J&J agrees to pay $230M to settle New York opioid claim

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York attorney general says Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $230 million to settle claims that the pharmaceutical giant helped fuel the opioid crisis. The deal requires Johnson & Johnson to make a series of payments over nine years to cover the total. Attorney General Letitia James said the drugmaker also agreed to end the manufacturing and distribution of opioids across New York and the rest of the nation. Johnson & Johnson said the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing. It downplayed the attorney general’s announcement, saying the settlement involved two prescription painkillers already no longer sold in the U.S.