nj.com: N.J. joins multi-state probe of drugmakers over opioids, report says

6/23/2017

State Attorney General Christopher Porrino (left) stands with Gov. Chris Christie last year.
State Attorney General Christopher Porrino (left) stands with Gov. Chris Christie last year. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie's administration has joined a multi-state investigation into the pharmaceutical industry for the role it may have played in America's opioid abuse crisis, according to a report by The Record. 

At the same time, the state Attorney General's Office under Christie has also issued a subpoena to Johnson & Johnson, the New Brunswick-based drug manufacturer, related to the opioid painkiller marketing practices of one of its subsidiaries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals. 

The move comes as officials across the U.S. tackle an drug overdose epidemic that killed more than 52,000 people in the county 2015. 

Christie, who has long made the issue part of his platform, has spent his final year in office ramping up his focus on the problem, urging New Jersey lawmakers to pass legislation related to the matter and has appeared in an anti-addiction advertising campaign.

The governor was also named by President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican and longtime friend, to chair a federal commission on the epidemic. 

New Jersey joins a probe launched by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general looking into the marketing and sales of opioids by drugmakers. The group, which announced the investigation last week, did not identify which companies it is targeted. 

State Attorney General Christopher Porrino told The Record that recent studies show eight in 10 heroin addicts became hooked through the use of opioid pain medication "marketed and sold by pharmaceutical companies."

"New Jersey's involvement in this multi-state effort is as an essential step toward gaining a complete picture of the roots of this epidemic, and in determining whether and to what extent unlawful conduct by drug makers has been a contributor," added Porrino, whom Christie picked last year to become the state's top law enforcement official.

Meanwhile, Missouri this week became the third state to sue drug manufacturers for allegedly misrepresenting the risk of opioids -- a suit that includes Janssen, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.

Janssen confirmed to The Record that the company has been subpoenaed by New Jersey and said it is cooperating with the request. 

"We believe we have acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," Jessica Castles Smith, a Janssen spokesman, said in an email to the newspaper.