Shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. TEVA, -6.29% sank 4.6% in afternoon trading Thursday, reversing an earlier gain of as much as 3.1%, after New York Attorney General Letitia James said a jury found that the drug maker’s subsidiary Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and violated rights of New Yorkers, as a contributor to the opioid crisis. James said a subsequent trial will be held to determine how much Teva will be required to pay, which will be added to the up to $1.5 billion that has already been negotiated from different opioid manufacturers and distributors from a lawsuit she filed in March 2019. Teva responded to the ruling by saying it will “prepare for a swift appeal,” and continue to pursue a mistrial. “In NY, the plaintiffs presented no evidence of medically unnecessary prescriptions, suspicious or diverted orders, no evidence of oversupply by the defendants — or any indication of what volumes were appropriate — and no causal relationship between Teva’s conduct including its marketing and any harm to the public in the state,” Teva said in a statement. The stock, which was trading just above the Dec. 20 21-month low of $8.03, has dropped 16.6% this year, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.30% has rallied 27.8%.
