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Business Matters: US pharma giants to pay Native Americans $590 million over opioids

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02/02/2022 GMT

US pharma giants to pay Native Americans $590 million over opioids

BBC World Service - Business Matters, US pharma giants to pay Native Americans $590 million over opioids

More than 400 tribes sued the companies, claiming they were inundated with opioids.

America's three biggest pharmaceutical distributors and Johnson & Johnson have been ordered to pay up to $665 million to native American tribal communities devastated by the opioid crisis. More than 400 tribes sued the companies, claiming they were inundated with highly addictive painkillers manufactured by J&J and shipped by the distributors who ignored clear signs of abuse and death. We hear from Lloyd Miller, one of the lead attorneys representing a third of the litigating tribes.

Tom Brady, one of the greatest players in the history of the American National Football League or NFL, has confirmed his retirement. As quarterback for The Tampa Bay Buccaneers  he won seven Super Bowls in an astonishing career spanning 22 seasons. Thirty years ago the idea of a pro-football quaretrback in his 40s would have been unthinkable. But science has changed all that. We speak with sports writer and ex player Chris Ballard.

The Winter Olympics start in Beijing on Friday. Many countries are officially boycotting the games over claims of human rights abuses in China, and now allegations are surfacing of athletes being forced to install spyware on their devices. We have an extended report from Ed Butler.

It is one year since the coup in Myanmar when the military seized control following a general election which Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party won by a landslide. The former chief Minsister of Myanmar's Shan State Dr Linn Htut was among those imprisoned immediately after the coup. His son, after some 11 months in hiding, escaped to the UK to work as an artist and peace activist.

Jamie Robertson is joined throughout the show by Alison Van Diggelen of Fresh Dialogues in California and writer and journalist Madhavan Narayanan in Delhi.

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