On Thursday, a jury in New York State found that Teva Pharmaceuticals and other opioid manufacturers are responsible for the opioid crisis in the state.
"Teva Pharmaceuticals… strongly disagrees with today’s outcome and will prepare for a swift appeal as well as continue to pursue a mistrial," the company said in a statement published on the website.
According to Teva, the prosecution did not provide any evidence of medically unnecessary prescriptions, suspicious orders or oversupply of Teva drugs. The company stressed that its activities have nothing to do with harm to the population of New York State.
Demonstrations against Purdue Pharma and its owners
© AP Photo / Charles Krupa
New York State sued Teva Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma and several distributors, claiming that opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone were marketed as safe and less addictive alternatives to common opiates such as morphine.
Opioid overdoses killed more than 100,000 Americans in the past six years, according to media reports. Many of the victims either overdosed on prescription opioids or initially became addicted to prescribed painkillers and later switched to deadly black-market alternatives such as heroin.