NY AG Letitia James (Wikipedia)
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has taken legal action to hold Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. — the Israel-based parent company of Teva Pharmaceuticals USA – responsible for what she alleges were false statements that the company’s executives made in sworn affidavits related to a recent opioid case. The AG’s office said that it has uncovered new evidence in the matter.
Attorney General Letitia James said that Teva made “significant and intentional misrepresentations to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and the court about its involvement with Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and role in the opioids industry in the United States in order to evade legal action and accountability.”
Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals was found guilty by a court of law, just as 2021 was coming to an end, of contributing to America’s opioid crisis. A jury in New York State found that Teva had in fact promoted the use of addictive painkillers.
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At that time Teva declared in a statement, “In NY, the plaintiffs presented no evidence of medically unnecessary prescriptions, suspicious or diverted orders, no evidence of oversupply by the defendants – or any indication of what volumes were appropriate – and no causal relationship between Teva’s conduct including its marketing and any harm to the public in the state.”
Teva also accused NY State of misrepresenting the number of opioids sold by Teva in NY by more than 500 times.
But now, it seems, Letitia James has turned the tables on Teva.
“I made a promise to New Yorkers that we would do everything in our power to hold drug manufacturers and distributors accountable for their role in the opioid crisis that has devastated our communities,” said Attorney General James. “By making misrepresentations to escape our reach, Teva Pharmaceuticals underestimated our commitment to securing justice for the people of New York. We have already been successful in demonstrating the harm that Teva USA and others inflicted on New Yorkers, but this new evidence shows an even greater disregard for the pain and destruction that that this company fueled. No amount of money will ease the trauma of those impacted by this crisis, but we will continue to stand up to Big Pharma and ensure they pay New Yorkers for the damage they caused.”
