Johnson & Johnson will pay the state of New York more than US$230 million ($300 million) in a settlement that ensures the company will permanently get out of the opioid business in the United States, the state Attorney General’s office announced on Saturday (Sunday AEST).

The settlement comes at a time when the opioid industry faces over 3000 lawsuits across America for its contribution to an epidemic of prescription and street opioid abuse. And it came just days before opening arguments in a sweeping New York trial in which the company was to be a defendant. That trial will be the first of its kind to go before a jury, and the first targeting the entire opioid supply chain.