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Opioids Collections

Oklahoma Opioid Litigation Documents.

  
Bulk dates: 1995 – 2018

Overview and Background

The Oklahoma Opioid Litigation Documents consist of exhibits and other materials admitted during the trial of State of Oklahoma v Purdue Pharma, et al.

Oklahoma Johnson & Johnson records = 505
In 2019, Oklahoma’s lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson was the first case against an opioid manufacturer to go to trial. Other defendants named in the suit (such as Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals) had previously settled. The State argued that Johnson & Johnson had created a public nuisance through its deceptive marketing of opioid products.

Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 and develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Based on market cap, it is the biggest pharmaceutical company in the United States. Since at least the 1990s, the company has marketed, promoted and sold opioid drugs. In addition, Johnson & Johnson created a strain of poppy in 1994 that allowed it to manufacture and supply large amounts of narcotic raw materials. For years, Johnson & Johnson supplied more than 60 percent of all active ingredients for opioids manufactured and sold in the United States.

Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman ruled in the state’s favor and ordered Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries to pay $572 million to abate the ongoing opioid epidemic in Oklahoma. The judge’s ruling was the first of its kind in the country to find an opioid manufacturer liable for the harm caused from the opioid crisis in the United States. In 2021, the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned the ruling, finding that the state’s public nuisance laws could not be applied to a large public crisis like the opioid epidemic.

Oklahoma Cephalon records = 141
These documents were obtained as a result of a FOIA request by CBS News to unseal a specific selection of documents from the case State of Oklahoma v. Purdue Pharma et al. (Case No. CJ 2017-816) pertaining to Cephalon and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Cephalon and Teva manufactured Actiq, a fentanyl product developed as a lollipop, and Fentora, a buccal tablet. Teva, an Israeli-based pharmaceutical company that bought Cephalon in 2011, was the second defendant group to settle ahead of the trial.

Documents

The records in this collection are selected exhibits admitted during trial as well as court documents and supporting materials.

Johnson & Johnson exhibits and materials include agendas, minutes and transcripts of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority Drug Utilization Review Board; data summaries and confidential reports on opioids, including investigations of use, abuse, misuse and diversion of specific drugs (fentanyl, tapentadol [brand name Nucynta]).

Exhibits in the Cephalon/Teva records include numerous marketing plans, presentations, training materials, dispensing information, a small number of internal emails, and previously filed court documents including deposition testimony from expert witness Andrew Kolodny and Teva executive John Hassler. A small set of documents from a previous action filed against Cephalon in 2008 by the Department of Justice are included, as well as FDA warning letters from 2002 and 2007.

Opioid Industry Documents Archive team members have not performed or commissioned any redactions on these documents.

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