Articles by Jef Feeley

Judge Open to ‘Novel’ Idea of Local Government Class for Opioid Settlement Talks

A judge backed a push by U.S. cities and counties suing opioid makers such as Purdue Pharma LP and Johnson & Johnson to negotiate a settlement as a group but put off until August a final decision on the request. …

At Oklahoma Trial, J&J Opioid-Sales Tactics Called a ‘Smart Strategy for Drug Dealer’

Johnson & Johnson used promotional gimmicks for its opioid painkillers that are similar to how criminal drug dealers try to boost sales, a pharmaceutical-industry critic told a judge hearing Oklahoma’s claim that the company helped fuel a crisis of addiction. …

Jury Orders J&J, Colgate to Pay Almost $10 Million in Talc Case

Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive Co. must pay almost $10 million to a dying California woman who blamed the companies’ talc-based products for her rare cancer. The jury verdict in state court in Oakland is another setback for J&J, the …

Doctor in Oklahoma Trial Says J&J Pushed Opioids Even After Abuse Became Known

Oklahoma’s star witness told a state judge that Johnson & Johnson pressed doctors to prescribe its painkillers even as the potentially fatal addictive threat posed by the drugs became clear more than a decade ago. The judge, Thad Balkman, is …

Opioid Maker Insys Files for Bankruptcy in Wake of Bribery Convictions, Probe Settlement

Drugmaker Insys Therapeutics Inc., whose former executives were convicted of bribing doctors to prescribe its highly addictive opioid, filed for bankruptcy protection after agreeing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a probe by U.S. prosecutors. The Chapter …

Insys Agrees to $225 Million Settlement of U.S. Claims of Illegal Opioid Sales

Insys Therapeutics Inc., grappling with the prospect of bankruptcy after its founder was convicted on racketeering charges, agreed to pay $225 million to settle U.S. claims that the drug maker illegally sold opioid-based painkillers. Under terms of the deal, Insys …

J&J Told to Pay $300M More by Manhattan Talc-Cancer Jury

Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a jury to pay $300 million in punitive damages to a woman who blamed her rare asbestos-related cancer on decades of daily use of the company’s talc-based products. The ruling brings to $325 million …

Father Testifies in J&J Opioid Marketing Trial on Death of His College Football Star Son

Austin Box was a home-grown football star at the University of Oklahoma in 2010 when back surgery to repair an injury got him started on powerful opioid painkillers that would end his life at 22, his father testified through tears …

Oklahoma Says J&J ‘Deceitful’ Marketing Fed Opioid Epidemic; J&J Denies Wrongdoing

Johnson & Johnson’s greed for more sales of its addictive opioid painkillers helped create a deadly epidemic in Oklahoma that claimed thousands of lives, and the company should pay billions of dollars as compensation, the state’s top law-enforcement officer told …

Teva to Pay Oklahoma $85 Million to Avoid Trial Over Opioid Marketing

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. agreed to pay $85 million to settle an Oklahoma lawsuit claiming that illegal marketing of its opioid painkillers contributed to a public health crisis in the state. The deal, announced Sunday, was reached just as the …