A US judge has found Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries helped fuel Oklahoma's opioid drug crisis and ordered the consumer products giant to pay $845 million to help address the problem.
Cleveland County Judge Thad Balkman issued the decision on Monday in the nation's first state trial against the companies accused of contributing to the widespread use of the highly addictive painkillers.
The company is expected to appeal.
Oklahoma argued the company aggressively marketed opioids for years in a way that overstated their effectiveness and underplayed the addiction risk.
Oklahoma previously reached a $US270 million settlement with Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma and a $US85 million deal with Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
Oklahoma's case could shape negotiations to resolve roughly 1500 other opioid lawsuits consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio.
The state's Attorney General Mike Hunter has called Johnson & Johnson a "kingpin" company that helped fuel the most devastating public health crisis in the state's history.
Company attorneys say they acted responsibly and that the evidence doesn't support the state's claim.
