Johnson & Johnson reaches opioid settlement with Alabama

By Brian Buntz | April 21, 2022

On the heels of announcing a $99 million opioid settlement with West Virginia, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has reached a similar deal worth $77 million with the state of Alabama.

The agreement removes J&J from cases filed in the state.

The agreement did not involve an admission of liability or wrongdoing.

In January, J&J reached similar deals with Colorado and Nevada.

Alabama had a drug overdose rate of 22.3 out of 100,000 people in 2020, which is roughly average for the U.S. West Virginia, conversely, has a death rate of 81.4 out of 100,000, which is the nation’s highest.

Alabama also reached similar deals with McKesson Corp. and Endo International Plc over opioid-related allegations. The former will pay the state $141 million to help bolster efforts to combat the opioid crisis in the state while the latter will spend $25 million.

About The Author

Brian Buntz

The pharma and biotech editor of WTWH Media, Brian is a veteran journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, drug discovery and development and medical devices. Before coming to WTWH, he served as content director focused on connected devices at Informa. In addition, Brian covered the medical device sector for 10 years at UBM. At Qmed, he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on two of the company’s medical device technology publications. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.