Attorney General Morissey to present opening arguments in opioid trial

Mar. 31—West Virginia's attorney general will be presenting the opening arguments April 4 when a trial against three opioid drug manufacturers' family of companies — Janssen, Teva and Allergan — gets underway in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

In the lawsuit, the Attorney General Patrick Morrisey alleges that the manufacturers helped fuel West Virginia's opioid epidemic by individually engaging in strategic campaigns to deceive prescribers and misrepresent the risks and benefits of opioid painkillers.

The trial could take up to two months.

"We have to hold the pharmaceutical supply chain responsible for any harm their conduct may cause to the state of West Virginia and its citizens," Morrisey said Wednesday. "The widespread deception alleged in our lawsuits cannot be tolerated. They must be held accountable for their actions."

The lawsuits, filed separately in 2019 in Boone County Circuit Court, allege the defendants concealed misconduct, mischaracterized and failed to disclose the serious risk of addiction, overstated the benefits of chronic opioid therapy and promoted higher dosage amounts without disclosing inherently greater risks, according to the West Virginia Attorney General's Office. One lawsuit is against the Janssen family of opioid manufacturers, the second lawsuit is against the Teva and Allergan family of companies.

The Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. lawsuit alleges its subsidiary and co-defendant, Johnson & Johnson, turned the standard of care on its head by choosing to persuade concerned doctors that the opioids they had been unwilling to prescribe were more effective and safe enough for wide and long-term use, even for treatment of relatively minor pain conditions, according Morrisey.

Similarly, the Teva lawsuit alleges sales representatives for that manufacturer marketed the fentanyl-based opioid Actiq to non-oncologists and pain clinic doctors, even though the representatives knew the drug in question was for cancer patients, according to Morrisey.

Both lawsuits allege the manufacturers' conduct and campaign of misrepresentations led to opioids becoming a common treatment for chronic pain in West Virginia, a reality that fueled substance abuse and the state's skyrocketing rate of overdose deaths, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Morrisey alleges the manufacturers' conduct violated West Virginia's Consumer Credit and Protection Act and caused a public nuisance. Both lawsuits seek injunctive and equitable relief.

The Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. lawsuit also names Cephalon, Inc. as a defendant. Both are subsidiaries of Teva Pharmaceuticals Limited.

The Allergan defendants include Allergan Finance, LLC, formerly known as Actavis, Inc. fka Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Allergan Sales LLC; Allergan USA, Inc.; Watson Laboratories, Inc.; Warner Chilcott Company, LLC; Actavis Pharma, Inc. fka Watson Pharma, Inc.; Actavis South Atlantic, LLC; Actavis Elizabeth, LLC; Actavis Mid Atlantic, LLC; Actavis Totowa, LLC; Actaviis LLC; Actavis Kadian, LLC; Actavis Laboratories UT, Inc. fka Watson Laboratories, Inc.-Salt Lake City and Actavis Laboratories FL, Inc. fka Watson Laboratories, Inc. — Florida.

The civil complaints can be read at https://bit.ly/3tO3x9O (Teva) and https://bit.ly/3K2ytbS (Janssen).

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com