain pill is a problem. Pharmaceutical companies have introduced new medicines to treat dependence, reverse overdoses, and deal with opioids’ side effects. But few effective and economically viable alternatives to addictive painkillers have …

Drugmaker Purdue Moves to Settle States’ Claims Over Opioids

Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma LP is proposing a global settlement in an attempt to end state investigations and lawsuits over the U.S. opioid epidemic, according to people familiar with the talks. Purdue’s lawyers raised the prospect with several southern-state attorneys …

Lawsuit Claims J&J Knew of Asbestos in Talcum Powder in ’70s

Johnson & Johnson trained its employees to reassure anyone concerned about whether the company’s talcum powder contained asbestos that the cancer-causing substance “has never been found and it never will” in its iconic baby powder, according to an undated memo …

More States, Star Lawyers Eye Lawsuits Against Big Pharma Over Opioids

Big Pharma is having a Big Tobacco moment as litigation over opioids attract star lawyers and a growing list of states and local governments seeking their own multibillion-dollar payout to deal with costs of a burgeoning drug epidemic. On Tuesday, …