A popular jury in a New York suburb ruled on Thursday that the US subsidiary of Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva was guilty of contributing to the opioid crisis in the United States by selling pain relievers containing fentanyl, reports Friday the press agency Associated Press.
A separate lawsuit will now have to determine whether Teva Pharmceuticals USA should pay damages.
The jury of the New York suburbs of County Suffolk, concluded that the pharmaceutical company had played a role in what is legally qualified as a public nuisance, having in this case had fatal consequences.
The use of opioids has been linked to the deaths of more than 500,000 people in the last twenty years in the United States.
“Teva Pharmceuticals USA and other painkiller companies have misled Americans about the danger of opioid use,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. Thursday.
“An important step towards repairing the harm caused to so many families in our country has been taken today,” she added.
The Teva company responded by criticizing the decision, saying it “strongly disagreed” with the jury’s conclusions, and stressing that it intended to appeal.
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