Another pharmaceutical company is taking a financial hit over the opioid crisis.
Johnson & Johnson is settling a lawsuit with two Ohio counties over its role in the opioid epidemic. The company will pay out a total of over 20-million-dollars to Cuyahoga and Summit counties. That amount includes legals fees and over five-million-dollars to charities related to opioid abuse.
The settlement removes Johnson & Johnson from an upcoming lawsuit against several opioid producing companies that's set to start in Ohio later this month. In August, an Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay 572-million-dollars for its role in the opioid crisis in that state.
The CDC says in 2017, Ohio had the nation's second highest per capita rate of fatal opioid overdoses, with 46.3 deaths per 100,000 people.
Source:NPR