Johnson & Johnson leaves the opioid business in the United States

Johnson & Johnson, an American pharmaceutical company, no longer wants to manufacture and sell opioid painkillers in the United States. As New York Attorney General Lydia James announced over the weekend, the drugmaker has engaged itself in a multi-million dollar settlement with New York State to “get out of the opioid business nationwide.”

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $ 230 million (.6 192.6 million) in compensation, which could be extended to nine years.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the money will be invested in prevention and education programs and in the treatment of opioid addicts in New York State. If the government wants to create a compensation fund in the first year, it is said that it will still be 30 million.

Opioid-Crisis

The opioid crisis has “devastated numerous places in New York and across the country,” said Attorney General James. Millions of people still rely on “dangerous and deadly” painkillers. Johnson & Johnson were involved in “igniting this fire”. Now the company is getting itself out of business – “not just in New York, but across the country.”