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- On Monday, an Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for fueling the opioid crisis in that state.
- The suit was one of thousands filed against drugmakers across the country, and the fine was much lower than experts estimated.
- The punishment will no doubt feel like a slap on the wrist for the company, since it only amounts to nearly 4% of their 2018 net profit.
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The $572 million in damages that an Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay on Monday for its role in the state’s opioid crisis will most likely feel like a slap on the wrist for the major conglomerate.
The fine amounts to just 3.7% of the company’s net profit for 2018, according to SEC filings.
In fact, the press around the fine seems to have had a positive effect on the company. After the fine was announced on Monday, J&J stock actually rose more than 5% in aftermarket trading.
Judge Thad Balkman of the Cleveland County District Court in Norman, Oklahoma, sided with the state’s attorney general, Mike Hunter, who argued that Johnson & Johnson’s marketing practices fueled the opioid epidemic by flooding the market with painkillers.
Associated Press
Read more: Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson was just ordered to pay $572 million for its role in the opioid epidemic
The company said in a statement to Business Insider that it plans to appeal the judgement.
Hunter had wanted Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $17 billion to help the state address the epidemic for the next 30 years, through addiction treatment and prevention programs.
The amount the company was actually fined will cover the state’s plan to fight the epidemic for one year.
Johnson & Johnson produces the painkillers Duragesic and Nucynta.
- Read more:
- J&J was ordered to pay $572 million for helping fuel the opioid epidemic. The company’s market cap increased $15 billion in response.
- Johnson & Johnson is buying a Silicon Valley surgical-robotics startup for $3.4 billion
- A fire chief in West Virginia helped change her city’s approach to the opioid epidemic. Now overdoses in her county are down 40%.
- Starbucks’ plan to add needle-disposal boxes to certain bathrooms is a brilliant business decision
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Source: Business Insider – acollman@businessinsider.com (Ashley Collman)