Pharmaceutical CEO’s deposition played in opioid trial

A drug company executive admitted opioids his company produced have a high potential for abuse in a deposition tape played during a $50 billion false advertising bench trial Wednesday.

With almost 200 people listening to the Orange County trial via Zoom, attorneys for four California municipalities played a tape of John Hassler, a senior vice president of Teva Pharmaceutical, acknowledging opioids designed to treat chronic pain have a high potential for physical dependency and abuse.

"The labeling for the products and the fact that they were Schedule II and III products would indicate that they have those potential risks. Yes," Hassler said in a 2019 deposition.

The civil suit before Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson in Santa Ana could create a road map for global settlements, not only for California matters but throughout the country. The trial has consistently drawn Zoom crowds of 200-300 people.

Arguing for the people of California, the Santa Clara County Counsel's Office, Orange County District Attorney's Office, the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office, and the Oakland City Attorney's Office made their opening statements last week, alleging pharmaceutical companies helped create a statewide epidemic by misleadingly marketing opioids as safe and effective pain treatments while downplaying the risk of addiction.

The four defendant companies being represented are Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Allergan PLC, and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. The pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma, also a named defendant, is sitting out the civil trial pending a bankruptcy proceeding.

As one of their central defenses, drugmakers point to what is called a black box warning, which is included in the labeling of their products and which they say alerted customers to the potential for abuse and addiction. A black box warning is the Food and Drug Administration's most stringent warning for drugs and medical devices. Prescribing decisions are up to physicians, and they alone decide whether the use of a drug is appropriate for a patient, drugmakers say.

Hassler acknowledged Teva had been tracking overall opioid use throughout the country during the early 2000s. He also said his company paid sales representatives bonuses for marketing generic opioids and distributed marketing materials to physicians and consumers.

As with previous court sessions, an extraordinary amount of time was spent on discovery disputes and arguments among lawyers over the admissibility of evidence. Wilson, as he has done on multiple occasions, admonished the attorneys for not sorting out their differences beforehand.

"It is a significant improper use of court time to be having disagreements of this kind," Wilson said. "If there are objections, I understand and I will rule on the objections, but there should at least be clarity as to what is being presented."

Of the similar actions ongoing in a multidistrict litigation in Ohio, a federal lawsuit in Northern California, and state lawsuits in Los Angeles and Orange counties, the Orange County action before Wilson is the most developed.

In addition to civil penalties, the people seek $50 billion in funds to abate the opioid crisis in the plaintiff counties and city, according to attorneys involved in the suit. People v. Purdue Pharma et al., 14-00725287 (Orange Super. Ct., led May 21, 2014).