(Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson said Monday that it has agreed to pay $ 99 million to settle opioid-related claims from the state of West Virginia and its subdivisions, removing the company from an ongoing lawsuit that began earlier this month.
West Virginia still claims Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. and AbbVie Inc.’s Allergan in the Kanawha County Circuit Court trial for allegedly inciting the state’s addiction crisis.
J&J did not acknowledge responsibility or error in the settlement, the company said.
J&J completed a nationwide $ 5 billion opioid deal in February, which largely resolved state and local government opioid lawsuits against the company.
West Virginia was one of five states that did not agree to the $ 5 billion deal at the time. It would have received about $ 53 million if it had joined the agreement.
West Virginia has been hit particularly hard by the US opioid crisis, which has caused 500,000 overdose deaths over the past two decades. By 2020, it had an overdose mortality rate of more than three times the national average, according to statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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