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(Reuters) - The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that two Ohio counties can proceed in a landmark bellwether trial accusing opioid manufacturers, distributors and sellers of sparking a drug abuse epidemic that the counties have spent billions of dollars to combat. Judges Alan Norris, Eugene Siler and Karen Moore denied a mandamus petition by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who had asked the 6th Circuit to enjoin the Oct. 21 trial to protect the state’s sovereign power to bring claims on behalf of Ohio residents.

CLEVELAND (AP) - A federal appeals court on Thursday denied two efforts that could have kept the first federal trial on the opioids crisis from starting as scheduled this month in Cleveland.

Ohioans have been some of the hardest hit by the opioid crisis, and a new genetic study will aim to find a link that will hopefully help reduce the number of people who become addicted each year.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A doctor faces an impossible choice every time she must decide whether to give an emergency room patient a painkiller.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio launched a $1.6 million study Thursday that aims to identify the genetic markers that separate people likely to develop opioid addiction from people somehow immune to the painkillers’ addictive properties.

Two Ohio counties have asked a court to deny their state attorney general’s request to delay a major trial over the toll of opioids.

Johnson & Johnson and two Ohio counties have reached a tentative $20.4 million settlement that removes the corporation from the first federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, scheduled to begin later this month.

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday it will pay $20.4 million to settle claims by two Ohio counties, allowing the U.S. healthcare giant to avoid an upcoming federal trial seeking to hold the industry responsible for the nation’s opioid epidemic.