One of the world’s largest drug manufacturers, Johnson & Johnson, is facing trial in the US state of Oklahoma in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over the state’s opioid crisis.
Oklahoma prosecutors are accusing the firm of deceptively marketing painkillers, downplaying the risk of addiction and fueling an opioid epidemic that is causing 130 overdose deaths in America each day.
Mike Hunter, Oklahoma's Attorney General, told the court it was time to hold the companies "responsible for their actions" in the first of almost 2,000 cases brought by state, local and tribal governments against pharmaceutical firms in the US.