|
The Morning Risk Report: Talks to Settle Opioid Lawsuits Intensify
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AmerisourceBergen CEO Steven Collis testifies before Congress on May 8, 2018, alongside other drug company executives. PHOTO: ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
|
|
Good morning. Drug companies and state and local governments are racing to cut a deal in landmark opioid litigation, with talks set to continue this week before a federal judge that could settle more than 2,500 lawsuits for tens of billions of dollars.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster asked chief executives from top drug companies to meet with lawyers for states, cities and counties in his Cleveland court on Friday morning, according to people familiar with the matter. Judge Polster is overseeing cases filed by cities and counties and has pushed all sides to reach a comprehensive settlement.
[Continued below…]
|
|
|
The companies—distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corp. and drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.—are among the defendants in a trial slated to start in Judge Polster’s courtroom Monday. The case, expected to serve as a bellwether for the broader litigation, involves two Ohio counties that are among hundreds of plaintiffs trying to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable for widespread opioid addiction.
Another major drugmaker, Johnson & Johnson, is also involved in the broader settlement discussions but earlier reached a $20 million deal to avoid the Ohio trial. Representatives for McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal and Teva declined to comment Thursday.
|
|
|
|
|
Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Ankara, before their meeting with the Turkish president. PHOTO: JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
|
|
A day-old deal between the U.S. and Turkey that led to a brief lull in the Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria appeared shaky Friday, as fighting flared in the border region with each side blaming the other for the resumption in violence.
On Thursday, the U.S. and Turkey agreed that Ankara would suspend military operations so Kurdish fighters could lay down arms and leave the area, and in return the U.S. would pull back on economic sanctions. But sporadic clashes, drone strikes and artillery shelling resumed overnight and increased into Friday morning around the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain, according to people living in the area and a commander and a media officer with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.
|
|
|
Juul Labs is halting online sales of its sweet and fruity e-cigarette refill pods as federal regulators prepare to pull most nicotine vaping products off the market in response to a surge in teen vaping.
|
|
|
Juul is the e-cigarette market leader, accounting for 64% of e-cigarette sales in retail stores, and has been blamed for a rise in underage vaping. The company is under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission and federal prosecutors in California.
Meanwhile, the governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania met to discuss vaping and the legalization of recreational marijuana in hopes of reaching a consensus on regional standards.
|
|
|
-
Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Ethicon Inc. reached a settlement of about $116.9 million with 41 states and the District of Columbia for allegedly misleading marketing of transvaginal surgical-mesh devices. Attorneys general claim J&J and Ethicon misrepresented the safety and effectiveness of the devices and didn’t sufficiently disclose associated risks. The settlement involves no admission of liability or misconduct on the part of Ethicon, a spokeswoman said in an email.
-
Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev is accusing rival Molson Coors Brewing Co. of stealing its secret beer recipes, escalating a fight that began in February over a Super Bowl ad.
-
Mounting legal troubles at Exelon Corp., the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S., are weighing on the utilities sector. Shares of the Chicago-based electricity company fell 1.9% to $44.06 Thursday, extending their losses for the month to nearly 9%. The chief executive of Exelon’s utilities unit abruptly retired Tuesday, less than a week after the company said it had received a second grand-jury subpoena from federal prosecutors looking into its lobbying activities in Illinois.
-
The heads of two major accounting standard-setters said they hope to streamline rules on goodwill accounting, despite their boards largely disagreeing on the key issue of whether companies should be allowed to amortize the intangible asset.
-
Regulators are looking for ways to make the U.S. stock market a better place for trading shares in small- and medium-size companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday asked stock exchanges and other firms to submit proposals on how to improve the markets for thinly traded securities.
-
Douglas Hodge, the former chief executive of Pimco, one of the world’s biggest bond managers, will plead guilty in the nationwide college-admissions scandal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said Thursday. Mr. Hodge, the former head of Pimco, would be the 16th parent to plead guilty out of 35 criminally charged in Operation Varsity Blues.
|
|
|
|
European Union and U.K. negotiators agreed on a draft Brexit deal, paving the way for a crucial vote in the U.K. Parliament. Investors are bracing for sharp movements in markets as the political drama builds. PHOTO: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
-
Britain and the European Union agreed to new terms for the U.K.’s exit from the bloc Thursday, paving the way for a high-stakes vote in the British Parliament. European businesses welcomed a potential deal to avoid a messy break between the U.K. and European Union, but investment plans that many companies have put on hold aren’t likely to get started anytime soon.
-
Saudi Aramco has postponed the launch of what is expected to be the world’s largest initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. The delay comes as some foreign investors remain concerned about market transparency on Saudi Arabia's stock exchange and how heavily the government intervenes in Saudi shares. The stock market has—in little less than half a decade—transformed itself by opening to international investors and instituting investor friendly reforms.
-
U.S. manufacturing production fell in September, adding to evidence that slowing global growth and trade frictions are weighing on the economy. Manufacturing output, the biggest component of industrial production, fell 0.5% in September from a month earlier, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Production at factories was in part dragged down by a strike at General Motors Co., but showed broad-based fragility.
-
The top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee is seeking more details about the Federal Reserve’s plan to expand its asset portfolio and wants to know whether regulations played a role in recent dysfunction in very short-term lending markets.
|
|
|
|
Pedestrians walk past an advertisement for Christian Dior in Beijing earlier this year. PHOTO: GIULIA MARCHI/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
-
Christian Dior apologized on Thursday after Chinese consumers criticized the French luxury brand for using a map of China that excluded Taiwan. What set the French luxury brand apart from a long list of Western brands that have angered Beijing in recent weeks and months: Dior’s map of China didn’t appear on a product or a website, but rather in a closed-door presentation to college students. Dior is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
-
Mark Zuckerberg has spent the past two years apologizing to a chorus of critics for misinformation, privacy violations and more. On Thursday, the Facebook chief executive took the offensive, asserting a commitment to free expression as consistent with American values. In a rare policy speech that will likely stir further debate over his company’s role in politics and global social movements, Mr. Zuckerberg said he worries that “increasingly today across the spectrum, it seems like there are more people who prioritize getting the political outcomes that they want over making sure that everyone can be heard.”
|
|
|
|
Billionaire Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management, speaking during the WSJDLive Global Technology Conference in Laguna Beach, Calif., on Oct. 25, 2016 PHOTO: PATRICK T. FALLON/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
AT&T is in talks with Elliott Management to resolve the activist investor’s campaign for change at the phone and media giant, people familiar with the matter said.
The two sides have held a series of wide-ranging discussions since Elliott disclosed a stake in AT&T five weeks ago and publicly urged the company to make changes aimed at igniting its lackluster share performance. AT&T and Elliott could reach an agreement as soon as this month, though the talks could also fall apart, the people said.
|
|
|
|
A council of union-hall leaders voted to extend the now 32-day walkout. PHOTO: JEFF KOWALSKY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
The United Auto Workers will continue to picket General Motors’ U.S. factories until workers have approved a new labor deal, prolonging a costly nationwide strike that is already the company’s longest in decades.
A council of union-hall leaders meeting in Detroit Thursday voted to extend the now 32-day walkout, after negotiators reached a tentative agreement with GM Wednesday for more than 46,000 UAW-represented workers at the company’s U.S. facilities, a UAW spokesman confirmed. Typically, when bargainers reach a deal, UAW leaders call off the strike.
|
|
|
|
Workers at Louis Vuitton’s Texas factory this month. PHOTO: Justin Clemons/The Wall Street Journal
|
|
|
-
Louis Vuitton, the global luxury brand, was born on the cobblestones of Paris. Its future is taking shape in places like the grasslands of northeast Texas. Where cattle graze, Louis Vuitton has built a 100,000-square-foot factory to make its monogrammed canvas and leather handbags for the American market.
-
Nestlé, the world’s biggest bottled-water maker, is overhauling that business as the industry navigates big consumer shifts, from the rise of sparkling water to a backlash against single-use plastic.
-
Charles Schwab will let investors buy and sell fractions of shares in coming months as part of an effort to attract younger clients to its online brokerage platform.
-
CSX Corp. and Union Pacific are running faster railroads with longer trains and operating more efficiently. They have a bigger challenge ahead in winning over more shippers that remain skeptical after years of subpar service.
|
|
|
|
|
|