Opioid epidemic: Judge holds Johnson & Johnson liable for $572m

In a landmark ruling. a judge in Oklahoma state has ruled pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson helped drive the United States’s opioid epidemic that’s claimed tens of thousands of lives across the US.
The company’s been ordered to pay $572mn in damages, over its aggressive marketing of addictive painkillers.

The case has been closely watched by other pharmaceutical companies who may also face pay-outs.