Teva's share price is soaring, after an Oklahoma court 'only' fined J&J $572 million for playing down the addictive nature of the painkillers.
The share price of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) is rising sharply after Johnson & Johnson was handed a lower than expected $572 million fine by an Oklahoma court for understating the dangers of addiction to opioid painkillers. The Oklahoma prosecutors had been seeking $17 billion and some analysts had feared that the fine could be as high as $5 billion. However, Judge Thad Balkman of Cleveland County District Court in Oklahoma made do with just a $572 million although he was harshly critical of J&J's conduct.
Share prices of generic pharmaceutical companies like Teva rose strongly as investors expressed relief. Teva rose 5.25% on the NYSE yesterday to $7.42, giving a market cap of $7.98 billion, and is up a further 4.45% in premarket trading to $7.75. On the TASE, Teva's share price is up 6.31%.
Teva has already agreed an $85 million out of court settlement with Oklahoma but dozens more lawsuits await in other states.
Update: Later in the day, investors had a change of heart and Teva's share price ended the TASE session down 1.79% and down 6.67% in morning trading on the NYSE.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 27, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019
Teva Photo: Sivan Faraj