PRESS RELEASE

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Ohio Attorney General Sues Drug Companies for Opioid Addiction

June 1, 2017 (EIRNS)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed suit yesterday against five drug manufacturing companies, the Wall Street Journal’s Jeanne Whalen reported today. DeWine, a former Republican U.S. Senator, charged that Purdue Pharma, L.P., Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., Allergan PLC, and Endo International PLC’s Health Solutions Unit spread the opioid addiction and death crisis by understating the risks of opioid painkillers.

Dewine told the press: "The evidence is going to show that they knew what they were saying was not true, and they did it to increase sales." The number of unintentional opioid deaths in Ohio increased from 250 to 2,550 from 2003 through 2015.

Johnson & Johnson denied the allegations; the other four companies have not yet responded to the suit filed in State Court. A similar lawsuit has been filed in Mississippi. In 2007, Purdue Frederick Co., a Purdue affiliate, pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the addictive qualities of Oxycontin, and paid $645 million fines.