The pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $230 million in a settlement deal with New York state regarding the company’s role in the nation’s opioid crisis.

The settlement will wrap up a 2019 lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James which targets Johnson & Johnson as well as other distributors. The settlement comes just before a trial against the company was set to take place next week in Long Island. The other defendants in the lawsuit, which include Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt LLC, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and Allergan Finance LLC, will continue to move forward in the trial.

AG James shared after the settlement was announced that “The opioid epidemic has wreaked havoc on countless communities across New York state and the rest of the nation, leaving millions still addicted to dangerous and deadly opioids.” James explains that the pharmaceutical giant “helped fuel this fire, but today they’re committing to leaving the opioid business — not only in New York, but across the entire country.”

Last weekend, the pharmaceutical giant shared their own statement explaining that the settlement was neither an admission of guilt nor an admission of any wrongdoing. Instead, they explained that the settlement is “consistent with the terms of the previously announced $5 billion all-in settlement agreement in principle for the resolution of opioid lawsuits and claims by states, cities, counties, and tribal governments.”

Johnson & Johnson also downplayed the accusations made by the attorney general by explaining that the two opioid prescription painkillers involved in the lawsuit were created by a subsidiary and amounted to less than 1% of the opioid market. They add that these two prescriptions are no longer sold in the United States. The company went on to explain that they are dedicated in their efforts to help combat the crisis, though they will continue to fight back against any lawsuits that this latest settlement does not resolve.

As part of the settlement, Johnson & Johnson will settle opioid-related claims and distribute payment over the next nine years. If the state executive chamber passes new legislation which creates an opioid settlement fund, Johnson & Johnson could also face paying an additional $30 Million toward that fund.

Since 2015, Johnson & Johnson has not marketed opioids to the U.S. market and completely discontinued the business in 2020.

This settlement comes a year after Johnson & Johnson and other distributors including AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and Mckesson announced that they would be putting up a combined $26 billion of the next 18 years in order to settle litigation against them regarding the opioid crisis. The settlement funds would then go toward helping combat the crisis, as is planned for the Johnson & Johnson New York settlement.

This settlement is the latest drop in the bucket against pharmaceutical companies and their role in the opioid crisis that has led to the death of nearly 500,000 individuals over the past two decades.

Governments including the state of New York argue that pharmaceutical giants including Johnson & Johnson aggressively marketed and distributed these highly addictive painkillers that were then widely available through prescriptions. Oftentimes, prescriptions were readily given out and led to dependency by users. Poorer areas of the nation were often the hardest hit. West Virginia in particular has been one of the nation’s most impacted states. One lawsuit brought in West Virginia against pharmaceutical companies claims, “Between 2006 and 2014, manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids have showered the state of West Virginia with 1.1 billion hydrocodone and oxycodone pills.”