British Columbia's attorney general says he's pleased with a court ruling in Oklahoma that found pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries helped fuel the state's opioid crisis and ordered the company to pay $572 million in damages.
The province filed a proposed class-action lawsuit a year ago against dozens of pharmaceutical companies in a bid to recoup the health-care costs associated with opioid addiction, and the Ontario government has said it plans to join the case.
The untested suit alleges the companies falsely marketed opioids as less addictive than other pain drugs and helped trigger an overdose crisis that has killed thousands.
Attorney General David Eby likened the goal of B.C.'s lawsuit to the one in Oklahoma, saying it aims to hold pharmaceutical companies similarly accountable for the harm they've done and for the financial burdens they've placed on the health care system.
