Retired chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Steven Taylor, has entered the fray to attempt to negotiate a settlement case involving Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, reports The Oklahoman.
Four takeaways:
1. The dispute is between state lawmakers and the state attorney general over a pending $85 million settlement between Teva and the state of Oklahoma.
2. Teva is the second major opioid developer to opt for a settlement in the case. A group led by Purdue Pharma agreed to pay $270 million to settle its section of the lawsuit.
3. Testimony continues in the trial against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries. The company is accused of contributing to the state's opioid epidemic through misleading advertising that allegedly understated the risks and overstated the advantages of opioids.
4. State officials said that there were over 6,100 deaths related to prescription opioids between 2000 and 2017 in Oklahoma.