This settlement may be just the first shoe to drop. J&J division Janssen use to produce Duragesic patches… they have ceased production of that product and the last of the existing stock will expire Jan 31, 2021 – 5-6 weeks from now. For a pharmaceutical to be FDA approved on the market place it must have a NDA (New Drug Approval) and all generics to be approved has to have a ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug Approval) – that is basically based on the NDA existence. When Purdue brought out a abuse resistant Oxycontin, either Purdue or the FDA revoked/rescinded the NDA for the previous Oxycontin and all of a sudden those companies making a generic version of long acting Oxycontin – AUTOMATICALLY lost the ANDA the legal ability to produce that generic med. As of July 31, 2021 there is a possibility that no more new Fentanyl patches will be manufactured and their availability will be limited to those products produced prior to the day that the NDA was revoked/rescinded and what is available within the pharma/wholesale/pharmacy supply chain. Who is to say that some part of the bureaucracy will push to have the NDA of Duragesic patches revoked/rescinded to make sure that Fentanyl patches are no longer available. The fact that the media has routinely reported that (illegal) FENTANYL is a major cause of OD’s will not help those pts who have a valid medical need for this particular medication.
https://workcompauto.optum.com/content/owca/owca/en/insights/blog/clinical-connection-blog/2020/Janssen-discontinued-all-brand-name-Duragesic.html Janssen made a business decision to permanently discontinue all Duragesic transdermal systems and indicated they should be maintained on formularies until the last produced batch expires on July 31, 2021
Johnson & Johnson confirms opioid business has ended in $230 million settlement with New York
- New York Attorney General’s office said the agreement bans J&J from promoting opioids through any means and prohibits lobbying about such products at the federal, state or local levels.
- However, Johnson & Johnson said it had already exited the business.
- As part of the settlement, the company will resolve opioids-related claims and allocate payments over nine years.
- The settlement follows years of lawsuits by states, cities and counties against major pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, which has killed nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. since 1999.
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to a $230 million settlement with New York state that bars the company from promoting opioids and confirmed it has ended distribution of such products within the United States.
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office in a statement Saturday said the agreement bans J&J from promoting opioids through any means and prohibits lobbying about such products at the federal, state or local levels.
Johnson & Johnson has not marketed opioids in the U.S. since 2015 and fully discontinued the business in 2020.
As part of the settlement, the company will resolve opioids-related claims and allocate payments over nine years. It could also pay $30 million more in the first year if the state executive chamber signs into law new legislation creating an opioid settlement fund, according to the press release from James’ office.
The settlement follows years of lawsuits by states, cities and counties against major pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, which has killed nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. in the last couple decades.
Governments have argued that companies over-prescribed the drugs, causing people to become addicted and abuse other illegal forms of opioids, while companies have said they’ve distributed the necessary amount of the product to help people with medical issues.
“The opioid epidemic has wreaked havoc on countless communities across New York state and the rest of the nation, leaving millions still addicted to dangerous and deadly opioids,” James said in a statement.
“Johnson & Johnson helped fuel this fire, but today they’re committing to leaving the opioid business — not only in New York, but across the entire country,” she said. “Opioids will no longer be manufactured or sold in the United States by J&J.”
The New York opioid lawsuit trial against the rest of the defendants will begin this week, according to the release. Other defendants in the New York suit include Purdue Pharma; Mallinckrodt LLC; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA; and Allergan Finance LLC.
In a statement Saturday, Johnson & Johnson said the settlement “is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing by the company” and is “consistent with the terms of the previously announced $5 billion all-in settlement agreement in principle for the resolution of opioid lawsuits and claims by states, cities, counties and tribal governments.”
The company also said it would continue to defend against any lawsuits the final agreement does not resolve.
James said the state will focus on funding for opioid prevention, treatment and education efforts in order to “prevent any future devastation.”
Filed under: General Problems
We can thank ANDREW KOLODNY’S political /legal AGENDA for this 1,,,as he make milions for HIM,SELF,,,from the death,medical torture of medically ill humanbeings in physical pain from their MEDICAL illness….
I wonder if it also might touch of the powder keg of anger that resides also in the many among patients and doctors that may not yet be in the pain groups fighting the pain crisis directly.
I suppose it makes sense for the company to protect themselves from never-ending lawsuits and lies..but still. I know several people who have been prescribed this medication for years. I am extremely concerned about them now. NYS is going to focus on funding for treatment now? What about chronic pain patients who don’t need treatment, who just need pain relief? Do we have any advocates AT ALL? Seems like the answer is no, we don’t. F1 Rocket Engine: Some people don’t ‘got this.”
I was being sarcastic except for the self-medicating with alcohol part. I don’t got it at all. I am dying fast from secondary illness from incurable, untreated severe pain due to many occasions of canal and foraminal stenosis.
Until sometime last year I had not had one drop of alcohol since 1995. I really hate everything about it except for the few hours of seeming pain free-ness and falling to sleep without too much trouble. But beer tends to wake me up too soon for all of those B-Vitamins.
I don’t forgive J&J at all. None of the pharm mfgs has fought back very hard and THIS, THIS MONEY is what is really moving this whole thing, emboldening the DOJ/AG to keep hauling pharm mfg. into court for a certain win no matter what the defense is. I saw the whole J&J Trial in Oklahoma. They did not put one foot wrong and the prosecution just played the emotion card all the way through and never acknowledged ONE fact and judgement went against J&J. Even Dr. Webster testified and several other convincing MD/PhD.
Steve, here, this page owner, is one of our best advocates for his writing and other activities not always visible, and many of us have been working and writing like mad to everyone for several years now.
While a teen’s recent expulsion from college for her language off-campus can quickly get a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, we have been aiming to get there for years and have not been heard.
There is an Amicus Brief in the works, but it is gonna take money and ‘salesmanship’ when the time comes to join more to the case with their own very expensive briefs IF the case is “accepted” for hearing in District Court.
Several advocates have passed Bills already of benefit in the fight, one in Rhode Island/New Jersey and one in Oklahoma.
Thank you so much for the information about this. It may have seemed like I was directing my post to you but I wasn’t, I sort of knew your post was sarcastic. I apologize if you thought that it was.
As Steve told me long ago,,,,this was never about truth,helping us,,,this was about AGENDA,,, truth has no place in a corrupt man/ government,,,,For me,,the AGENDA is/was $$$$,,, JMO,,MARY
Andrea Andersen offered me some instructions on how WE must proceed, also, we need to wait for some other things to occur FIRST.
“Here you go: the rules are so important that only 1-2 law firms in the US do SC work.
“My best advice is, …first wait and see if the Court accepts the writ(s).
If they do, we will see if they agree to consolidate the two cases or not – that will change our efforts.
At that point, patient and professionals orgs can and should submit amicus (amicus means “friend of the court,” or a party who will be affected by the ruling). I strongly suggest patients not do this themselves, but do so under an umbrella of a group that can afford to hire an attorney to prepare the briefs.
Read through the standards below and I think you will see why I think it would be very difficult for most patients to do this on their own.
That said, I will work with the attorneys of record to develop the language needed to file effective briefs and will distribute to all in a timely fashion if we get the opportunity to do so.”
Thank you Andrea
https://www.supremecourt.gov/casehand/AmicusGuide2019.pdf
It’s OK. I am self-medicating. I have even adjusted my dose up to Milwaukee’s Best Light. We got this.
This is all so wrong and corrupt. I suffer from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, the most painful disease that exists. I had to have a pain pump put in but since they threaten doctors I can’t even get my pump raised enough to get ANY relief. Pain patients do not get high off of pain meds. Addicts do. So why punish people with a disease that is compared to leg amputation with sedation and natural childbirth. I did natural childbirth and had my PTSD compounded from it and I’ll tell you something else, it’s way more painful than natural childbirth. Not increasing my medicine because of the fear the DEA and the CDC has put in good decent doctors is just so very wrong. They nick named this disease the “suicide disease” because CRPS/RSD patients can’t get their pain relieved so about 80% of CRPS patients resort to killing themselves. You think the US government cares? Nope. We’re disabled so we’re useless so might as well let us kill ourselves so they don’t have to do the right thing.
The CDC guidelines were only meant for oral doses… Those MME numbers are non-sense – no science nor double blind clinical studies behind them… and trying to create some sort of MME for injecting opiates into intrathecal fluid.. tying to do a MME to oral is like blind folding someone and tell them to throw darts at a dart board and expect them to hit the “center ring”… Either your doc is lying to you… or there is some DEA agent out their running around – off the reservation …