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Opioids Ohio Filing 5/31/17

National Coverage

What You Need To Know About Opioids, The Painkillers Behind A Crisis
Jun 2, 2017 | Forbes
By Carmen Drahl

It’s not news that opioid drugs are in the eye of a public health firestorm . Since 1999, the death rate from overdoses of these painkillers has more than quadrupled. In 2014 alone, 28,000 people passed away from overdoses involving opioids. This week, a state sued drugmakers and scientists launched a new initiative to combat the crisis. Here's what you need to know.
U.S. state, local government lawsuits over opioids face uphill battle
Jun 2, 2017 | Reuters
By Nate Raymond

A growing number of U.S. states, counties and cities are filing lawsuits accusing drug companies of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers to downplay their addictiveness, but some lawyers say the industry's highly regulated nature could pose a hurdle to their success.
Tennessee House speaker asks Attorney General to consider suing drug firms
Jun 1, 2017 | Associated Press

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell is asking the state attorney general to consider suing painkiller manufacturers for their role in the ongoing opioid crisis.
One short letter's huge impact on the opioid epidemic
Jun 1, 2017 | CNN
By Nadia Kounang

Every day, 91 Americans die from an opioid overdose. Drug overdoses overall -- most of them from opioid painkillers and heroin -- are the leading cause of accidental death in the US, killing more people than guns or car accidents. In fact, while Americans represent only about 5% of the global population, they consume about 80% of the world's opioid painkillers. But how did we get to this point?
Ohio Sues Drug Makers, Saying They Aided Opioid Epidemic
May 31, 2017 | New York Times
By Richard Perez-Pena

The State of Ohio filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the pharmaceutical industry over the opioid epidemic, accusing several drug companies of conducting marketing campaigns that misled doctors and patients about the danger of addiction and overdose.
Ohio Opioid Suit Echoes Tobacco Cases
May 31, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Jacob Gershman

It is a lawsuit taking aim at the industry’s largest players, alleging a deadly coverup of the dangers of an addictive drug used by millions of Americans. In some ways, Ohio’s move Wednesday to sue several opioid makers harks back to the 1990s, when states took the tobacco industry to court and ultimately came away with a historic $206 billion settlement. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s lawsuit tries to make the tobacco parallel explicit.
Ohio Sues 5 Major Drug Companies For 'Fueling Opioid Epidemic'
May 31, 2017 | NPR
By Colin Dwyer

The state of Ohio has sued five major drug manufacturers for their role in the opioid epidemic. In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, state Attorney General Mike DeWine alleges these five companies "helped unleash a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the State of Ohio."
Ohio attorney general sues 5 pharmaceutical companies over opioid epidemic
May 31, 2017 | ABC News
By Julia Jacobo

The Ohio attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers, alleging that the companies intentionally misled patients regarding the risks and benefits of opioid use with fraudulent marketing.
Ohio attorney general sues 5 drugmakers over opiate crisis (UPDATE)
May 31, 2017 | Associated Press
By Julie Carr Smyth

The Ohio attorney general sued five drugmakers on Wednesday, accusing the companies of perpetrating the state's addictions epidemic by intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
Ohio’s Attorney General Is Suing 5 Drug Makers for Fueling the Opioid Epidemic
Jun 1, 2017 | Fortune
By Sy Mukherjee

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five pharmaceutical companies for their alleged part in driving an opioid and prescription painkiller overdose epidemic which has ravaged the state and much of the country. The firms named in the suit are Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Allergan, and Endo International.
Ohio sues five drug companies over opioid crisis (UPDATE)
May 31, 2017 | Reuters
By Chris Kenning

The state of Ohio on Wednesday sued five major drug manufacturers, accusing them of misrepresenting the risks of prescription opioid painkillers that have fueled a sky-rocketing drug addiction epidemic.
Ohio Sues Big Pharma, Blaming Drug Makers for Causing Opioid Epidemic (UPDATE)
May 31, 2017 | NBC News
By Corky Siemaszko

The state of Ohio launched a legal left hook Wednesday with a lawsuit aimed directly at Big Pharma and five of the biggest prescription painkiller manufacturers.
Ohio attorney general sues 5 pharma companies over their role in the opioid epidemic (UPDATE)
May 31, 2017 | CNBC
By Mig Tirrell

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five makers of opioid painkillers for their role in the state's opioid epidemic. The suit, which DeWine said is the second by a U.S. state, after Mississippi, claims the drugmakers violated multiple state laws, including the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act, and committed Medicaid fraud.
Ohio Sues Five Drug Firms, Saying They Fueled Opioid Crisis (UPDATE)
May 31, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Jeanne Whalen

Ohio is suing five drugmakers, the state’s attorney general said Wednesday, alleging they fueled an opioid crisis in the state by misrepresenting the addictive risks of their painkillers.
Ohio sues drugmakers over US opioid addiction crisis
May 31, 2017 | Financial Times
By David Crow

Ohio’s attorney-general has become the latest US official to sue drugmakers for their alleged role in fuelling the country’s painkiller addiction crisis, opening a new front in the legal battle to force Big Pharma to take responsibility for the problem.
The Latest: Drugmaker rejects lawsuit over opiate sales
May 31, 2017 | Associated Press

A drugmaker accused by the Ohio attorney general of improper promotion of opiates says his lawsuit is legally and factually unfounded.
Drugmakers accused of fueling devastating opiate crisis
May 31, 2017 | CBS News

Ohio's Attorney General sued five drugmakers on Wednesday for their alleged role in the state's opiate epidemic, accusing the companies of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
Opioid Epidemic and Overdose Deaths Blame on Pharma in Ohio Lawsuit
May 31, 2017 | Newsweek
By Jessica Wapner

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against at least five pharmaceutical companies considered central to the opioid epidemic currently sweeping across the U.S. The filing is not the first legal action against painkiller manufacturers, but its inclusion of five large drug manufacturers makes it one of the most sweeping.
Ohio sues painkiller manufacturers over opioid addiction
Jun 1, 2017 | The Hill
By Rachel Roubein

The Ohio attorney general is suing five manufacturers of prescription opioids, alleging the companies made false statements about the risks and benefits of their painkillers that fueled the state’s epidemic of opioid addiction.
Ohio blames drugmakers for fueling opioid crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | CNN Money
By Aaron Smith

The Ohio attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers, alleging that the companies intentionally misled patients regarding the risks and benefits of opioid use with fraudulent marketing.

Local Coverage

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell Asking State AG To Consider Suing Pain Killers For Role In Opioid Crisis
Jun 2, 2017 | East Tennesse Times

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell is asking the state attorney general to consider suing painkiller manufacturers for their role in the ongoing opioid crisis.
Harwell asks AG to sue drug makers
Jun 2, 2017 | Nashville Post
By Cari Wade Gervin

House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) has asked state Attorney General Herb Slatery to join an lawsuit filed earlier this week by the Ohio attorney general over the mounting opioid crisis.
Ohio’s lawsuit against drug companies: What’s really going on?
Jun 2, 2017 | Dayton Daily News
By Cari Wade Gervin

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the state filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five pharmaceutical companies that marketed addictive prescription pain medications in the state.
Ohio AG sues five drug makers of opioids, including Teva and Endo
Jun 1, 2017 | Philadelphia Inquirer
By Linda Loyd

The state of Ohio has sued five drug manufacturers of prescription opioid painkillers, accusing them of overstating the drugs’ benefits and playing down the addictive qualities.
Opioid lawsuit likens big pharma to big tobacco
Jun 2, 2017 | WCPO Cincinatti
By Lisa Bernard Kuhn and Abby Anstead

Ohio's lawsuit against the top U.S. drug makers of prescription opioids is taking a page from the legal playbooks litigators used in the '90s to take on big tobacco and win.
Adjudicate swiftly lawsuit against makers of opiates
Jun 2, 2017 | Vindy.com, Youngstown OH

The editorial cartoon published on this page Thursday aptly depicted the Grim Reaper feeling perfectly at home in Ohio. And why shouldn’t he? Ohio ignominiously ranks as the death capital of the nation in the ongoing opioid plague.
Stamford-Based Drug Company Named In Ohio Opioid Lawsuit
Jun 1, 2017 | Hartford Courant
By Nicholas Rondinone

Ohio's attorney general has sued five drugmakers, including Stamford-based Purdue Pharma, accusing the companies of fraudulent marketing of prescription opioids that played a role in the state's deadly epidemic, his office announced.
Ohio sues five drugmakers it says downplayed painkiller effects, sparking state’s opioid abuse crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | New York Daily News
By Terence Cullen

Ohio is taking on the prescription drug industry — five companies in particular — in a lawsuit that accuses Big Pharma of fostering the opioid crisis plaguing the Buckeye State.
Talk it Out: Should drug makers be held responsible for Ohio's overdose crisis?
Jun 1, 2017 | Cleveland.com

Ohio sued five drug companies this week, accusing them of overstating the benefits of using their prescription painkillers while understating the risks, and thus helping to create the state's addiction and overdose crisis.
Ohio sues opioid makers for unleashing 'healthcare crisis'
Jun 1, 2017 | Washington Examiner
By Kimberly Leonard

Ohio's attorney general filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing drugmakers of marketing prescription painkillers to patients who didn't need them and committing fraud by downplaying their highly addictive effects. "This lawsuit is about justice, it's about fairness, it's about what is right," Attorney General Mike DeWine said.
Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
May 31, 2017 | WFMJ Youngstown OH
By Matt Stone

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is placing blame on drug manufacturers for Ohio's opioid addiction problem. Dewine announced Wednesday that he's taking five companies to court.
Ohio AG Mike DeWine sues drug companies over opiate crisis
May 31, 2017 | Dayton Daily News
By Laura Bischoff

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Wednesday announced that the state is filing suit against five pharmaceutical companies that marketed powerfully addictive prescription pain medication — which many believe triggered the deadly opiate addiction crisis that has killed 21,000 Ohioans since 2007.
State of Ohio sues Big Pharma for downplaying risks of powerful painkillers (VIDEO)
Jun 1, 2017 | SF Gate

The State of Ohio is not happy with Big Pharma and other pharmaceutical companies. On Wednesday, they filed a lawsuit They believe manufacturers downplay the risks associated with powerful drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet. Attorney General Mike DeWine attended a conference in Columbus on Wednesday and shared his insights on the opioid epidemic: Mike DeWine DeWine argued that drug makers violated the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act and committed Medicaid fraud. Media: Wibbitz
Mike DeWine Suing Major Drug Companies Over Prescription Painkillers (VIDEO)
Jun 1, 2017 | Hometown Stations
By Todd Cummins

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that he has filed a lawsuit against five drug makers for their alleged role in perpetrating the state's opiate addiction epidemic. DeWine accused the companies of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting the benefits of the drugs, which DeWine says is not backed by science, and also for creating a deadly mess in Ohio that they now need to pay to clean up. DeWine outlined the suit saying the manufactures put profits above safety.
Ohio attorney general sues makers of OxyContin, Percocet over drug epidemic
May 31, 2017 | Fox19 Cincinatti

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is calling on major drug companies to "tell the public the truth" about addictive pain medications. On Wednesday, DeWine announced his office has filed a lawsuit against five makers of opiate drugs.
Ohio Attorney General suing companies that make pain medications (VIDEO)
May 31, 2017 | WKBN Youngston OH

Ohio’s Attorney General is taking aim at big drug companies that make pain medications with a lawsuit Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that his office filed a lawsuit against five major drug companies that make drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet.
State of Ohio suing five largest opiates manufacturers (VIDEO)
Jun 1, 2017 | Mandy Gambrell

The State of Ohio's attorney general announced Wednesday his office has filed a lawsuit against the five largest manufacturers of opiates. Attorney General Mike DeWine conducted a news conference to announce the major litigation and said pharmaceutical companies use sales reps visiting doctors offices to market and down-play the risks of opioids.
Mother impacted by opioid crisis stands with DeWine (VIDEO)
May 31, 2017 | ABC 6
By Maria Durant

Christina Arredondo is just one of the thousands of mothers directly touched by the opioid crisis. Her daughter Felicia became addicted to prescription pills and then heroin when she was only 18.
AG says Big Pharma lied
Jun 1, 2017 | Bryan Times (Ohio)
By Lynn Thompson

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine charged five leading prescription opioid manufacturers with false advertising that downplayed the risks of addiction in a Ross County Court of Common Pleas lawsuit Wednesday morning.
Ohio AG says drug companies got thousands addicted to pain medication and “fueled” illegal drug crisis
May 31, 2017 | WDTN News 2 Dayton
By Dana Smith

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against five prescription drug companies – claiming their “fraudulent marketing” tactics have fueled the state’s opioid epidemic.
Mother of opiate addicts react to lawsuit targeting drug makers
May 31, 2017 | ABC6 Columbus
By Bryant Maddrick

A woman whose children became addicted to pain pills is reacting to a lawsuit filed by Ohio's attorney general, which goes after drug makers "I think the lawsuit is good as long as the funds are being used to help what caused this problem," explained Cheryl Beverly.
Mayor supports lawsuit against drug companies fueling opioid crisis
May 31, 2017 | WDTN News Dayton
By Charlisa Gordon

Dayton mayor and democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley is a supporter of a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Attorney General’s office against pharmaceutical companies. It claims “fraudulent marketing” by prescription drug companies fueled the state’s opioid epidemic.
Pharmaceutical companies respond to Ohio lawsuit
May 31, 2017 | NBC 23 News Toledo
By Jim Nelson

NBC 24 requested statements from each of the five pharmaceutical companies named in a lawsuit announced by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Wednesday; all five responded to e-mails, but only two commented specifically on the allegations.
Ohio Sues Drug Companies Over Role In Creating Opioid Epidemic
May 31, 2017 | KETR NPR Northeast Texas

Listen to clip here: http://ketr.org/post/ohio-sues-drug-companies-over-role-creating-opioid-epidemic ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: The state of Ohio figures it's home to 200,000 opioid addicts. That's the equivalent of the population of Akron. Overdoses are so common, the morgues in some Ohio counties lack for space. Today Ohio's attorney general announced he's bringing a suit against five drug manufacturers, accusing them of misrepresenting the risks of prescription opioids and helping to fuel an addiction epidemic in his state.
DeWine suit blames drug manufacturers for fueling drug epidemic
May 31, 2017 | Ohio News-Messenger (USA Today Network)
By Jessie Balmert

Five prescription drug manufacturers tricked doctors into prescribing opioids, fueling a drug epidemic that has killed thousands of Ohioans, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Ohio sues Purdue Pharma, others for allegedly false marketing of opioids
May 31, 2017 | Stamford Advocate (Hearst Media)
By Paul Schott

Purdue Pharma and four other drugmakers were sued Wednesday by Ohio Attorney Gen. Mike DeWine for alleged fraudulent marketing of their prescription opioids that the complaint blames for fueling an opioid epidemic that has killed thousands of Ohioans in recent years.
Attorney General Files Lawsuit Against Opioid Manufacturers
May 31, 2017 | Troy Daily News

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers and their related companies in Ross County Court of Common Pleas. The lawsuit alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.
AG Mike DeWine To Sue Opioid Painkiller Makers
May 31, 2017 | WTAM

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five drug manufacturers over the opioid addiction epidemic in the state. The lawsuit was filed against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon Pharmaceuticals and Allergan Pharmaceuticals. DeWine says the drug companies put profit above the health and well being of the people of Ohio and misled health officials about the addiction risks.
State of Ohio sues five drug manufacturers over opioid crisis
May 31, 2017 | Fox 8 Cleveland
By Jen Steer

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced on Wednesday the state filed a lawsuit against five major drug manufacturers. DeWine said this is about accountability in the opioid crisis that has claimed the lives of thousands of Ohioans. The suit accuses five companies, including Janssen Pharmaceutical, Allergan and Cephalon, of downplaying the risks of using drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet.
Attorney General Mike DeWine Sues Five Pharmaceutical Companies for Role in Opiate Addiction Crisis
May 31, 2017 | Cleveland Scene
By Eric Sandy

Attorney General Mike DeWine targeted five pharmaceutical companies in a sweeping lawsuit filed today, alleging misrepresentation and misinformation on their part in the growing American opiate addiction crisis. The companies are Janssen Pharmaceutical, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon.
DeWine: Drugmakers got Ohioans addicted, raked in profits (UPDATE)
May 31, 2017 | Columbus Dispatch
By Alan Johnson

Arguing that drug manufacturers triggered a “human tragedy of epic proportion” in Ohio, Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five companies that make addictive painkillers.
Ohio Sues 5 Opioid Drug Producers
May 31, 2017 | Cleveland Patch
By Chris Mosby

The state of Ohio is suing five opioid drug producers for fraudulent marketing, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced at a press conference on Wednesday. DeWine argued these companies contributed to the massive opioid epidemic that has plagued Ohio for three years.
Ohio sues 5 drug companies over opioid crisis
May 31, 2017 | Cleveland.com
By Jackie Borchardt

Ohio sues 5 drug companies over opioid crisis
Ohio sues 5 major drug manufacturers for contributing to opioid crisis
May 31, 2017 | Toledo Blade (Block News Alliance)
By Jim Provance

In a case reminiscent of the battle against tobacco, the state of Ohio on Wednesday sued five major drug manufacturers, blaming their marketing practices for fueling a painkiller addiction crisis that claims thousands of lives a year.
Ohio Sues 5 Drug Companies for Fueling the Opioid Epidemic
Jun 1, 2017 | Daily Intelligencer
By Eric Levitz

In the president’s telling, the great villains of the opioid epidemic are Mexican cartels and the politically correct politicians who’ve allowed them to run amok. In reality, the opioid crisis wasn’t launched by drug dealers smuggling narcotics across America’s border, but by pharmaceutical companies hawking them over the nation’s airwaves.
Ohio suit will be 'tough to win' for opioid drugmakers, analyst says
Jun 2, 2017 | FiercePharma
By Eric Sagonowsky

While opioid drugmakers have been sued plenty of times before, this week’s lawsuit from Ohio may prove a genuine threat to the companies involved, according to one influential analyst.

Trade Coverage

Ohio Becomes Second State to Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Jun 2, 2017 | FDA News - Drug Industry Daily

Ohio’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan this week, alleging they contributed to the opioid epidemic through fraudulent advertising.
DeWine: Drugmakers' Targeting Lead to Ohio's Opioid Problems
Jun 2, 2017 | Newsmax
By Sandy Fitzgerald

The nation's major drug companies "tried to change the culture of prescribing" opioids, leading to the spiraling epidemic of drug addiction and abuse, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said Friday while explaining his state's decision to target five drugmakers with legal action.
These 101 Words May Have Pushed Opioids Into Dangerous Popularity
Jun 2, 2017 | Consumerist
By Mary Beth Quirk

As Americans around the country battle opioid addiction, and health officials and lawmakers try to find a way to stem the rising tide of painkiller overdose deaths, everyone is looking for answers as to how we got here. Now, a new report says five simple sentences made up of just 101 words on addiction to narcotic painkillers in a 1980 medical journal may have a lot to do with it.
Are Pharmaceutical Companies to Blame for the Opioid Epidemic?
Jun 2, 2017 | The Atlantic

Opioid abuse is rampant in states like Ohio, where paramedics are increasingly spending time responding to overdoses and where coroners’ offices are running out of room to store bodies. In 2012, there were 793 million doses of opioids prescribed in the state, enough to supply every man, woman, and child, with 68 pills each. Roughly 20 percent of the state’s population was prescribed an opioid in 2016. And Ohio leads the nation in overdose deaths.
U.S. States Filing More Lawsuits Over Opioids (VIDEO)
Jun 2, 2017 | All Media NY

More and more of states, counties and cities in the United States are filing lawsuits accusing drug companies of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers to downplay their addictiveness. Some lawyers think the industry's highly regulated nature could pose a hurdle to their success however. Ohio became the latest, and largest, state or local government to bring an opioid lawsuit. It issuing Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson's and others, seeking to recover money the state and its residents spent on unnecessary opioid prescriptions, as well as costs associated with addiction treatment.
Ohio AG sues drug companies over opiate abuse
Jun 2, 2017 | Galion Inquirer

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine this week filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers and their related companies in Ross County Court of Common Pleas.
Ohio Sues Cephalon, Purdue, Endo Over Opioid Crisis
Jun 2, 2017 | Law360
By Dani Kass

Allergan, Endo, Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen, Purdue and Teva unit Cephalon furthered the opioid crisis by downplaying the addictive risks of their products, Ohio’s attorney general said Wednesday in filing a new suit against the drugmakers in state court.
Ohio sues five opioid drugmakers
Jun 2, 2017 | Consumer Affairs
By Mark Huffman

Ohio, like many states, has a raging opioid drug epidemic and is now trying to hold the companies making the drugs accountable.
State Sues Big Pharma For Opioid Carnage
Jun 2, 2017 | RTT News

Ohio has filed a lawsuit against five major drug manufacturers for their alleged role in the state's devastating opioid epidemic.
Ohio AG Sues Pain Pill Makers, Says They Fueled Opioid Epidemic
Jun 2, 2017 | National Pain Report

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against the major prescription opioid manufacturers alleging that the companies engaged in fraudulent marketing around the risks and benefits of the drugs, “which fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.”
Ohio First State to Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Jun 1, 2017 | Medscape
By Alicia Ault

The state of Ohio, an epicenter of the opioid epidemic, is suing five opioid manufacturers, alleging the companies engaged in fraudulent marketing that misled the state, prescribers, and users about the medications' risks and benefits.
Ohio Blames, Sues Drugmakers for Opioid Crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | Tribune News Service
By Jim Provance

In a case reminiscent of the battle against tobacco, the state of Ohio on Wednesday sued five major drug manufacturers, blaming their marketing practices for fueling a painkiller addiction crisis that claims thousands of lives a year.
Ohio Sues 5 Rx Opioid Makers For Deceptive Marketing Schemes
Jun 1, 2017 | Media Post
By Thom Forbes

The State of Ohio is suing five prescription drug manufacturers for false and deceptive marketing of their branded opioids charging, among other things, that they have falsely trivialized or failed to disclose known risks, overstated their products’ benefits, and targeted susceptible prescribers and vulnerable patients.
Ohio Sues Opioid Makers As Drug Wars Rage In Mexico
Jun 1, 2017 | Latin Post

The state of Ohio is suing five major American pharmaceutical firms for their role in creating the conditions that led to the opioid epidemic currently ravaging their state and large swaths of North America.
Ohio suing Purdue Pharma, four others over opioid marketing
Jun 1, 2017 | Westfair Online
By Kevin Zimmerman

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five makers of opioid painkillers – including the already legally embattled Purdue Pharma, based in Stamford – for their role in that state’s opioid epidemic.
Ohio joins growing list of governments suing drug makers over opioid crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | Hot Air
By Andrew Malcolm

The state of Ohio has sued five major drug makers charging they oversold the benefits and undersold the risks of their opioid painkillers that have become a major epidemic in many states across the country.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sues five prescription opioid manufacturers
May 31, 2017 | Crain's Cleveland Business
By Scott Suttell

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is going to court to help combat the state's opioid crisis. DeWine's office on Wednesday, May 31, filed a lawsuit against five prescription opioid manufacturers and their related companies. The lawsuit, filed in Ross County Court of Common Pleas in southern Ohio, where the opioid epidemic has been particularly damaging, alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids.
Ohio AG files suit against 5 drug manufacturers for role in opioid epidemic
May 31, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman

Mike DeWine, Ohio's attorney general, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against five opioid manufacturers, accusing the companies of engaging in fraudulent marketing and subsequently fueling the opioid epidemic in the state.
Ohio Sues Five Major Drug Makers For Role In Opioid Crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | The Fix
By Victoria Kim

The lawsuit alleges that the drug makers' marketing trivialized the potential addictive qualities of the opioid meds.
In the midst of a deadly opioid crisis, Ohio sues drugmakers for marketing fraud
May 31, 2017 | FiercePharma
By Eric Sagonowsky

After seeing drug overdoses become the state’s leading cause of accidental deaths, officials in Ohio have had enough. In a new lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is going after Teva, Allergan, Johnson & Johnson, Purdue and Endo for alleged “fraudulent marketing practices” on powerful opioid painkillers.
Ohio Attorney General Sues 5 Drug Companies for Fueling Opioid Epidemic
May 31, 2017 | The Root
By Monique Judge

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids, as well as their related companies, alleging that the companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids, which he says fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.
Ohio sues five opioid manufacturers
May 31, 2017 | Axios
By Shane Savitsky

Ohio's attorney general filed suit against five manufacturers of opioids, claiming they violated state laws and committed Medicaid fraud in their marketing of medications, per CNBC.
‘Deadly mess’: Ohio sues 5 pharma companies over opioid crisis
May 31, 2017 | RT News

Ohio is suing five drug manufacturers for their role in causing the state’s unprecedented addictions crisis, and accusing them of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and claiming drug benefits not backed by science.
Latest in Ohio's Opioid Crisis - The State Is Suing Some Drug Manufacturers
Jun 1, 2017 | Statehouse News Bureau
By Jo Ingles

Ohio’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against five major drug companies that make opioids, saying they have contributed to the overdose crisis here. Ohio leads the nation in the number of opioid deaths, with more than 4000 in 2016.
Ohio attorney general sues pharmaceutical companies over opioid crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | The Week
By Catherine Garcia

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five pharmaceutical companies, saying that by making users believe their opioid products were not addictive, they helped start the state's opioid epidemic.
Ohio Sues Drug Makers it Accuses of Fueling Opioid Crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | Voice of America

The U.S. state of Ohio filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five prescription drug manufacturers, saying they used deceptive practices that fueled an opioid addiction epidemic.
Ohio Going After Drug Makers for Fueling Opioid Crisis
May 31, 2017 | The Street
By Amanda Schiavo

Ohio is suing five drugmakers, alleging that the companies contributed to the opioid crisis by misrepresenting the addictive nature of their painkillers, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Ohio sues drug makers for spreading the opioid crisis
May 31, 2017 | STAT News
By Ed Silverman

You can add Ohio to the list of state and local governments that are filing lawsuits against drug makers for spreading the opioid epidemic by allegedly downplaying risks and improperly encouraging prescribing of the addictive painkillers.
Ohio AG Sues Drugmakers Over Opioid Crisis
May 31, 2017 | Courthouse News Service
By Kevin Koeninger

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday the filing of a lawsuit against numerous prescription pain medication manufacturers, as part of the Buckeye State’s ongoing effort to fight its opioid addiction epidemic.
Ohio: Makers Of OxyContin, Percocet & Other Opioids Helped Fuel Drug Epidemic By Misleading Doctors, Patients
May 31, 2017 | Consumerist
By Chris Morran

As Americans nationwide deal with the ongoing opioid epidemic, which has also resulted in the resurrection of heroin in many parts of the country, the Ohio Attorney General is accusing five major pharmaceutical companies of misleading the public about the safety and benefits of opioid painkillers.
State of Ohio suing 5 huge opiates producers
May 31, 2017 | BuzzBry

The State of Ohio’s lawyer common introduced Wednesday his workplace has filed a lawsuit towards the 5 largest producers of opiates.
Overdose Ravaged Ohio Goes After Big Pharma Companies ‘Peddling’ Prescription Drugs
May 31, 2017 | The Daily Caller
By Steve Birr

Officials in Ohio are joining the group of states suing the major pharmaceutical companies for fueling the opioid epidemic by allegedly deceiving the public about addiction risks.
Ohio Has Sued Five Pharma Companies Over Their Opioid Marketing Tactics
May 31, 2017 | Uproxx
By David Matthews

Earlier this year, Anthony Bourdain spoke to GQ about the opioid crisis in America and the pharmaceutical industry’s role in exacerbating it, saying the drug companies were “knowingly selling narcotics far and above any reasonable or acceptable level of need.” As addiction numbers and drug overdose incidents rise (the Center for Disease Control says nearly 2 million abused painkillers in 2014), and with the repeal of Obamacare set to decimate resources for those affected by drug addiction, some states are taking it upon themselves and agreeing with Bourdain that the drug companies must be brought to heel.
Ohio Wants To Hold Drug Companies Responsible For The Opioid Epidemic (Video)
Jun 1, 2017 | Newsy
By Grant Suneson

Ohio has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, and now it wants to hold drug companies responsible. Ohio's Attorney General Mike DeWine filed suit against five drug companies he says are responsible for the drug addiction crisis because they misled consumers.
Ohio Sues Drug Companies Over Opioid Epidemic
Jun 1, 2017 | Daily Beast

Authorities in Ohio filed a lawsuit Wednesday against several pharmaceutical companies for marketing drugs in a way they say contributed to the state’s opioid crisis. The lawsuit, filed by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, accuses drug makers of creating misleading or deceptive advertising campaigns that fail to inform patients about the risks of overdose and addiction. The state has one of the highest overdose rates in the country, along with Kentucky, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.
Ohio Is Suing 5 Drug Companies for Lying About Opioid Painkillers
Jun 1, 2017 | Tonic
By Amber Brenza

On Wednesday, the state of Ohio filed a lawsuit against five major drug companies for their role in the state's opioid addiction epidemic. The state alleges that those named in the suit—Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries subsidiary Cephalon, Allergan, Endo Health Services—borrowed "a page from Big Tobacco's playbook" in downplaying the risks of their products, which "helped unleash a health care crisis" in the state.
Hoping to stop a “human tragedy of epic proportions,” Ohio takes the fight to pharmaceutical manufacturers
Jun 1, 2017 | Rare.us
By Patrick McMahon

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against five pharmaceutical manufacturers, alleging that the companies “engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.”

International Coverage

Ohio Opioid Epidemic: List Of Drug Companies Sued By State Amid Addiction Crisis
Jun 1, 2017 | International Business Times
By Vishakha Sonawane

Ohio state filed a lawsuit against five major drug manufacturers Wednesday amid an ongoing opioid addiction crisis. In the lawsuit, state Attorney General Mike DeWine accused the companies of misrepresenting the risks of prescription opioid painkillers that led to a drug addiction problem in the state.
Ohio AG sues drug companies for role in opioid epidemic
Jun 1, 2017 | UPI
By John Culbertson

Ohio’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the ongoing opioid crisis. The suit, filed Wednesday by Attorney General Mike DeWine, names five drugmakers: Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan.
Ohio sues five drugmakers over role in opioid crisis
May 31, 2017 | AFP

The suit seeks to hold the companies accountable for harm to patients by blocking the drugs' allegedly deceptive marketing, as well as awarding compensation for the state and for consumers.

Broadcast Coverage

America's Newsroom
Jun 2, 2017 | Fox News

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Jun 1, 2017 | CNN

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May 31, 2017 | WSYX ABC Columbus, OH

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National Coverage

What You Need To Know About Opioids, The Painkillers Behind A Crisis

Jun 2, 2017 | Forbes

By Carmen Drahl

It’s not news that opioid drugs are in the eye of a public health firestorm . Since 1999, the death rate from overdoses of these painkillers has more than quadrupled. In 2014 alone, 28,000 people passed away from overdoses involving opioids. This week, a state sued drugmakers and scientists launched a new initiative to combat the crisis. Here's what you need to know.
What is an opioid?
The word opioid came about in the 1950s. It’s a combination of the word “opium” and the ending “oid”, borrowed from the Greek word for “resembling” or “like”. Taken together, then, the word opioid means “opium-like”. Experts came up with the word opioid to describe any substance, naturally-occurring or human-made, that has similar biochemical actions to the major active substance in the opium poppy, morphine.
There are many opioids on the market. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll name just a few representative examples. Morphine and codeine are all-natural opioids, made by the opium poppy. Other opioids, such as hydrocodone (found in Vicodin) and oxycodone (found in OxyContin and Percocet), are what’s called semi-synthetic, meaning that chemists start with components of the poppy and make some chemical additions or adjustments to them. And then you have the fully lab-made opioids, designed to act like morphine but made entirely from scratch. This group includes fentanyl and methadone. It’s worth noting that our bodies make their own opioids— in this case, small proteins that dull pain. Endorphins are part of this group— in response to pain, the body produces endorphins naturally.
You may also be familiar with the word “opiates”— that’s an older term that traditionally meant “drugs coming from opium”, such as morphine.
How does an opioid make pain go away?
The nervous system is how we feel pain, and that’s precisely where opioids act. They bind to specific proteins, known as opioid receptors. There’s more than one kind of opioid receptor. And opioid receptors reside in different places— mostly in various parts of the brain and spinal cord.
Each opioid drug has its own painkilling strength, which has to do with the particular receptors that drug binds to, and how tightly it binds to them. Each drug also has its own staying power, which has to do with how long the drug sticks around once it binds.
Of course, opioids don’t just dull pain— they also can provide intensely pleasurable feelings. And in an overdose situation, opioids can stop a person’s breathing. That whole portfolio of effects once again comes down to opioid receptors— targeting different combinations and locations of opioid receptors leads to different effects.
In other words, if there’s a takeaway here, it’s that pain involves some incredibly complex biochemistry, and opioids tinker with it in ways that, even today, we don’t fully comprehend.
Why are opioids addictive?
Before I get into the details, let me make something clear. While opioids are addictive, not every painkiller is addictive. You can’t get addicted to acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. (Taking too much acetaminophen can be toxic to your liver, but that’s a different issue.) You can’t get addicted to ibuprofen (the active ingredient in Advil) or naproxen (the active ingredient in Aleve). In other words, opioids aren’t addictive BECAUSE they kill pain. They are addictive because of the specific way in which they kill pain.
Permit me to explain. I mentioned earlier that when opioids bind to certain types of opioid receptors, they trigger feelings of pleasure. And those feelings of pleasure are one big reason for seeking out more of the drugs. Pleasure alone’s not enough, though, because otherwise we’d all be addicted to chocolate and sex.
After consistent exposure to opioids over time, brain cells become less responsive to opioids. That means a person often will need higher and higher drug doses to achieve the same effect. What’s more, once the brain is used to having opioids around, taking them away cold turkey leads to withdrawal. Withdrawal is a very serious matter- imagine the worst imaginable aching, sweating, fever, and chills a person could have. Avoiding withdrawal is a powerful motivator for staying on opioids. Eventually, opioid use leads to long-lasting changes in the brain, setting the stage for addiction.
Why are states and local governments suing opioid drugmakers?
This week, the state of Ohio sued five companies that manufacture prescription painkillers such as Percocet. It joins the state of Mississippi as well as multiple county and city governments in filing suit against drugmakers. Kentucky settled a lawsuit with the maker of OxyContin in 2015.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in a statement. "They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway.”
In an emailed statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, one of the five companies named in the suit, said: “The allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded."
Purdue Pharma, also named in the suit, wrote the following statement to Reuters: “We share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
What are experts doing about the crisis?
This week, top government health officials announced over $70 million in grant money to curb the opioid crisis. The money will eventually go to first responders, as well as to organizations making addiction treatments and overdose-reversing drugs accessible to hard-hit communities.
Officials also announced a new research initiative to combat the crisis. The initiative takes a three-pronged approach.
The first objective is to develop better approaches to prevent, detect, and counteract overdoses. This part of the effort has already obtained results. In 2015, FDA approved a nasal spray of naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug that has existed for many years. Why a nasal spray? Well, until 2015, you had to inject naloxone for it to work. In an overdose situation, time is of the essence. A nasal spray is something a family member, friend, or even a bystander can administer, without losing precious time waiting for paramedics to arrive.
The second part of the new initiative is about developing better treatments for those addicted to opioids. Sometimes it can be difficult for a person to take medications on schedule, or they don’t have the support system they need while in recovery. Here again, there’s been a step forward. In 2016, FDA approved an implant that delivers a well-established treatment for opioid addiction steadily for six months.
The third piece is about finding better pain relief drugs altogether. Whether that’s about making drugs that take aim at different opioid receptors, or something else entirely, remains to be seen.
Nothing can bring back loved ones who have died as a result of opioid addiction. Here’s hoping that scientists, government officials, and community leaders can work together to make sure the crisis comes to an end.

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U.S. state, local government lawsuits over opioids face uphill battle

Jun 2, 2017 | Reuters

By Nate Raymond

A growing number of U.S. states, counties and cities are filing lawsuits accusing drug companies of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers to downplay their addictiveness, but some lawyers say the industry's highly regulated nature could pose a hurdle to their success.
Ohio on Wednesday became the latest, and largest, state or local government to bring an opioid lawsuit, suing Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc unit, Endo International Plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's and Allergan Plc.
The lawsuit seeks to recover money the state and its residents spent on unnecessary opioid prescriptions, as well as costs associated with addiction treatment. The five companies have all denied the allegations.
Mississippi, counties in New York and California and the city of Chicago have filed similar lawsuits against the opioid makers, and plaintiffs lawyers say more are on the way.
Some of those lawyers think the number of lawsuits could eventually snowball, resulting in an outcome similar to the $206 billion settlement tobacco companies reached with 46 states in 1998.
But some defense lawyers note that opioids, unlike cigarettes at the time, are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In their view, judges and juries could defer to the agency's approval of the companies' opioid products as safe and effective for treating chronic pain and of the drugs' warning labels that disclosed addiction-related risks.
Jodi Avergun, a former chief of staff of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and now a defense lawyer with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, said the FDA's role approving the drugs was a "fundamental weakness" of the lawsuits.
"I think at the end of the day they're fairly difficult cases for the plaintiffs to win," said Avergun.
In 2015, the judge overseeing the lawsuit against the five drugmakers by California's Santa Clara and Orange counties halted the case out of concern it would interfere with FDA studies related to the risks of long-term opioid treatment.
The stay was recently partially lifted to allow for settlement talks, among other things. Teva last week became the first company in the case to settle, paying $1.6 million.
Assistant County Counsel Danny Chou said the deal's size reflected Teva's small opioid market share. Talks with other defendants are ongoing, and the county will file a revised lawsuit if no settlement is reached, he said.
Carl Tobias, a professor at Richmond School of Law, said FDA-approved warning labels and the role of doctors in prescribing medication can insulate pharmaceutical companies from liability for failing to warn of a drug's risks.
But he noted Ohio's lawsuit claimed the companies used advertising in medical journals and marketing presentations to downplay the risks of opioids.
In announcing the lawsuit, Ohio Attorney General DeWine argued the drugmakers' deception continued "despite the warnings in the small print of their very own drug labels and package inserts which clearly contradict their marketing."
"You can give a great warning but undercut it, and that can go to the fraud point," Tobias said.
In September, the federal judge overseeing Chicago's opioid lawsuit allowed the case to proceed after finding the city alleged sufficient facts to back its claim that the companies deceived healthcare providers.
Fraudulent marketing was also at issue a decade ago when Purdue paid more than $600 million and pleaded guilty to misbranding the opioid drug OxyContin by falsely touting it as less addictive than rival products.
Along with their arguments based on FDA approval, the drug companies are also taking aim at state and local governments' use of private plaintiffs' lawyers to bring opioid lawsuits in exchange for a percentage of any settlement or judgment.
Five law firms are representing Ohio on a contingency-fee basis.
Drugmakers have argued their constitutional due process rights are violated when profit-seeking private lawyers, as opposed to public servants, pursue government cases seeking large damages.
The companies scored a victory in 2016 when a judge invalidated one such agreement between former New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster and the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.
Now on appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the ruling effectively blocked the state from filing a lawsuit. A similar bid is underway to invalidate a contingency fee deal between the law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy and New York's Suffolk County.
Paul Hanly, of Simmons Hanly Conroy, said the drug companies were making a "completely frivolous argument" that would not deter opioid litigation.
He is representing three other New York counties in opioid lawsuits and preparing to bring lawsuits on behalf of several more.
"What we're seeing is a feeding frenzy as plaintiffs' lawyers are looking around and seeing this high-profile litigation and are clamoring to get in," Hanly said.

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Tennessee House speaker asks Attorney General to consider suing drug firms

Jun 1, 2017 | Associated Press

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell is asking the state attorney general to consider suing painkiller manufacturers for their role in the ongoing opioid crisis.
Harwell's letter Thursday asks Attorney General Herbert Slatery to review a lawsuit filed by the state of Ohio.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sued five drug companies Wednesday, accusing them of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
The companies sued by DeWine are Purdue Pharma; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary, Cephalon; Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and Allergan.
Harwell pointed out that Tennessee is consistently one of the worst states for opioid and prescription drug abuse. The overdose death rate in 2015 was 22 per 100,000 people.

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One short letter's huge impact on the opioid epidemic

Jun 1, 2017 | CNN

By Nadia Kounang

Every day, 91 Americans die from an opioid overdose. Drug overdoses overall -- most of them from opioid painkillers and heroin -- are the leading cause of accidental death in the US, killing more people than guns or car accidents. In fact, while Americans represent only about 5% of the global population, they consume about 80% of the world's opioid painkillers. But how did we get to this point?
Many public health experts point to a simple five-sentence letter to the editor published in a 1980 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The 101-word letter, titled "Addiction Rare in Patients Treated with Narcotics," was signed by Jane Porter and Dr. Hershel Jick of Boston University, who said that of their 11,000-plus patients treated with narcotics, there were only four cases of addiction.
And although this letter provided no further evidence and was not a peer-reviewed study, it has often been cited as proof of the safety of prescribing long-term narcotics for chronic pain.This week, the journal published yet another letter to the editor, this one an analysis of how frequently Porter and Jick's letter has been cited by other researchers and physicians in studies and journals since its publication. The analysis found 608 citations of the initial letter as of May 30, 72% of them pointing to it as proof that addiction was rare among long-term narcotic users.
Dr. David Juurlink, one of the researchers involved in the analysis, wrote in an email that the "5-sentence letter to the editor in medicine's most prestigious journal was leveraged as proof that opioids could be used safely over the long term, even though it offered no evidence to support that claim. It's clear that many of the authors who cited it hadn't actually read it."
Jick is quick to point out that his letter has been misrepresented. He told CNN last year that it was never meant to speak about the general population, but rather referred only to patients who were closely monitored in a hospital setting. Yet, according to the new analysis, 80% of the articles that referenced the letter make no mention of the fact that these were hospitalized patients.
In addition, most of the citations weren't critical at all of the letter or the notion that these drugs could be dangerous to prescribe long-term. In fact, references to the letter in studies jumped after the 1995 introduction of OxyContin, the long-acting formulation of oxycodone.And although positive references to the letter have decreased in recent years, they still remained as of 2016.
So far this year, the researchers found no positive references to the letter.o help stem the wave of opioid overdoses across the country, public health experts, legislators and law enforcement have come together in an all-hands-on-deck effort.Among the most recent efforts, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine this week filed suit against five pharmaceutical companies:
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin; as well as Teva Pharmaceuticals; Allergan; Endo Health Solutions and Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
In a statement, DeWine said, "These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids."Ohio joins a growing list of states and municipalities, such as Mississippi and the city of Chicago, alleging that pharmaceuticals recklessly pushed the prescribing of addictive narcotics while knowing the risks.
On Wednesday, the Heroin and Opioid Prevention Effort and Treatment Act went into effect in Maryland, effectively making naloxone, a medication that can reverse opioid overdose, available over the counter. There is similar legislation allowing broad access to naloxone in Alabama, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

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Ohio Sues Drug Makers, Saying They Aided Opioid Epidemic

May 31, 2017 | New York Times

By Richard Perez-Pena

The State of Ohio filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the pharmaceutical industry over the opioid epidemic, accusing several drug companies of conducting marketing campaigns that misled doctors and patients about the danger of addiction and overdose.
Ohio’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, sued the drug makers in a case similar to one that was filed by Mississippi in 2015 and is still pending. In another case, West Virginia went after major drug distributors and has reached settlements that will pay the state tens of millions of dollars. The City of Chicago, and counties in New York, California and West Virginia, have all started litigation.
Complaints like these are being closely watched by state and local governments around the country that are trying to decide how to proceed — decisions that are complicated by differences in state laws.
“We are in ongoing discussions with attorneys general about what can only be described as a national epidemic,” said Michael P. Canty, a lawyer in New York whose firm, Labaton Sucharow, is advising states on possible opioid litigation.
In 2015, more than 25,000 people in the United States died in 2015 from overdosing on opioids like fentanyl, oxycodone and hydrocodone, more than twice as many as a decade earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The drugs, either derived from opium or synthetic analogs of those narcotics, now kill more Americans than homicide, and are approaching traffic accidents as a cause of death.
Middle-aged white men suffer disproportionately from opioid abuse, and the states with the highest overdose tolls are Ohio, Kentucky, New Hampshire and West Virginia.
The drugs were once used primarily for acute, or short-term pain, but over the last two decades, doctors have increasingly prescribed them to treat chronic pain, giving them to patients for months or years at a stretch. Drug makers promoted that change, Mr. DeWine charged in his suit, spending “millions of dollars on promotional activities and materials that falsely deny or trivialize the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain.”
In addition, he said, the companies provided funding to prominent doctors, medical societies and patient advocacy groups to win their support for the drugs’ use. By 2012, the suit says, opioid prescriptions in Ohio equaled 68 pills a year for every resident of the state, including children.
Defendants in the case include Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Allergan and others.
Purdue, the maker of OxyContin, a time-release opioid, released a statement saying, “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions,” and calling the company “an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology.”
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the leading industry group, said it would not comment on litigation involving specific companies.
Ohio’s lawsuit seeks to recover money the state has spent on the drugs themselves, through programs like Medicaid, and on addiction treatment. States took a similar approach in suing the tobacco industry in the 1990s, which eventually led to settlements worth more than $200 billion.

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Ohio Opioid Suit Echoes Tobacco Cases

May 31, 2017 | Wall Street Journal

By Jacob Gershman

It is a lawsuit taking aim at the industry’s largest players, alleging a deadly coverup of the dangers of an addictive drug used by millions of Americans.
In some ways, Ohio’s move Wednesday to sue several opioid makers harks back to the 1990s, when states took the tobacco industry to court and ultimately came away with a historic $206 billion settlement. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s lawsuit tries to make the tobacco parallel explicit.
“Like the tobacco companies,” it states, “defendants used third parties that they funded, directed, and controlled to carry out and conceal their scheme to deceive doctors and patients about the risks and benefits of long-term opioid use for chronic pain.”
Other similarities exist as well.
The legal fight concerning tobacco began with a handful of states suing cigarette companies more than 20 years ago. The suits alleged the industry badly misled consumers about the harms of cigarettes.
At the time, the industry was besieged by reports of leaked internal corporate documents suggesting the defendants concealed information about the dangers of smoking.
Ohio’s suit alleges the drugmakers helped fuel the opioid addiction crisis by misrepresenting the addictive risks of their painkillers.
But beyond some obvious parallels, legal experts say litigation against the drugmakers and tobacco companies may be a case of apples and oranges.
“Opioids aren’t tobacco,” said James Tierney, a former Maine attorney general who was a consultant to the states suing the tobacco industry and helped coordinate their legal and press strategy.
The tobacco industry’s go-to defense—that it shouldn’t be held liable for consumers’ personal choices about their health—proved ineffective against new legal theories about holding tobacco accountable for the financial toll on the public. Those factors helped lead to the 1998 settlement that gave states a windfall of cash and legal immunity to the companies.
Opioid makers so far aren’t expected to make such an argument. Rather, they argue, among other things, that they shouldn’t be held responsible for the misuse of Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs with FDA-mandated warnings. Some makers argue they have helped develop abuse-deterrent properties that make it harder to crush or dissolve the drugs.
Prescribed painkillers and cigarettes themselves have obvious differences, said Mr. Tierney. While cigarette makers were accused of misleading the public about the dangers of smoking, their product’s links to lung cancer and other diseases weren’t in dispute.
Opioids, when used medically to relieve pain, can have significant health benefits. “Opioids aren’t an inherently evil product,” said Mr. Tierney. “Tobacco companies could never come in and say tobacco products are good for you. There are legitimate purposes for opioids.”

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Ohio Sues 5 Major Drug Companies For 'Fueling Opioid Epidemic'

May 31, 2017 | NPR

By Colin Dwyer

The state of Ohio has sued five major drug manufacturers for their role in the opioid epidemic. In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, state Attorney General Mike DeWine alleges these five companies "helped unleash a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the State of Ohio."
Named in the suit are:Purdue PharmaEndo Health SolutionsTeva Pharmaceutical Industries and subsidiary CephalonJohnson & Johnson and subsidiary Janssen PharmaceuticalsAllergan
The lawsuit — only the second such suit filed by a state, after Mississippi did so earlier this year — accuses the companies of engaging in a sustained marketing campaign to downplay the addiction risks of the prescription opioid drugs they sell and to exaggerate the benefits of their use for health problems such as chronic pain.
Or, as DeWine's office put it in a press release Wednesday, the "lawsuit alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which fueled Ohio's opioid epidemic."
"We believe that the evidence will show that these pharmaceutical companies purposely misled doctors about the dangers connected with pain meds that they produced, and that they did so for the purpose of increasing sales," DeWine tells NPR's All Things Considered. "And boy, did they increase sales."
By the late 1990s, DeWine's suit says, each of the five companies had embarked on a persuasion scheme targeting doctors, whom the state positions as victims of systematic misinformation:
"Defendants persuaded doctors and patients that what they had long known — that opioids are addictive drugs, unsafe in most circumstances for long-term use — was untrue, and quite the opposite, that the compassionate treatment of pain required opioids."
Asked by NPR's Robert Siegel whether doctors had a role of their own in overprescribing potentially dangerous medication, DeWine says more fault rests with a culture created by these companies.
"This was not something that the pharmaceutical companies just woke up some day and just started to do a little bit of it," he says.
"I mean, there was a concerted effort for an extended number of years to really pound this into the heads of doctors. And when you're told something time and time and time again and there's a lot of advertising that is being spent, yeah, it takes a while to turn that around."
In a statement provided to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a spokeswoman for Janssen, one of the defendants, called the lawsuit "legally and factually unfounded":
"Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label."
Purdue Pharma, another defendant, told The Plain Dealer that it has been involved in seeking to combat widespread opioid addiction:
"OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis."
And that crisis shows few signs of ebbing soon.
As All Things Considered notes, the state of Ohio estimates some 200,000 people within its borders are addicted to opioids — a number roughly the same as Akron's entire population.
In his release Wednesday, DeWine says he filed the suit in Ross County for a reason: "Southern Ohio was likely the hardest hit area in the nation by the opioid epidemic."
Listen to radio clip here: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/31/530929307/ohio-sues-5-major-drug-companies-for-fueling-opioid-epidemic

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Ohio attorney general sues 5 pharmaceutical companies over opioid epidemic

May 31, 2017 | ABC News

By Julia Jacobo

The Ohio attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers, alleging that the companies intentionally misled patients regarding the risks and benefits of opioid use with fraudulent marketing.
Attorney General Mike DeWine accused the companies of leading patients to believe that opioids were not addictive, which the lawsuit says fueled the current opioid epidemic in Ohio.
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans -- our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids -- addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids," DeWine said in a statement. "These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids."
The five manufacturers listed in the lawsuit, filed in the Ross County Court of Common Pleas, are Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan.
The lawsuit was filed in Ross County since Southern Ohio was the area hit the hardest by the opioid epidemic, the press release states. A record of 3,050 people in Ohio died from drug overdose in 2015, The Associated Press reported. That figure is expected to rise significantly once the 2016 figures have been tallied, according to the AP.
The lawsuit alleges that the drug companies violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and created a "public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids."
The "false marketing" allegedly included advertising in medical journals, statements by sales representatives and "the use of front groups to deliver information which downplayed the risks and inflated the benefits of certain formulations of opioids," the statement reads.
"They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it," DeWine said. "Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth."
The drugs the companies are accused of selling are OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, Targiniq, Percocet, Percodan, Opana, Zydone, Actiq, Fentora, Duragesic, Nucynta, Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids, according to the press release.
"It is a human tragedy that is ripping families apart." DeWine said in a press conference Wednesday. "The people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up."
The lawsuit is seeking a declaration from the companies that their actions were illegal, an injunction to stop "their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate them the harm they have caused," damages for the money the state spent on opioids "that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive acts," and repayment to consumers who, "like the State, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain."
In a statement provided to ABC News, Purdue Pharma said it shares the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis and is "committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
"OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone -- all important components for combating the opioid crisis," Purdue Pharma said.
A spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, said the company "firmly" believes that the allegations in the lawsuit "are both legally and factually unfounded."
"Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," said spokesperson Jessica Castles Smith.
Smith continued: "At Janssen, we put the needs and well-being of the patients, caregivers and families we serve first. More than 100 million American adults suffer from chronic pain, a significant public health problem that places a tremendous emotional and financial burden on patients and their families. Our opioid pain medications give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain."
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries said that it is reviewing the complaint filed by the attorney general but declined to comment prior to the completion of the review.
Endo Health Solutions declined to provide a comment to ABC News, citing a company policy not to comment on current and ongoing litigation. Allergan declined to comment as well.
The FDA said on its website that it is “deeply concerned” about the “growing epidemic of opioid use, dependence and overdose in the United States.” The agency has developed a comprehensive action plan to “take concrete steps toward reducing the impact of opioid abuse on American families and communities,” it said.

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Ohio attorney general sues 5 drugmakers over opiate crisis (UPDATE)

May 31, 2017 | Associated Press

By Julie Carr Smyth

The Ohio attorney general sued five drugmakers on Wednesday, accusing the companies of perpetrating the state's addictions epidemic by intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said the companies created a deadly mess in Ohio that they now need to pay to clean up.
"This lawsuit is about justice, it's about fairness, it's about what is right," DeWine said in announcing the complaint filed in Ross County, a southern Ohio community slammed by fatal drug overdoses from painkillers and heroin.
A record 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015, a figure expected to jump sharply once 2016 figures are tallied.
DeWine wants an injunction stopping the companies from their alleged misconduct and damages for money the state spent on opiates sold and marketed in Ohio. The attorney general also wants customers repaid for unnecessary opiate prescriptions for chronic pain.
"These drug companies knew that what they were doing was wrong and they did it anyway," DeWine said.
The drugmakers sued by DeWine are Purdue Pharma; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and its subsidiary, Cephalon; Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and Allergan.
They variously manufacture OxyContin, Percocet and a host of other painkillers that DeWine said represent the heart of the problem.
Christina Arredondo said her 24-year-old pregnant daughter, Felicia Detty, died after a painkiller addiction led to heroin and overdose. She said she's hopeful the Ohio lawsuit can begin to curtail the epidemic by fighting it "from the top."
"It's not like they're going out to buy some cocaine on the street," she said. "They're going to the doctor for a torn ligament in their shoulder, or migraines, or having a tooth pulled."
Janssen on Wednesday called the lawsuit's accusations legally and factually unfounded. The company said it acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients.
Another defendant, Purdue Pharma, said it shares DeWine's concerns about the opiate crisis and is committed to working together on a solution. It won't say if it's challenging the lawsuit.
Teva Pharmaceuticals says it's still reviewing the lawsuit and is unable to comment.
Endo declined comment. A message was left seeking comment with Allergan.
DeWine, a Republican expected to run for governor next year, joins other states that have filed similar lawsuits. His move comes after years of calls for such action by Ohio Democrats.
Democratic candidate Nan Whaley, Dayton's mayor, is airing online video spots in which she criticizes sitting Republicans for doing too little to solve the heroin and opioid epidemic. Whaley says taking on drug companies for their role in the crisis will be her highest priority as governor.
Another gubernatorial contender, Democratic state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, said he had previously called for such an action.
"I hope that whatever financial settlement this lawsuit might bring will be put toward helping the victims of this epidemic," he said. "In the meantime, the General Assembly must do more to provide the resources our counties desperately need now for drug treatment and other services."
In 2015, Kentucky settled a similar lawsuit with Purdue Pharma for $24 million.
Oregon reached a settlement in 2015 with opioid painkiller manufacturer Insys for off-label promotion of Subsys, a fentanyl spray more powerful than heroin. It was also among 27 states that reached a settlement with Purdue, the maker of OxyContin, in 2007.

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Ohio’s Attorney General Is Suing 5 Drug Makers for Fueling the Opioid Epidemic

Jun 1, 2017 | Fortune

By Sy Mukherjee

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five pharmaceutical companies for their alleged part in driving an opioid and prescription painkiller overdose epidemic which has ravaged the state and much of the country. The firms named in the suit are Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Allergan, and Endo International.
DeWine says that the companies' aggressive marketing tactics effectively placed " profits above health and well-being of Ohio consumers," and that the drug makers were aware that their claims about the powerful medicines' addictive capacity were misleading.
"The evidence is going to show they knew what they were saying was not true and they did it to increase sales," DeWine told a press pool.
Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, and other defendants have already faced legal scrutiny over the opioid scourge which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives over the past decade. Orange County and New York jurisdictions have also sued painkiller firms in recent months over alleged fraudulent marketing.
Purdue and other opioid manufacturers say they are committed to solving the addiction and overdose crisis. According to the Columbus Dispatch, more than 4,100 Ohio residents died from unintentional drug overdoses last year alone, a 36% spike over 2015.

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Ohio sues five drug companies over opioid crisis (UPDATE)

May 31, 2017 | Reuters

By Chris Kenning

The suit, filed by Attorney General Mike DeWine, comes as a growing number of state and local governments are suing drugmakers and distributors, seeking to hold them accountable for a deadly and costly opioid crisis.
Opioid drugs, including prescription painkillers and heroin, killed more than 33,000 people in the United States in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The five companies Ohio sued were Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc unit, a unit of Endo International Plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's Cephalon unit and Allergan Plc.
DeWine said the companies helped unleash the crisis by spending millions of dollars marketing and promoting such drugs as OxyContin and Percocet, overstating their benefits and trivializing their potential addictive qualities.
"These companies continue to mislead the public," DeWine said at a press conference in Columbus.
Janssen spokesman Jessica Castles Smith said in an emailed statement: "The allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded."
She said Janssen has acted responsibly regarding its opioid pain medications, which are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and carry FDA-mandated warnings on their labels about the drugs' known risks.
Purdue said in an emailed statement: "We share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
Allergan and Teva declined to comment. Endo could not immediately be reached.
The suit, filed in Ross County, in Southern Ohio, where addiction has hit hard, alleges the drug companies violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, committed Medicaid fraud, and created a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements.
It seeks to halt deceptive practices, a declaration the companies acted illegally and unspecified damages to the state and consumers.
In Ohio, which has one of the nation's highest overdose rates, 4,169 people died from overdoses last year, according to figures compiled by the Columbus Dispatch.
Last year, 2.3 million Ohio residents were prescribed opioids, nearly a fifth of the state's population, in turn helping fuel heroin abuse, DeWine said.
Drug companies including Purdue and Johnson & Johnson have been fighting lawsuits by two California counties, the city of Chicago, four counties in New York and the state of Mississippi over their opioid marketing practices.
Several West Virginia counties have filed lawsuits in recent months against drug wholesalers McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen for failing to report suspicious orders of opioids in the state.
West Virginia's attorney general earlier reached settlements with Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen for a combined $36 million to resolve similar claims.

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Ohio Sues Big Pharma, Blaming Drug Makers for Causing Opioid Epidemic (UPDATE)

May 31, 2017 | NBC News

By Corky Siemaszko

The state of Ohio launched a legal left hook Wednesday with a lawsuit aimed directly at Big Pharma and five of the biggest prescription painkiller manufacturers.
The state's lawsuit accuses the firms — Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon — of "borrowing a page from Big Tobacco's playbook" and downplaying the risks of using powerful drugs like OxyContin and Percocet.
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications," Attorney General Mike DeWine declared. "These drug manufacturers knew what they were doing was wrong, but they continued to do it anyway."
By minimizing the risk of addiction, they helped create "a population of patients physically and psychologically dependent on them," the suit states. "And when those patients can no longer afford or legitimately obtain opioids, they often turn to the street to buy prescription opioids or even heroin."
The result, DeWine said, "is a human tragedy of epic proportions, ripping families apart."
"Opioids have become the main source of unintentional drug overdose in the state," the suit contends.
Ohio is the second state, after Mississippi, to go directly after Big Pharma. DeWine accused the drug makers of violating multiple state laws, including the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act, and of committing Medicaid fraud.
Like the cigarette makers, the drug makers relied on "sales representatives" and influential doctors and "seemingly neutral and credible professional societies and patient advocacy groups" to tout the supposed benefits of long-term opioid use "even though there is no 'good evidence' to support" those claims, the suit states.
DeWine said the lawsuit, which was filed in Ross County, "would compel these companies to clean up this mess through several remedies," including an injunction to stop "continued deception and misrepresentation in marketing."
Ohio is seeking damages for the millions it has spent combating the crisis and "restitution on behalf of Ohio consumers who paid for opioids for chronic pain."
Purdue Pharma, in its response to the lawsuit, said OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid prescription painkillers sold nationally.
"But we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis," the company said in a statement.
Naloxone is an anti-overdose treatment.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals called allegations in the lawsuit "both legally and factually unfounded." Allergan had no comment. And there was no immediate response to DeWine's suit from the other targeted companies.
According to the state: Purdue Pharma sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla and Targiniq Endo Health Solutions sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana and Zydone Teva Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiary Cephalon sold Actiq and Fentora Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, sold Duragesic and Nucynta Allergan sold Kadian, Norco and several generic opioids
Ohio is one of the states that has been hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. It is ravaging rural areas, as well the capital city of Columbus, where in the first two months of this year officials were logging one deadly overdose per day.

Generally, the victims were killed by heroin cut with fentanyl, a powerful painkiller smuggled into the country from Mexico and China that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says is 25 to 50 times more powerful than heroin and packs 50 to 100 times more punch than morphine.

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Ohio attorney general sues 5 pharma companies over their role in the opioid epidemic (UPDATE)

May 31, 2017 | CNBC

By Mig Tirrell

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five makers of opioid painkillers for their role in the state's opioid epidemic.
The suit, which DeWine said is the second by a U.S. state, after Mississippi, claims the drugmakers violated multiple state laws, including the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act, and committed Medicaid fraud.
Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit, Teva Pharmaceuticals and its Cephalon unit, Endo Health Solutions and Allergan are all named in the suit.
"In 2014 alone, pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million through sales reps peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risks" of the medicines," DeWine said at a press conference Wednesday. Last year, he said, 2.3 million people in Ohio, or about a fifth of the state's population, were prescribed opioids.
In a statement, a spokesman for Purdue Pharma, which manufactures OxyContin, said the company shares the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis and that it is "committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."

"OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis," he said.
Allergan declined to comment, as did a Teva spokeswoman, who said, "We have not completed review of the complaint."
J&J's Janssen unit said the company believed the allegations in the lawsuit were "both legally and factually unfounded."
"Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," said Jessica Castles Smith, a Janssen spokeswoman.
Endo officials weren't immediately available to comment.
The Ohio action follows suits from counties and cities seeking to hold accountable the industry that produces, markets and distributes opioid painkillers. DeWine said the Ohio suit, filed Wednesday morning in Ross County, "would compel these companies to clean up this mess through several remedies," including an injunction to stop "continued deception and misrepresentation in marketing," damages paid to the state for money spent on the crisis, and repayment to consumers.
Sales of prescribed opioids — including oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone — almost quadrupled in the U.S. between 1999 and 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contributing to a more than quadrupling of deaths from prescription opioids in that same period. Almost 2 million Americans either abused or were dependent on prescription opioid painkillers in 2014, according to the CDC.
In March, attorneys representing two West Virginia counties filed federal lawsuits against drug distributors, including AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health, accusing companies of violating West Virginia law and threatening public health for distributing huge amounts of opioids in the state.
The city of Everett, Washington, sued Purdue Pharma earlier this year, accusing the drugmaker of gross negligence and seeking payment for the costs of handling opioid addiction.
And three counties in New York sued pharmaceutical companies including Purdue, Johnson & Johnson, Teva and Endo in February, also seeking damages.
Ohio and West Virginia are among the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. The crisis has been named by new Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb as a top priority.
"We understand what we're taking on: five huge drug companies," DeWine told reporters Wednesday. "I don't want to look back 10 years from now and say we should have had the guts to file. … It's something we have to do."

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Ohio Sues Five Drug Firms, Saying They Fueled Opioid Crisis (UPDATE)

May 31, 2017 | Wall Street Journal

By Jeanne Whalen

Ohio is suing five drugmakers, the state’s attorney general said Wednesday, alleging they fueled an opioid crisis in the state by misrepresenting the addictive risks of their painkillers.
The lawsuit, filed in state court in Ross County, targets parent companies and various subsidiaries, including Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson , Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. , Allergan PLC and Endo International PLC’s Endo Health Solutions unit.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said at a news conference that the companies were dishonest with doctors about their painkillers’ risks. He said they marketed heavily to general practitioners, who “may not have a particular specialty in that area.”
“The evidence is going to show they knew what they were saying was not true and they did it to increase sales,” Mr. DeWine said.
In a statement, Johnson & Johnson, parent of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sells Duragesic, said: “We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label.”
Teva said it is reviewing the complaint and didn’t have an immediate comment. Teva and its Cephalon Inc. unit sell the painkillers Actiq and Fentora.
Purdue, maker of the painkiller OxyContin, said: “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.”
Allergan and Endo declined to comment. Allergan sells Kadian, Norco and generic opioids. Endo, parent of Endo Health Solutions, makes the painkiller Opana.
Ohio has been among the states hardest hit by opioid addiction, which has helped drive U.S. overdose deaths to all-time highs. Many people became addicted by taking powerful opioid painkillers, and often then turned to heroin if they couldn’t get access to pills. Public-health officials have long blamed aggressive company marketing and lax opioid painkiller prescribing for sparking the crisis.
In an interview, Mr. DeWine said Ohio’s lawsuit is among the most comprehensive taken by any state against opioid-painkiller makers. He said he believed only Mississippi has filed a suit similar in scope to Ohio’s.
Some cities and counties, including Chicago and California’s Orange and Santa Clara counties, have also sued opioid painkiller makers, alleging misleading marketing that fueled addiction. West Virginia sued drug distributors, alleging they improperly flooded the state with addictive painkillers.
Perhaps the biggest legal hit to a painkiller company came in 2007, when Purdue Frederick Co., an affiliate of Purdue Pharma, and three of its executives pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal charges of misleading the public about the addictive qualities of OxyContin, and agreed to pay the federal government and a group of states $634.5 million in fines. That settlement grew out of a multistate investigation and a federal lawsuit.

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Ohio sues drugmakers over US opioid addiction crisis

May 31, 2017 | Financial Times

By David Crow

Ohio’s attorney-general has become the latest US official to sue drugmakers for their alleged role in fuelling the country’s painkiller addiction crisis, opening a new front in the legal battle to force Big Pharma to take responsibility for the problem.
The lawsuit claims that five drugmakers — Purdue, which makes OxyContin, Endo, Johnson & Johnson, Teva and Allergan — committed fraud and other offences by knowingly downplaying the dangers of opioids, and by marketing the pills to patients who did not need them.
“Defendants broke the simple rules [of drug marketing] and helped unleash a healthcare crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the state of Ohio,” said the lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday by state attorney-general Mike DeWine.
Ohio is the second US state after Mississippi to bring such a lawsuit, and its move follows similar legal actions taken at the county level in West Virginia and by the city of Everett in Washington.
Public health officials have long blamed drugmakers for fuelling an opioid crisis that authorities have described as a national epidemic, with 91 people dying each day by overdosing on the drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Ohio is now awash in opioids and engulfed in a public health crisis the likes of which have never been seen before,” said the lawsuit. “In 2012, the total number of opioid doses prescribed to Ohio patients soared to 793m — enough to supply every man, woman and child in the state with 68 pills each.”
The allegations in the lawsuit focus on how the companies marketed the opioids, alleging they used “multiple avenues to disseminate their false and deceptive statements”.
For instance, Endo distributed advertisements that suggested its Opana ER pills were suitable for people with chronic long-term pain, with photographs of patients with “physically demanding jobs” such as construction workers and chefs, the lawsuit alleges.
Pain specialists say that while opioid painkillers might have some benefits for terminally ill people and those suffering from acute episodes of pain, they should not have been prescribed to large numbers of patients who needed chronic therapy.
The drugmakers also spent significant sums — almost $170m in 2014 — on sales representatives who promoted the use of opioids for chronic pain to individual doctors, while also enlisting a “diverse group of seemingly independent” experts to talk up medications’ benefits, according to the lawsuit.

The suit alleges that drugmakers used unbranded advertisements that were distributed by third parties to downplay the risks of the medicines. One advert said “people who take opioids as prescribed usually do not become addicted”, according to the suit — a statement which stands in stark contrast to the abuse warnings that are routinely included on the labels of opioids.
A spokesperson for Jannsen, the J&J division named in the lawsuit, said: “We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded.
“Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications,” the spokesperson added, pointing out that the drugs had been approved by US regulators and carried “warnings about the known risks”.

The other four companies named in the lawsuit did not respond to requests for comment.

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The Latest: Drugmaker rejects lawsuit over opiate sales

May 31, 2017 | Associated Press

A drugmaker accused by the Ohio attorney general of improper promotion of opiates says his lawsuit is legally and factually unfounded.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals says it acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients.
Attorney General Mike DeWine sued Janssen and four other drugmakers on Wednesday. He says they intentionnally misled patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoted benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
Another defendant, Purdue Pharma, says it shares DeWine’s concerns about the opiate crisis and is committed to working together on a solution. It won’t say if it’s challenging the lawsuit.
Teva Pharmaceuticals says it’s still reviewing the lawsuit and is unable to comment.
Messages were left with Endo Health Solutions and Allergan.

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Drugmakers accused of fueling devastating opiate crisis

May 31, 2017 | CBS News

Ohio's Attorney General sued five drugmakers on Wednesday for their alleged role in the state's opiate epidemic, accusing the companies of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said the companies created a deadly mess in Ohio that they now need to pay to clean up.
"This lawsuit is about justice, it's about fairness, it's about what is right," DeWine said in announcing the complaint filed in Ross County, a southern Ohio community slammed by fatal drug overdoses from painkillers and heroin.
A record 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015, a figure expected to jump sharply once 2016 figures are tallied.
The drugmakers sued by DeWine are Purdue Pharma; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and its subsidiary, Cephalon; Johnson and Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and Allergan.
DeWine wants an injunction stopping the companies from their alleged misconduct and damages for money the state spent on opiates sold and marketed in Ohio. The attorney general also wants customers repaid for unnecessary opiate prescriptions for chronic pain.
"These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids," DeWine said in a statement announcing the suit. "They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it."
Specifically, Ohio's suit alleges that the drugmakers violated state consumer protection law by distributing what DeWine's office says were "false and misleading" statements about the risks and benefits of opioids. The companies disseminated that information through medical journals, sales pitches and the use of "front groups" set up to promote opioid products. Among these groups were organizations such as the American Pain Society, American Chronic Pain Association and National Pain Foundation, the suit claims.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals says it acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients. Purdue Pharma, says it shares DeWine's concerns about the opiate crisis and is committed to working together on a solution. It won't say if it's challenging the lawsuit. Teva says it's still reviewing the lawsuit and is unable to comment.
DeWine, a Republican expected to run for governor next year, joins other states that have filed similar lawsuits. His move also comes as other candidates in the governor's race have made holding pharmaceutical companies' accountable for their role in the crisis a campaign issue.
Democratic candidate Nan Whaley, the Dayton mayor, is airing online video spots in which she criticizes sitting Republicans for doing too little to solve the heroin and opioid epidemic. Whaley says taking on drug companies for their role in the crisis will be her highest priority as governor.

Another gubernatorial contender, Democratic state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, said he had previously called for such an action.

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Opioid Epidemic and Overdose Deaths Blame on Pharma in Ohio Lawsuit

May 31, 2017 | Newsweek

By Jessica Wapner

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against at least five pharmaceutical companies considered central to the opioid epidemic currently sweeping across the U.S. The filing is not the first legal action against painkiller manufacturers, but its inclusion of five large drug manufacturers makes it one of the most sweeping.
The lawsuit alleges that these companies engaged in fraudulent marketing practices that "helped unleash a healthcare crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social and deadly consequences for the state of Ohio." The drugs in question include Oxycontin, Percocet, oxycodone and hydrodone. The pharmaceutical companies named as defendants include Johnson & Johnson, its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma, and Cephalon, Inc.
These companies, says the lawsuit, violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and distributed misleading information about the risks and benefits of the opioids they sell. DeWine is seeking public acknowledgment of culpability from the drug makers, an injunction against further dissemination of allegedly deceitful marketing materials, damages for money spent by the state of Ohio on both the opioids and their addictive fallout, and reimbursement to consumers who were led to believe the pills in question would relieve chronic pain.
The opioid epidemic has a frightening grip on Ohio. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 3,310 Ohioans died due to overdose in 2015, an increase of 21.5 percent from 2014, putting the state among the top five for overdose deaths in the country. Prescription opioids and also heroin and fentanyl were implicated in those deaths. The crisis there has been accompanied by wrenching reports of parents dying in cars with their children in the backseat and other disturbing events. Earlier this year, one Ohio county resorted to using a "mobile morgue" to store dead bodies due to an overflow at the actual morgue.
Public health experts support the attorney general's approach. "The point of legal action against manufacturers is not just to hold them accountable," says Caleb Alexander, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness, "but also to deter future marketing and promotion that overstates the safety of these products." Alexander says the lawsuit sends a powerful message to the pharmaceutical industry "that the marketing and promotion of opioids has to line up with the scientific evidence."
Pharmaceutical manufacturers named in the lawsuit have been quick to speak out against the action. "We firmly believe the allegations in the lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded," says Jessica Castles Smith, spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Castles Smith says the company "has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label." In a statement, Purdue Pharma said Oxycontin accounts for less than 2 percent of opioid analgesic prescriptions and that it is leading the development of abuse-deterrent technology.
Broader efforts also are underway. Earlier this year, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee launched an investigation of drug companies that manufacture opioids. "We have received a substantial number of documents and continue to work with the companies involved in order to ensure the committee receives all the information it requested," says Drew Pusateri, spokesman for Senator McCaskill.

Whether any of these actions will help stop the epidemic of course remains to be seen.

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Ohio sues painkiller manufacturers over opioid addiction

Jun 1, 2017 | The Hill

By Rachel Roubein

The Ohio attorney general is suing five manufacturers of prescription opioids, alleging the companies made false statements about the risks and benefits of their painkillers that fueled the state’s epidemic of opioid addiction.
The lawsuit comes as the nation grapples with an increase in overdose deaths from prescription drugs and heroin. Ohio has been one of the states hardest hit by the epidemic, with data from the state’s health department showing that opioids causing the most overdoses.
Five manufacturers were named in the lawsuit filed Wednesday: Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson and Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement.
“They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it.”
This isn’t the first time a state, county or city has sued an opioid drug manufacturer. Mississippi has also filed a lawsuit over companies’ opioid practices, and AP reportedthat Teva recently agreed to pay $1.6 million for substance abuse treatment to settle a lawsuit brought by two California counties.
A Janssen spokeswoman told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the lawsuit’s allegations were “legally and factually unfounded,” saying the company has “acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label.”
In a statement, Purdue Pharma told the newspaper the company is an “industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis."

Allergan declined to comment, while Endo declined to comment on pending litigation. The other company didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.

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Ohio blames drugmakers for fueling opioid crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | CNN Money

By Aaron Smith

The Ohio attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers, alleging that the companies intentionally misled patients regarding the risks and benefits of opioid use with fraudulent marketing.
The state of Ohio is suing five drug companies, accusing them of fueling the opioid crisis there by misleading doctors about the risks of addiction.
The lawsuit names Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and four other manufacturers of opioids: Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).
"These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids," Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement.
"They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it," he added.
Janssen dismissed the allegations as unfounded and stressed that its drugs are FDA-approved and carry FDA warnings about risks. A Purdue spokesman told CNNMoney that the company shares DeWine's concerns about the opioid crisis and is committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.
Teva (TEVA) did not immediately respond to messages from CNNMoney. Allergan (AGN) and Endo (ENDP) declined to comment.
The lawsuit said opioids accounted for $11 billion in drug company revenue in 2014 and described Ohio as the epicenter of the nation's opioid addiction crisis.
"Ohio is now awash in opioids and engulfed in a public health crisis," the lawsuit said. It was filed in Ross County, which DeWine called "likely the hardest hit area in the nation by the opioid epidemic."
According to the lawsuit, opioid prescriptions in Ohio grew from 793 million five years ago to 2.3 million last year. Just last year, overdose deaths in Ohio spiked 36% compared with the year before.

The lawsuit blames opioids for a "resurgence" in the use of heroin. Opioids are often blamed for heroin addiction because both have the same active component, and heroin can be cheaper and more readily available than prescription painkilllers.

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Local Coverage

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell Asking State AG To Consider Suing Pain Killers For Role In Opioid Crisis

Jun 2, 2017 | East Tennesse Times

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell is asking the state attorney general to consider suing painkiller manufacturers for their role in the ongoing opioid crisis.
Harwell's letter Thursday asks Attorney General Herbert Slatery to review a lawsuit filed by the state of Ohio.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sued five drug companies Wednesday, accusing them of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
The companies sued by DeWine are Purdue Pharma; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary, Cephalon; Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and Allergan.
Harwell pointed out that Tennessee is consistently one of the worst states for opioid and prescription drug abuse. The overdose death rate in 2015 was 22 per 100,000 people.

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Harwell asks AG to sue drug makers

Jun 2, 2017 | Nashville Post

By Cari Wade Gervin

House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) has asked state Attorney General Herb Slatery to join an lawsuit filed earlier this week by the Ohio attorney general over the mounting opioid crisis.
As the AP reports:
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sued five drug companies Wednesday, accusing them of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science.
The companies sued by DeWine are Purdue Pharma; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary, Cephalon; Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and Allergan.
Harwell pointed out that Tennessee is consistently one of the worst states for opioid and prescription drug abuse. The overdose death rate in 2015 was 22 per 100,000 people.
The Ohio lawsuit is unusual in that it is actually suing the manufacturers of the drugs; previous suits have mainly targeted drug distributors. The Columbus Dispatch notes that the suit could be amended at a later date to include distributors. As it stands, Mississippi is the only other state suing opioid manufacturers.

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Ohio’s lawsuit against drug companies: What’s really going on?

Jun 2, 2017 | Dayton Daily News

By Cari Wade Gervin

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the state filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five pharmaceutical companies that marketed addictive prescription pain medications in the state.
Here’s what you should know:
What’s the lawsuit about?
The suit alleges that the companies spent millions of dollars to deceptively market drugs to doctors and patients in Ohio, leading to a devastating opioid addiction crisis which appears to have not peaked.
It seeks an injunction, damages for the state and repayment for consumers. The state says it has shouldered an enormous burden treating addiction, including care for babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, as well as borne the financial toll heaped on law enforcement due to the epidemic.
What companies are being sued?
• Purdue Pharma
• Endo Health Solutions
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon
• Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals
• Allergan
What does the state say the companies did wrong?
• Violated the Ohio Product Liability Act by creating a condition harmful to the health of Ohioans.
• Created a public nuisance by contributing to a condition harmful to the health of Ohioans or interfered with the comfortable enjoyment of life in violation of Ohio law.
• Broke the Consumer Sales Practices Act by misleading consumers about the products they were taking.
• Engaged in Medicaid fraud by misleading the state to receive reimbursements.
What are the companies saying?
Janssen said the allegations in the lawsuit are legally and factually unfounded and the company has acted responsibly and in the best interest of patients.
Purdue Pharma said the company shares the Ohio attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and is committed to working together on solutions. Purdue Pharma said its OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid painkiller market and the company supports prescription monitoring programs and access to Naloxone, which reverses an overdose.
Teva, Endo and Allergan declined comment.
What brought on the conditions described in the lawsuit?
Many Ohioans became addicted to pain medications prescribed for legitimate reasons. Others sought the drugs for recreational use. The drugs were often easily attainable by “doctor shopping,” or through pain management clinics, the most aggressive so-called “pill-mills.”
By 2007, more Ohioans were dying of unintentional drug overdoses each year than in auto accidents.
The state began taking steps around 2011 to crack down on doctors who recklessly prescribed medications, including opioids.
Since, prescribing guidelines have been tightened and a computerized monitoring system put in place to track the type and amount of medications prescribed to Ohioans.
As prescription pills became less available, those already hooked — as well as those with new addictions — are served by the black market. But due to some of the controls, pills diverted to the street are expensive and many seek a cheaper alternative and turn to heroin, which has a similar effect on brain and body but comes at a higher risk.
Going back years, users could only guess at the potency of heroin they were taking, but the risk has risen enormously since 2014. Today, the product on the street is more likely to be partially or entirely fentanyl, the extremely powerful opioid greatly responsible for the current tide of overdose deaths.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, 21,003 people in the state have died from unintentional drug overdoses in the past 10 years. Many counties, including Montgomery and Miami, surpassed last year’s record number of overdose deaths just five months into 2017.
Have others taken on the drug manufacturers?
Connecticut, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, cities and counties have filed lawsuits over the past several years, arguing that the drug makers and distributors irresponsibly marketed the products and encouraged over prescribing. DeWine said Ohio and Mississippi are the only states that have filed direct lawsuits challenging marketing by drug manufacturers.

Tobacco companies faced a similar legal strategy decades ago when states won a $113 billion settlement by arguing the industry purposely hid the addictive and harmful effects of cigarettes.

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Ohio AG sues five drug makers of opioids, including Teva and Endo

Jun 1, 2017 | Philadelphia Inquirer

By Linda Loyd

The state of Ohio has sued five drug manufacturers of prescription opioid painkillers, accusing them of overstating the drugs’ benefits and playing down the addictive qualities.
The lawsuit accuses Endo International in Malvern; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in Petah Tikva, Israel and North Wales, Montgomery County; Purdue Pharma in Stamford, Conn.; Allergan PLC in Parsippany-Troy Hills, N.J.; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson company in Beerse, Belgium with helping fuel the opioid crisis by spending millions of dollars marketing and promoting such drugs as OxyContin, Vicodin, Fentanyl, and Percocet.
More than 50,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016, including prescription painkillers, opioids, and heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Teva said in an e-mailed statement that the company “is committed to the appropriate promotion and use of opioids” and has “programs in place that educate prescribers, pharmacists, and patients to the responsible and safe use of these products. We are committed to working with the health care community, regulators, and public officials to collaboratively find solutions.”
Endo declined to comment, saying “it is our company policy not to comment on current/ongoing litigation.”

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Opioid lawsuit likens big pharma to big tobacco

Jun 2, 2017 | WCPO Cincinatti

By Lisa Bernard Kuhn and Abby Anstead

Ohio's lawsuit against the top U.S. drug makers of prescription opioids is taking a page from the legal playbooks litigators used in the '90s to take on big tobacco and win.
On Wednesday, Ohio joined a growing list of states and communities that are taking aim at makers of prescription opioids, alleging that deceptive marketing practices have fueled the country's pain pill addiction epidemic.
The lawsuit says Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and created a "public nuisance."
The drug companies, he said, "put profits above the health and wellbeing of Ohio consumers" by "flooding the market with misleading information about the risks and benefits of prescription opioids, including OxyContin, Percocet and others."
The result has been a "human tragedy of epic proportions," DeWine said, noting that Ohio saw an 36 percent increase in unintentional overdose deaths from opioids last year.

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Adjudicate swiftly lawsuit against makers of opiates

Jun 2, 2017 | Vindy.com, Youngstown OH

The editorial cartoon published on this page Thursday aptly depicted the Grim Reaper feeling perfectly at home in Ohio. And why shouldn’t he? Ohio ignominiously ranks as the death capital of the nation in the ongoing opioid plague.
The latest major and promising initiative to help erase that claim to shame came Wednesday when Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a 103-page civil lawsuit against five drug companies the state claims have served as merchants of death in fueling the epidemic to exorbitantly high levels.
Coincidentally, the lawsuit was filed the same week when tentative data on Ohio overdose deaths for 2016 were reported by the Columbus Dispatch. According to that newspaper’s survey of all 88 county coroners, at least 4,149 Ohioans died of opioid-related deaths, a 36 percent increase from 2015. At least 227 of those deaths were recorded in the Mahoning Valley.
Many of them are among addicts who began their descent through perfectly legal opiate prescriptions for pain. In fact, DeWine, an expected 2018 GOP candidate for governor, notes in the lawsuit that 80 percent of heroin users report first using prescription opioids.
Indeed today, few respected medical authorities or institutions deny that common opiate pills prescribed to many of Ohio’s 1.16 million sufferers of chronic pain can serve as gateway drugs to more potent and deadly opiates such as heroin, fentanyl and carfentanyl, the latter of which is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine.
In this week’s lawsuit, the state names five pharmaceutical manufacturers as defendants and seeks unspecified monetary damages from each of them: Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson and Johnson and Allergan, formerly known as Actavis.
Boosting profits
The state charges those companies “falsely and misleadingly” downplayed the serious likelihood of addiction. It documents in great detail campaigns aimed at physicians and the public to boost their sales and profits.
Such marketing pitches stand in direct contrast to stark warnings issued by the surgeon general of the United States last summer. In a letter to the nation’s physicians, then Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy expressly connected this “urgent health crisis” to “heavy marketing of opioids to doctors ... many of whom were even taught – incorrectly – that opioids are not addictive when prescribed for pain.”
As a result of such “schemes,” the suit claims the drugmakers violated multiple state laws, including the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act, and committed Medicaid fraud. As relief, the suit seeks declarations that the companies’ actions were illegal, an end to continued “deceptions,” damages to the state for costs incurred in dealing with the epidemic and refunds to consumers who paid for unnecessary prescriptions.
Thus far, the targeted drugmakers have denied the charges or have declined to comment on the lawsuit.
From our perspective, the lawsuit stands as a fitting complement to other initiatives of the administration of Gov. John Kasich to tame the opiate monster in our midst. Early in his tenure, the governor ordered a major crackdown on illicit “pill mills” where opiates were illegally manufactured and distributed in mass quantities.
Then earlier this year, the state slapped rigid maximum dosage limits for opiates that physicians are allowed to prescribe.
Targeting legal drugmakers loomed as the next logical step. Before the suit was filed, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman urged such action: “We aggressively pursue those who traffic heroin and other illegal narcotics and must be similarly strong towards those who foster addiction in pursuit of profit,” the Democrat candidate for governor in 2018, wrote in a letter to the attorney general.
In a broad perspective, as DeWine points out, the civil action is simply about justice and fairness. “It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up,” he said.
It is our hope the lawsuit, which will be adjudicated in a jury trial in Ross County, will wend its way swiftly through the judicial system. With Ohio’s opiate death toll skyrocketing out of control, no time can be wasted toward closing one of the major conduits into addiction and, too often, into the grips of the Grim Reaper.

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Stamford-Based Drug Company Named In Ohio Opioid Lawsuit

Jun 1, 2017 | Hartford Courant

By Nicholas Rondinone

Ohio's attorney general has sued five drugmakers, including Stamford-based Purdue Pharma, accusing the companies of fraudulent marketing of prescription opioids that played a role in the state's deadly epidemic, his office announced.
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans – our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids – addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the Ross County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas, DeWine's office said. Along with naming Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, the lawsuit names Endo Health Solutions; Allegran; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon; and Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
"These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids" DeWine said in the statement. "They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth."
Much like Connecticut, Ohio has seen a growing number of residents die from opioid-related overdoses in recent years. The Associated Press reported that in 2015, the latest data available, a record 3,050 people died from drug overdoses in Ohio.
DeWine's office said they seek damages from what the state spent on opioids the companies sold and marketed in the state, and repayment to consumers who paid for unnecessary prescription opioids.
The lawsuit also seeks an injunction to stop the companies from "continued deception," DeWine's office said.
In a similar such lawsuit, Kentucky settled with Purdue Pharma for $24 million in 2015, the Associated Press reported.
In 2007, Purdue reached a $19.5 million settlement with 26 states, including Connecticut, stemming from complaints it encouraged over prescribing of the drug OxyContin, according an Associated Press report from the time.

Then Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that Connecticut received $719,500 as part of the settlement.

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Ohio sues five drugmakers it says downplayed painkiller effects, sparking state’s opioid abuse crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | New York Daily News

By Terence Cullen

Ohio is taking on the prescription drug industry — five companies in particular — in a lawsuit that accuses Big Pharma of fostering the opioid crisis plaguing the Buckeye State.
Mike DeWine, the state’s attorney general, filed a civil lawsuit against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon — accusing them of understating the negative impacts of pain killers, in turn causing people to become hooked and turn to harder drugs.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids," DeWine said in a statement. “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it."
The companies used “a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook” by recruiting sales experts, influences and doctors to preach the supposed benefits of drugs that include OxyCotin and Percocet, the lawsuit alleges.
All the while, the suit says, they “knew that its misrepresentations of the risks and benefits of opioids were not supported by or were directly contrary to the scientific evidence.”
Big Pharma’s success has created “a population of patients physically and psychologically dependent on them...And when those patients can no longer afford or legitimately obtain opioids, they often turn to the street to buy prescription opioids or even heroin,” according to the complaint.
Ohio is one of the top five states in terms of deadly overdoses over the last year, a trend that has continued for a decade. It has plagued both rural and urban areas of the state.
More than 4,000 Ohioans died of an unintentional drug overdose in 2016, according to a survey by the Columbus Dispatch last month, a 36% increase from a year earlier.
About 20% of the state’s population — 2.3 million patients — were prescribed an opiate last year, according to the attorney general’s lawsuit.
The complaint was filed in Ross County, where 17 overdose cases were recorded in two days earlier this year.
The Trump administration’s proposed budget would virtually destroy funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy — an agency fighting addiction — despite the President’s pledge to fight the opioid crisis.
Reducing the agency’s budget from last year’s $388 million to potentially $24 million has sparked bipartisan outrage — especially in Ohio.
The state’s U.S. Senators, Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown, have come out in unison against the proposed cuts, as the Daily News previously reported.
The President “will need to explain himself to the families whose loved ones have been taken by this epidemic and to the Ohio county morgues who’ve had to bring in extra refrigerated trucks to keep up with the overdose deaths in our state,” Brown said last month.
Ohio became the second state to file a lawsuit against major drug companies, following Mississippi.
Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyCotin, told NBC News that the drug made up under 2% of all prescription painkillers sold across the U.S.
"But we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis," Purdue said in a statement to NBC.
A Janssen spokeswoman told ABC News that the company “acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label."
Teva Pharmaceutical told ABC it was reviewing the allegations and wouldn’t comment until that was done.
Endo declined to comment to the network.
At an opioid addiction forum in Cleveland last month, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said while the crisis has been in the public eye for just a few years, addiction has quadrupled since 1999, according to local Fox affiliate WJW.
Meanwhile, “that's coincided with a near quadrupling of the quantity of opioids prescribed, so this has been building for a while,” Murthy said.

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Talk it Out: Should drug makers be held responsible for Ohio's overdose crisis?

Jun 1, 2017 | Cleveland.com

Ohio sued five drug companies this week, accusing them of overstating the benefits of using their prescription painkillers while understating the risks, and thus helping to create the state's addiction and overdose crisis.
"This lawsuit is about justice, it's about fairness," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said at a Wednesday news conference. "It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up."
But a spokeswoman for one of the companies said Janssen Pharmaceuticals has acted "appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label."
What's your opinion? Do you think the marketing practices of the makers of prescription painkillers have been misleading? Do the companies bear some responsibility for Ohio leading the nation in overdose deaths in 2014?
And if so, what about the companies that have used salt and sweeteners to make their snacks more difficult to resist? Should they be held responsibility for increases in obesity and related health problems?

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Ohio sues opioid makers for unleashing 'healthcare crisis'

Jun 1, 2017 | Washington Examiner

By Kimberly Leonard

Ohio's attorney general filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing drugmakers of marketing prescription painkillers to patients who didn't need them and committing fraud by downplaying their highly addictive effects.
"This lawsuit is about justice, it's about fairness, it's about what is right," Attorney General Mike DeWine said.
The lawsuit follows a similar filing in Mississippi as states seek to find ways to recoup the damage of the devastating opioid epidemic and struggle to keep up with high death tolls, overdose-reversal drugs and funding for addiction treatment.
Public health officials have long blamed addiction to prescription painkillers for leading to the use of heroin and more potent drugs like fentanyl. Opioid-related deaths reached 33,000 in 2015, according to the latest-available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Defendants broke the simple rules [of drug marketing] and helped unleash a healthcare crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social and deadly consequences in the state of Ohio," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed against Endo, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, Teva and Allergan, as well as Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. Prescriptions in 2012 were so high there would have been enough to provide every adult and child in the state with 68 pills a piece, the lawsuit said.
"Ohio is now awash in opioids and engulfed in a public health crisis the likes of which have never been seen before," the lawsuit said.
Kentucky settled a similar lawsuit against Perdue in 2015, in which the company agreed to pay the commonwealth $24 million.
Janssen spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith said in an emailed statement to Reuters the allegations are "legally and factually unfounded" and the company acted responsibly, noting the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and bottles carry warning labels.
Purdue told Reuters in an emailed statement it shared DeWine's concerns about the opioid crisis and was "committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."

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Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

May 31, 2017 | WFMJ Youngstown OH

By Matt Stone

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is placing blame on drug manufacturers for Ohio's opioid addiction problem.
Dewine announced Wednesday that he's taking five companies to court.

These include Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson and Johnson and Allergan.
The lawsuit alleges the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the benefits of prescription opioids, which fueled the opioid epidemic.
"These drug manufacturers led doctors to believe these were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could be treated by even taking more pills," said Dewine.
The lawsuit claims drug companies created a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids.
The lawsuit calls on drug companies to pay for damages for the money the state spent on opioids that the companies sold in Ohio and also repayment to consumers who paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
April Caraway, from the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, tells 21 News any pushback against these companies is a good thing.
While Caraway doubts consumers themselves will see any compensation, she says it's possible the state will.
Ohio is the second state to sue pharmaceutical companies over opioid addiction.
Mississippi was the first, with more states expected to follow.

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Ohio AG Mike DeWine sues drug companies over opiate crisis

May 31, 2017 | Dayton Daily News

By Laura Bischoff

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Wednesday announced that the state is filing suit against five pharmaceutical companies that marketed powerfully addictive prescription pain medication — which many believe triggered the deadly opiate addiction crisis that has killed 21,000 Ohioans since 2007.
“Today this lawsuit is about justice, it’s about fairness, it’s about what is right,” DeWine said at a press conference in Columbus. Those who played a “significant role” in creating the mess should help pay to clean it up, he said.
The suit is against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Allergan. DeWine alleges that the companies spent millions of dollars to deceptively market their drugs to doctors and patients in Ohio, leading to the addiction crisis that is “a human tragedy of epic proportion.”
The suit claims the companies violated Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, committed Medicaid fraud, created a public nuisance and violated the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act. It seeks an injunction, damages for the state and repayment for consumers.
Janssen said the allegations in the lawsuit are legally and factually unfounded and the company has acted responsibly and in the best interest of patients.
Purdue Pharma said: “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.” The company added that OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid painkiller market and Purdue supports prescription monitoring programs and access to Naloxone, which reverses an overdose.
Teva, Endo and Allergan declined comment.
The lawsuit is filed in Ross County Common Pleas Court because southern Ohio was first hit by the opiate crisis, he said.
Christina Arredondo, of Frankfort in Ross County, said her daughter, Felicia Detty, died of a heroin overdose in 2015 at age 24 when she was nearly six months pregnant.
A mother’s story
Tearfully, Arredondo recounted how her daughter’s addiction started with opiates prescribed for an injury around age 18. “And all of a sudden you have this craving and this desire that overrules everything in your entire world,” she said.
Arredondo said she hopes the lawsuit will stop drug makers from pushing prescription opiates. “They’re still creating the addiction every single day. This isn’t over. This nowhere near over. We have to fight this from the top.”
Ohio joins other states, cities and jurisdictions that have already filed suit against prescription drug makers and distributors, arguing they are at least partially responsible for the crisis so they should bear some of the associated medical costs. Connecticut, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, cities and counties have filed lawsuits over the past several years, arguing that the drug makers and distributors irresponsibly marketed the products and encouraged over prescribing.
Still, DeWine argued that Ohio and Mississippi are the only states that have filed direct lawsuits challenging marketing by drug manufacturers.
Democrats react
DeWine’s lawsuit comes on the heels of Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley releasing a campaign video calling for drug companies to be held responsible for the mess.
Whaley, a Democrat, and DeWine, a Republican, are both in the field of candidates running for governor in 2018.
Whaley said in a statement on Wednesday: “A lawsuit is the right thing to pursue, but as we witnessed with the tobacco class-actions, it can take years for justice to be done.
The drug companies have every reason to drag this out so they can continue to profit off the devastation they have caused with this heroin epidemic.”
Decades ago, states used a similar legal strategy in suing tobacco companies, arguing the cigarette industry purposely hid how harmful and addictive its products are. States won a $113 billion settlement.
Whaley noted that Dayton was one of the first cities to declare an emergency which allowed the city to institute a needle exchange and she worked to equip Dayton first responders with Naloxone, which can reverse an opiate overdose.
In 2014, Democrat David Pepper, who is now chairman of the state party, campaigned against DeWine for attorney general on a platform that included a plan to sue drug companies that run deceptive marketing campaigns that overstate the benefits and underplay the risks of opioids.
DeWine, who has been attorney general for more than six years, said it was only now that the state had enough evidence to take the matter to court.
More than 21,000 deaths in a decade
According to the Ohio Department of Health, 21,003 people have died from unintentional drug overdoses in the past 10 years, including 1,784 in Montgomery County, 1,074 in Butler County, 357 in Clark County, 332 in Warren County, 289 in Greene County, 173 in Miami County and 56 in Champaign County.
In the past several years, Ohio clamped down on over prescribing, shuttered pill mills, pushed out new guidelines for doctors and other prescribers, made Naloxone more widely available, took steps to prevent “doctor shopping” by drug addicts and offered more treatment programs largely by expanding Medicaid coverage to an additional 715,000 people.
Marc Sweeney, dean of the School of Pharmacy at Cedarville University, said suing pharmaceutical companies is not a silver bullet solution to a very complex problem. He asked why prescribers and regulatory agencies wouldn’t be held liable as well.
“I tend not to be a big fan of suing or bringing lawsuits as a major contributor to a solution, especially since from a legal standpoint the pharmaceutical companies have done absolutely nothing wrong,” Sweeney said.

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State of Ohio sues Big Pharma for downplaying risks of powerful painkillers (VIDEO)

Jun 1, 2017 | SF Gate

The State of Ohio is not happy with Big Pharma and other pharmaceutical companies. On Wednesday, they filed a lawsuit They believe manufacturers downplay the risks associated with powerful drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet. Attorney General Mike DeWine attended a conference in Columbus on Wednesday and shared his insights on the opioid epidemic: Mike DeWine DeWine argued that drug makers violated the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act and committed Medicaid fraud. Media: Wibbitz
View video clip here: http://www.sfgate.com/news/media/State-of-Ohio-sues-Big-Pharma-for-downplaying-892206.php

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Mike DeWine Suing Major Drug Companies Over Prescription Painkillers (VIDEO)

Jun 1, 2017 | Hometown Stations

By Todd Cummins

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that he has filed a lawsuit against five drug makers for their alleged role in perpetrating the state's opiate addiction epidemic. DeWine accused the companies of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting the benefits of the drugs, which DeWine says is not backed by science, and also for creating a deadly mess in Ohio that they now need to pay to clean up. DeWine outlined the suit saying the manufactures put profits above safety. Despite the addictive nature of the drugs, he says the companies have done little to warn the public about the dangers. DeWine called the opioid epidemic a human tragedy and says the deaths caused by the problem have not yet crested.
"Our lawsuit will compel these companies to clean up their mess through several remedies" DeWine stated. "Including one, a declaration of those companies actions were illegal; two an injunction to stop their continued deception and misrepresentation in order to stop and abate the harm that they have caused."
A record 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015, a figure expected to jump sharply once 2016 figures are tallied. Ohio joins other states that have filed similar lawsuits in the past against the drug companies.
View video clip here: http://www.hometownstations.com/story/35560658/mike-dewine-suing-major-drug-companies-over-prescription-painkillers

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Ohio attorney general sues makers of OxyContin, Percocet over drug epidemic

May 31, 2017 | Fox19 Cincinatti

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is calling on major drug companies to "tell the public the truth" about addictive pain medications.
On Wednesday, DeWine announced his office has filed a lawsuit against five makers of opiate drugs.
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans -- our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids -- addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin," DeWine said.
DeWine wants the companies to take responsibility for the opiate addiction crisis in Ohio. He claims the drugmakers led doctors and patients to believe opioids are not addictive.
Between 2011 and 2015, Ohioans were prescribed more than 3 million doses of opioid drugs.
“And guess what also happened?” DeWine said. “They got addicted to heroin.”
Research shows more than 80 percent of heroin users previously abused pharmaceutical opioids, according to DeWine.
“The death waves of this tsunami have not yet crested,” he said.
Nicole Schiesler with the Prevention First advocacy group agrees with Dwine that the companies allegedly used deceptive marketing tactics.
"Doctors were given advertisements or pamphlets that told them that these opioids were safe and not as addictive as they were told," she said.
The five manufacturers listed as defendants include:Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and TarginiqEndo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and ZydoneTeva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and FentoraJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and NucyntaAllergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids
Watch the press conference here: http://www.fox19.com/story/35556047/ohio-ag-files-lawsuit-against-major-opioid-manufacturers-the-death-waves-of-this-tsunami-have-not-yet-crested
The suit is filed in Ross County because southern Ohio is ground zero for opioid addiction, DeWine said.
"Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth," DeWine said.
He claims the fine print of opioid drugs clearly contradicts the manufacturer's marketing claims.
“The people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up,” he said.
Schiesler said many patients don't know that they are addicted to the narcotic until it is too late.
"Then the addiction becomes so strong that, 'I need it, I'm going to go into withdraw if I don't have it,'" she said.
In many cases, the patient looks for something stronger.
"So then what happened is people turned to heroin," Schiesler said.
She said three out of four heroin addicts began their abuse by taking prescription medication.
This lawsuit is not the first of its kind. Back in 2015, the state of Kentucky settled a lawsuit with Purdue Pharma for $24 million, after accusing the company of leading a "explosion in opiods."

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Ohio Attorney General suing companies that make pain medications (VIDEO)

May 31, 2017 | WKBN Youngston OH

Ohio’s Attorney General is taking aim at big drug companies that make pain medications with a lawsuit
Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that his office filed a lawsuit against five major drug companies that make drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet.
The five manufacturers — which are listed as defendants — include:Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and TarginiqEndo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and ZydoneTeva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and FentoraJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and NucyntaAllergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids
The lawsuit says the companies deceptively marketed those drugs, which has led to what DeWine is calling the state’s worst public health disaster. DeWine said the companies spent million of dollars to sell the drugs without highlighting how dangerously addicting they are.
“These drug companies knew that what they were saying was wrong, but they did it anyway and they continue to do so despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these drugs,” he said. “They are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and tell the public the truth.”
DeWine also accused them of Medicaid fraud and violating the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.
“Put profits above the health and wellbeing of Ohio consumers, and they did this by flooding the market with misleading information,” he said.
April Caraway, with the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, is one of the area’s leading experts on dealing with drug addicts. She thinks the lawsuit is a good thing.
“I think there should be some accountability because the misperception is, ‘If I follow the directions my doctor gave and just take my pain meds as prescribed, I won’t become addicted,’ and that’s not true,” Caraway said.
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D – Boardman), applauded DeWine’s action and said Ohio’s opioid epidemic shows the companies are “profiting from the pain and suffering of many Ohio families.”
“I hope that whatever financial settlement this lawsuit might bring will be put toward helping the victims of this epidemic. In the meantime, the General Assembly must do more to provide the resources our counties desperately need now for drug treatment and other services,” Schiavoni said.
Joining DeWine was Christiana Arredondo, of Ross County, whose 24-year-old daughter died of a drug overdose in 2015. The lawsuit was filed in the county south of Columbus, which has had a major problem with drug overdoses.
Arredondo said her daughter’s addiction to heroin started from pain medications.
“In these journals, you could see where she pleaded — even when she was in recovery — for God to take this away from her.”
A spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals called the allegations “legally and factually unfounded”:
We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label.
At Janssen, we put the needs and well-being of the patients, caregivers and families we serve first. More than 100 million American adults suffer from chronic pain, a significant public health problem that places a tremendous emotional and financial burden on patients and their families. Our opioid pain medications give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain.
Purdue Pharma issued a response to the lawsuit on Wednesday:
We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
A record 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015 — a figure expected to jump sharply once 2016’s numbers are tallied.
DeWine is joining other states that have filed similar lawsuits in the past. He’s seeking the following remedies:A declaration that the companies’ actions were illegalAn injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have causedDamages for the money that the state spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive actsRepayment to consumers who, like the state, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain

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State of Ohio suing five largest opiates manufacturers (VIDEO)

Jun 1, 2017 | Mandy Gambrell

The State of Ohio's attorney general announced Wednesday his office has filed a lawsuit against the five largest manufacturers of opiates.
Attorney General Mike DeWine conducted a news conference to announce the major litigation and said pharmaceutical companies use sales reps visiting doctors offices to market and down-play the risks of opioids.
Evidence shows these companies "put profits above health and well-being of Ohio consumers," DeWine said.
The five companies included in the lawsuit are:
• Purdue Pharma
• Endo Pharmaceuticals
• Janssen Pharmaceuticals
• Cephalon Inc.
• Allergan
He also said millions is spent on ads and medical journals to fund messages to ensure the marketing of these drugs is consistently delivered.
DeWine said the problem is how addicted Ohio's residents are getting to these drugs. Addiction is leading to use of heroin, which is an epidemic in the state, he said.
"Coroners in Ohio are struggling to keep up with the body count," DeWine said of the opioid crisis.
The lawsuit was filed in Ross County, Ohio, which is one of the more struggling areas in terms of the drug epidemic.
“We have enough to go on, enough to go to court," DeWine said. "I think it’s my moral obligation to do this."
He said the sales of opioids accounted for $11 billion in revenue in 2014 with projections growing to more than $17 billion by 2021.
In March, a U.S. Senate committee said it is conducting a probe into opiates manufacturers and whether they are responsible for over-prescriptions and thus overdose deaths.
Ohio saw more than 4,100 drug overdose deaths in 2016, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
DeWine also said the five companies should be held responsible for Medicaid fraud because infants born to addicted mothers cost $105 million in hospital expenses in 2014. He is suing for damages on behalf of the state and consumers.
View video clip here: http://www.abc2news.com/news/national/state-of-ohio-suing-five-largest-opiates-manufacturers

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Mother impacted by opioid crisis stands with DeWine (VIDEO)

May 31, 2017 | ABC 6

By Maria Durant

Christina Arredondo is just one of the thousands of mothers directly touched by the opioid crisis.
Her daughter Felicia became addicted to prescription pills and then heroin when she was only 18.
Two years ago, Christina's daughter lost her battle with the addiction. Christina not only had to bury her daughter, but Felicia was six months pregnant at the time.
"Saying goodbye to her, there is no words to explain what that's like." Arredondo said.
"I know I'm one of thousands and thousands of mothers. But I'm done with the stigma and the negativity."
Today she stood side-by-side with attorney general Mike DeWine as he announced his lawsuit against five drug manufacturing companies.
The AG believes these companies have helped fuel the opioid epidemic that led to the addictions including the addiction of Christina's daughter.
Arredondo says she knows the battle against the drug companies won't be easy.
"I get that it takes a lot of proof. I understand, but we're here now and I hope to change it and save the next generation," Arredondo said.
View video clip here: http://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/mother-impacted-by-opioid-crisis

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AG says Big Pharma lied

Jun 1, 2017 | Bryan Times (Ohio)

By Lynn Thompson

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine charged five leading prescription opioid manufacturers with false advertising that downplayed the risks of addiction in a Ross County Court of Common Pleas lawsuit Wednesday morning.
The lawsuit alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which led to Ohio’s opioid epidemic.
Remainder of article behind paywall accessible here: http://www.bryantimes.com/news/local/ag-says-big-pharma-lied/article_9034c294-3735-5902-a808-1bb3c66bfcaa.html

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Ohio AG says drug companies got thousands addicted to pain medication and “fueled” illegal drug crisis

May 31, 2017 | WDTN News 2 Dayton

By Dana Smith

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against five prescription drug companies – claiming their “fraudulent marketing” tactics have fueled the state’s opioid epidemic.
DeWine said the evidence will show that the drug companies got thousands of Ohioans addicted to opioid pain medications and they should be held accountable for the “undeniable harm” they’ve inflicted on Ohio families.
“This lawsuit is about justice. It’s about fairness. It’s about what is right,” DeWine told reporters gathered at his East Broad Street office in Columbus.
“It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio, should pay to clean it up.”
Five pharmaceutical manufacturers are listed as defendants – including the makers of OxyCotin and Percocet.
The lawsuit claims the drug companies disseminated “false and misleading statements” to prescribers – downplaying the risks of prescription opioids and inflating the benefits.
“And they did it on all fronts,” DeWine said.
“They did it in medical journals with ads, they did it with their reps, they did it by creating these groups out there – where they funded them – that were supposedly neutral, supposedly impartial.”
DeWine said: “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway” – resulting in many becoming addicted to prescription pain medications, which “all too often” has led to the use of cheaper alternatives like heroin and synthetic opioids.
He said the companies of deceptively marketed their drugs, fueling “the state’s worst public health crisis”.
“I have seen the devastation this epidemic is wrecking on our state,” DeWine said.
“It is a human tragedy of epic proportion, ripping families apart, tearing at the fabrics of our communities, and holding our state back. And tragically, the death waves of this tsunami have not yet crested.”
The lawsuit is seeking damages for the money the state and consumers have spent on the drugs and an injunction blocking the companies from “their continued deception and misrepresentation”.
The five manufacturers which are listed as defendants include:Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and TarginiqEndo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and ZydoneTeva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and FentoraJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and NucyntaAllergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids

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Mother of opiate addicts react to lawsuit targeting drug makers

May 31, 2017 | ABC6 Columbus

By Bryant Maddrick

A woman whose children became addicted to pain pills is reacting to a lawsuit filed by Ohio's attorney general, which goes after drug makers.
"I think the lawsuit is good as long as the funds are being used to help what caused this problem," explained Cheryl Beverly.
Beverly said her children became addicted to pain pills shortly after starting high school.
"Even though they graduated it still lost them going to college. Them having that strive you know from the age of 6th grade to 8th grade. 'I'm going to North Carolina. I'm doing this.' When they got in 9th and 10th grade, I heard no more of North Carolina. No more colleges."
Hearing countless stories like Beverly's, attorney general Mike DeWine announced a lawsuit against drug makers he says are responsible for the opioid crisis in Ohio.
In a press conference Wednesday, DeWine explains why he chose to file the lawsuit in Ross County.
"Southern Ohio was likely the first and hardest hit area in the nation by pain medication abuse epidemic, scaring communities already wounded by the loss of jobs," explained DeWine.
Beverly thinks the lawsuit is a step in the right direction. But not the only step.
"Don't just send somebody down here just to file a lawsuit, but come down here and see exactly what's going on."
Beverly thinks a good time for the attorney general to come to Chillicothe is Saturday, June 3rd.
A free community event titled "Spring Out of Heroin" will feature actor, skateboarder, and TV personality Brandon Novak.
The event will be at 78 Douglas Avenue in Chillicothe starting at 10:00 AM.

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Mayor supports lawsuit against drug companies fueling opioid crisis

May 31, 2017 | WDTN News Dayton

By Charlisa Gordon

Dayton mayor and democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley is a supporter of a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Attorney General’s office against pharmaceutical companies.
It claims “fraudulent marketing” by prescription drug companies fueled the state’s opioid epidemic.
Whaley said she agrees with suing the people who caused the crisis, but also said communities need relief sooner than later. Lawsuits similar to this, can drag out for years.
“I’m absolutely in favor of suing the drug companies and holding them accountable, but we need action fast and now. Every day someone is dying from this addiction,” Whaley said.
Five pharmaceutical manufacturers are listed as defendants – including the makers of OxyContin and Percocet. The lawsuit claims the drug companies disseminated “false and misleading statements” to prescribers – downplaying the risks of prescription opioids and inflating the benefits.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said pharmaceutical companies have caused “undeniable harm” to Ohio families. He accused them of deceptively marketing their drugs, creating – what he called – the state’s worst public health crisis.
The lawsuit is seeking damages for the money the state and consumers have spent on the drugs and an injunction.
“This is something we’ve been working on here in Dayton. We think it’s really Key that the drug companies are held accountable you know taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for the cost of something that the drug companies created and we need to be bold and aggressive in that work and will be talking about it more in the future,” Whaley said.

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Pharmaceutical companies respond to Ohio lawsuit

May 31, 2017 | NBC 23 News Toledo

By Jim Nelson

NBC 24 requested statements from each of the five pharmaceutical companies named in a lawsuit announced by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Wednesday; all five responded to e-mails, but only two commented specifically on the allegations.
Jessica Castles Smith, a spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. issued the following statement:
"We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label.
"At Janssen, we put the needs and well-being of the patients, caregivers and families we serve first. More than 100 million American adults suffer from chronic pain, a significant public health problem that places a tremendous emotional and financial burden on patients and their families. Our opioid pain medications give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain."
Purdue Pharma issued the following statement:
“We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone -- all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
Teva Pharmaceuticals issued the following statement:
"We are reviewing the complaint filed today by the Ohio Attorney General in the Ross County Court of Common Pleas. We have not completed review of the complaint and cannot yet provide comment."
Allergan said it would have no comment and Endo International said it is the company's police to not comment on ongoing litigation.

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Ohio Sues Drug Companies Over Role In Creating Opioid Epidemic

May 31, 2017 | KETR NPR Northeast Texas

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
The state of Ohio figures it's home to 200,000 opioid addicts. That's the equivalent of the population of Akron. Overdoses are so common, the morgues in some Ohio counties lack for space. Today Ohio's attorney general announced he's bringing a suit against five drug manufacturers, accusing them of misrepresenting the risks of prescription opioids and helping to fuel an addiction epidemic in his state.
The state attorney general, Mike DeWine, joins us now from Columbus. Welcome to the program once again.
MIKE DEWINE: Good to be back. Thank you very much.
SIEGEL: And first tell us, which companies have you named in the suit?
DEWINE: We have sued the following companies - Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon and then Allergan.
SIEGEL: And what's the role that you believe that the pharmaceutical industry and those companies in particular played in the situation you're dealing with in Ohio these days?
DEWINE: You know, we believe that the evidence will show that these pharmaceutical companies purposely misled doctors about the dangers connected with pain meds that they produced and that they did so for the purpose of increasing sales. And boy, did they increase sales.
SIEGEL: Your suit says that in 2012, the total number of opioid doses prescribed to Ohio patients was enough to supply every man, woman, child in the state with 68 pills apiece. Obviously doctors were overprescribing. Your suit treats them as victims. Why aren't the doctors defendants as well?
DEWINE: Well, we believe the evidence clearly shows that the pharmaceutical companies targeted not the pain specialist doctors but rather the local general practitioner doctor. And they told them that these pain meds were not very addictive. They also exaggerated the good that these meds could do. And they did it in a very systematic way.
SIEGEL: But Attorney General DeWine, much of what you describe in the lawsuit has happened over the past 10 years, let's say. And 10 years ago, Purdue Pharma, one of the companies you are suing - the maker of OxyContin - and three of its executives were fined over $600 million for doing just about exactly what your suit says it's doing. Couldn't we have expected doctors to have learned over 10 years that OxyContin and other opioids were in fact more addictive than the drug companies had originally advertised?
DEWINE: Look; I mean we're doing everything we can in Ohio to change that culture among doctors. But this was not something that the pharmaceutical companies just, you know, woke up some day and just started to do a little bit of it. I mean there's a concerted effort from extended number of years to really pound this into the heads of doctors.
And when you're told something time and time and time again and there's a lot of advertising that is being spent, yeah, it takes a while to turn that around. And what we're saying is these drug companies have not been responsible enough. They have not done what they should have done to turn it around and that to some extent, they continue to do it.
SIEGEL: Mississippi brought a suit similar to the one that you've brought. City of Chicago has a suit like this. Do you foresee states, cities, counties going after drug companies the way the states went after tobacco companies?
DEWINE: Well, it remains to be seen. You know, I would certainly hope that other states would take a hard look at this. We think the evidence is clearly there. And this has been a great cost not only to the taxpayers in the state of Ohio but many other states as well. And so I would hope that, you know, people in those states would take a look at that.
SIEGEL: You're a Republican. Your party controls not just Ohio but, here in Washington, Congress and the White House. Everyone was talking about the opioid crisis last year. Are you dissatisfied with the lack of federal action this year?
DEWINE: Congress passed I think a very, very strong bill. Senator Portman was one of the leaders of that. And you know, we like that bill. It's just now starting to take effect as money comes back to the states.
I think everybody in public office needs to be talking about this opioid crisis. For example, in Ohio, we think we're losing 10, 12 people every single day. You know, if we were losing that many people in a terrorist attack and then next day, the same thing, and the next day, the same thing, well, we would be all up in arms. And this would be a crisis. And so, you know, I think we need to look at this as a crisis. And every public official as well as every citizen needs to do everything that they can to try to turn this thing around.
SIEGEL: That's Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who's bringing a suit against five pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of helping to fuel the opioid crisis in his state. Thanks for talking with us.
DEWINE: Good to be with you. Thank you.
SIEGEL: We asked the drug companies named in Ohio's lawsuit for their response. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, said in a statement, we share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis, and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. The company Janssen said, we firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients. The companies Endo Health Services and Allergan declined to comment. And Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which owns Cephalon, did not respond. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Listen to clip here: http://ketr.org/post/ohio-sues-drug-companies-over-role-creating-opioid-epidemic

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DeWine suit blames drug manufacturers for fueling drug epidemic

May 31, 2017 | Ohio News-Messenger (USA Today Network)

By Jessie Balmert

Five prescription drug manufacturers tricked doctors into prescribing opioids, fueling a drug epidemic that has killed thousands of Ohioans, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed in southern Ohio's Ross County, accuses Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Allergan of misleading doctors into over-prescribing opioids by downplaying the dangers of their drugs. Ohio leads the nation in the number of opiate overdose deaths. In 2015, 3,050 people died of drug overdoses statewide.
"It is just and it is right that the people who had a significant role in creating this mess in Ohio should clean it up," DeWine said at a news conference Wednesday.
Among the fake claims: Individuals would not become addicted to opioids if they were used as directed. The claims were printed in medical journals, shared by sales representatives and shared by third-party groups, DeWine said.
In the lawsuit, DeWine wants the companies to admit that their marketing was illegal. He also seeks an injunction to stop future fake claims and money for customers that DeWine says were deceived.
"They knew all of it was wrong and they did it anyway," DeWine said.
Purdue Pharma contended that OxyContin accounted for less than 2 percent of the national opioid market. "We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions," according to a company-provided statement.
Janssen contended that the allegations were legally and factually unfounded. "Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith said in a statement.
Why file the lawsuit now? Prescription drugs have fueled Ohio's drug crisis for years. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Sen. Joe Schiavoni, both Democrats running for governor, have called on Ohio leaders to hold drug companies accountable.
Ohio and two dozen other states settled a lawsuit with Purdue Pharma in 2007 for $20 million over OxyContin. West Virginia settled with Cardinal Health for $20 million and AmerisourceBergen for $16 million after accusing them of violating state consumer protection laws. Mississippi recently sued manufacturers as well.
DeWine is expected to run for governor as a Republican. But DeWine insists it's a moral obligation rather than political prospects driving this decision.
"This is something I’ve looked at for some time," he said. "There’s no magic time. There’s no magic moment."
For Christina Arredondo, of Frankfort, the moment could not come soon enough. She buried her 24-year-old daughter, Felicia Detty, in 2015 because of a heroin overdose. Detty was five-and-a-half months pregnant with Arredondo's grandson at the time. She started using prescription pain pills when she was 18, after being prescribed Adderall.
Arredondo kissed her daughter in the casket before she was buried. Arredondo blames drug companies for how they marketed these drugs.
"We've got to stop looking at (addiction) like it's our fault. Because it's not our fault," she said. "I did nothing to cause this."

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Ohio sues Purdue Pharma, others for allegedly false marketing of opioids

May 31, 2017 | Stamford Advocate (Hearst Media)

By Paul Schott

Purdue Pharma and four other drugmakers were sued Wednesday by Ohio Attorney Gen. Mike DeWine for alleged fraudulent marketing of their prescription opioids that the complaint blames for fueling an opioid epidemic that has killed thousands of Ohioans in recent years.
The lawsuit accuses Purdue and the other defendants of violating state law by making false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids. Their marketing allegedly included medical journal advertising, sales-representative statements and the use of “front groups” to provide information that downplayed the risks and inflated the benefits of certain opioid formulations.
Purdue’s top-selling drug is the opioid painkiller OxyContin, which produces billions of dollars in annual revenues for the Stamford-based firm. Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and a subsidiary, Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary and Allergan are the other companies named in the lawsuit.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids," Ohio Attorney Gen. Mike DeWine said in a statement Wednesday. "They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth."
Purdue officials declined to comment on the lawsuit’s allegations, but they issued a general statement in response to the litigation.
“We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis, and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions,” Purdue said in the statement. “OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone -- all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
Escalating opioid addiction caused by the defendants’ marketing has led to a spike in heroin use in Ohio, according to the lawsuit. Almost 80 percent of those who used heroin in the past year previously abused prescription opioids, according to 2010 data cited in the complaint.
In 2015, heroin abuse accounted for 1,424 fatal drug overdoses in the state, equal to 47 percent of all overdose deaths in the state of Ohio, according to state data referenced in the lawsuit.
In 2014 and 2015, Ohio recorded the highest number of fatal heroin overdoses among the states — equal to one of every nine heroin-caused deaths nationwide — according to data from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation cited in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in Ross County in Southern Ohio, which was described in a news release from DeWine’s office as “likely the hardest hit area in the nation by the opioid epidemic.”
Remedies sought by the lawsuit include damages for money Ohio spent on opioids produced by the defendants, repayment to customers who paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain, a declaration that the companies’ action were illegal and an injunction to stop the defendants’ “continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have caused.”
Purdue has faced a spate of litigation in recent years related to allegations of OxyContin exacerbating the national opioid crisis. In March, Purdue filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the city of Everett, Wash., that alleges the company is responsible for an epidemic of opioid abuse that has ravaged the city in recent years.

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Attorney General Files Lawsuit Against Opioid Manufacturers

May 31, 2017 | Troy Daily News

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers and their related companies in Ross County Court of Common Pleas. The lawsuit alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.
“We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids. These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth.”
The five manufacturers which are listed as defendants include:
Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and Targiniq
Endo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and Zydone
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and Fentora
Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and Nucynta
Allergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids
The lawsuit alleges, among several counts, that the drug companies violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and created a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids. This false marketing included medical journal advertising, sales representative statements, and the use of front groups to deliver information which downplayed the risks and inflated the benefits of certain formulations of opioids. This behavior proliferated the prescription of opioids and fueled the opioid epidemic Ohio is currently facing.
In the lawsuit, Attorney General DeWine is seeking the following remedies, including:
A declaration that the companies’ actions were illegal
An injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have caused
Damages for the money that the State spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive acts
Repayment to consumers who, like the State, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
The lawsuit was filed in Ross County as Southern Ohio was likely the hardest hit area in the nation by the opioid epidemic.

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AG Mike DeWine To Sue Opioid Painkiller Makers

May 31, 2017 | WTAM

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five drug manufacturers over the opioid addiction epidemic in the state. The lawsuit was filed against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon Pharmaceuticals and Allergan Pharmaceuticals. DeWine says the drug companies put profit above the health and well being of the people of Ohio and misled health officials about the addiction risks.

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State of Ohio sues five drug manufacturers over opioid crisis

May 31, 2017 | Fox 8 Cleveland

By Jen Steer

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced on Wednesday the state filed a lawsuit against five major drug manufacturers.
DeWine said this is about accountability in the opioid crisis that has claimed the lives of thousands of Ohioans. The suit accuses five companies, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon, of downplaying the risks of using drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet.
"This is a human tragedy of epic proportion, ripping families apart," DeWine said.
Ohio is the second state to file a lawsuit of this nature. Mississippi was the first.
DeWine said these companies intentionally minimizing the risks of addition and misrepresenting the severity of opioid dependence. That resulted in people seeking cheaper and more accessible ways of dealing with chronic pain and addiction, DeWine said. He said these companies also committed Medicaid fraud.
"These drug manufacturers knew what they were doing was wrong, but they continued to do it anyway," DeWine said.
The state is seeking damages for the resources it spent investigating and handing the opioid problem, as well as compensation for individual families. The attorney general also said he wants these companies to stop this behavior.
"I think this is my moral obligation to do this," DeWine told reporters. He said he didn't want to look back 10 years from now and know he didn't decide to take on these major drug companies.
The lawsuit was filed in Ross County. DeWine said southern Ohio was the first part of state affected by the opioid crisis. During the news conference, the attorney general had a woman, who lost her daughter to a heroin overdose, share her experience.
In Cuyahoga County last month, at least 41 people lost their lives to heroin or fentanyl overdoses. Over Memorial Day weekend, another 13 died in suspected drug overdoses in the county, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office.
For a list of resources to help those who may be battling addiction, click here.

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Attorney General Mike DeWine Sues Five Pharmaceutical Companies for Role in Opiate Addiction Crisis

May 31, 2017 | Cleveland Scene

By Eric Sandy

Attorney General Mike DeWine targeted five pharmaceutical companies in a sweeping lawsuit filed today, alleging misrepresentation and misinformation on their part in the growing American opiate addiction crisis. The companies are Janssen Pharmaceutical, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon.

"They are the most prominent," DeWine said of the defendants. "They constitute a majority of the drugs."

He insisted that the companies played an active role in flooding the market with prescription painkillers, which led explicitly to addiction for untold numbers of Ohioans. A woman who lost her daughter to opiate addiction appeared with DeWine today, explaining to reporters how powerless she and millions of Americans feel against this public health crisis. "Your entire world gets destroyed over something that you have no ability to fight," she said.

DeWine underscored the tone of Ohio's victimhood: “This is a human tragedy of epic proportion, ripping families apart."

Ohio is at the helm of the country's opiate problem, with more than 4,000 residents fatally overdosing last year. Medical examiners across the state have predicted even greater numbers of deaths in 2017.

"Quite candidly, I think it's my moral obligation to do this," DeWine said. "I don't want to look back 10 years from now and say we should have had the guts to file, we should have had the guts to call a spade a spade. ... There's not a lot of precedent for this action."

The suit makes Ohio only the second state to file such a complaint. Mississippi filed a lawsuit in March. DeWine's lawsuit was filed in Ross County, which includes Chillicothe and which saw 44 overdose deaths in 2016.

"It's an accumulation of facts, an accumulation of evidence, an accumulation of information," he said of the impetus behind filing. The main idea is that this suit will unearth pharmaceutical companies' tactics and policies during discovery.

We'll keep track of this case as it progresses.

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DeWine: Drugmakers got Ohioans addicted, raked in profits (UPDATE)

May 31, 2017 | Columbus Dispatch

By Alan Johnson

Arguing that drug manufacturers triggered a “human tragedy of epic proportion” in Ohio, Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five companies that make addictive painkillers.
“We believe the evidence will show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” DeWine said in a statement. The suit was filed in Ross County Common Pleas Court in Chillicothe, the heart of one of the hardest-hit areas of Ohio’s skyrocketing drug epidemic.
From the beginnings of “pill mills” in Appalachian Ohio, “the fire spread out across Ohio,” DeWine said.
DeWine said pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million in 2014 alone through sales representatives “peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with their smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risks and highlighted the benefits.” The companies would “deny and trivialize” the impact of opioids on patients, “leading to our state’s worst public health crisis.”
“The companies knew what they were doing was wrong but did it anyway — and continue to do so,” the attorney general said. He is seeking a court injunction to stop the manufacturers. No distributors were sued by DeWine because he said the best legal case involved suing manufacturers.

He also accused the companies of Medicaid fraud and violating the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act., and is seeking unspecified damages on behalf of the state. For example, he said infants born to addicted mothers caused $105 million in hospital costs in 2014, while children and infants forced into foster care because of their parents’ addiction cost the state an estimated $45 million per year.
Because of deceptive practices, the companies “helped unleash a health-care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social and deadly consequences in the state of Ohio.”
The lawsuit said between 2011 and 2015, 3.8 billion doses of opioid medication were prescribed to Ohioans statewide.
Asked why he filed the lawsuit now after years of increasing overdose deaths, DeWine said the timing was right and the evidence is there to make a case.
“I think it’s my moral obligation. I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and say I didn’t have the guts to do this.”
Ohio joins Mississippi as the only states actively suing manufacturers, DeWine said. Other states have primarily gone after drug distributors.
The suit seeks unspecified financial damages for consumers. “It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess should now pay to clean it up,” DeWine said.
Christiana Arredondo of Frankfort in Ross County appeared with DeWine at his Rhodes Tower office to talk about the heroin overdose death of her daughter, Felicia Detty, in 2015 at the age of 24.
Detty first took medication for Attention Deficit Disorder in high school, but was using prescription pain pills by the time she was 18. A year later, she was shooting heroin.
Arredondo, her tears flowing, said her daughter was 5 1/2 months pregnant when she died.
She said she kissed her daughter on the lips in the casket because she told her, “No matter how old I get, I will always kiss you on the lips.”
“It’s not our fault,” Arredondo said. “We loved her unconditionally. Your entire world gets destroyed.”
DeWine’s action comes as the death toll from opioids — heroin, fentanyl and prescription pills — continues to mount in Ohio. Compiling information from Ohio’s 88 county coroners, The Dispatch reported this week that more than 4,100 people died from drug overdoses last year, a 36 percent increase over a 2015 total that led the nation. Deaths more than doubled in most of the large urban counties.
The five drug manufacturers named in the lawsuit: Purdue Pharma; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries of Israel and subsidiary Cephalon; Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and Allegran.
Janssen issued a statement: “We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label.”
Purdue Pharma said in a statement, “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
The other companies declined comment or did not respond. Since DeWine, an almost-certain GOP candidate for governor, did not go after drug distributors, Cardinal Health of Dublin was not named in the lawsuit, unlike some filed in other states.
Earlier this month, two Democratic candidates for governor, Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman, and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, separately called for action against drug companies.
“The drug companies made this mess, and it’s time they stopped passing the buck to Ohio’s taxpayers and started paying to clean it up,” said Whaley, a comment echoed by DeWine. “On my watch, if the drug companies want to keep doing business in Ohio, they need to pay for the police and first responders, the detox facilities and recovery services that threaten to bankrupt our cities and towns.”
Schiavoni sent a letter to DeWine urging action: “We aggressively pursue those who traffic heroin and other illegal narcotics and must be similarly strong towards those who foster addiction in pursuit of profit.”
Both Democrats issued statements Wednesday supporting DeWine’s lawsuit, but said since that likely won’t be resolved for years state officials need to act now to combat the worsening drug problem.

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Ohio Sues 5 Opioid Drug Producers

May 31, 2017 | Cleveland Patch

By Chris Mosby

The state of Ohio is suing five opioid drug producers for fraudulent marketing, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced at a press conference on Wednesday. DeWine argued these companies contributed to the massive opioid epidemic that has plagued Ohio for three years.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of placing profits above the lives of human beings. Inspired to drive sales, the companies allegedly included medical journal advertising, misleading sales representative statements and front groups that downplayed the risks of opioid use and exaggerated the benefits. Among the specific claims named in the lawsuit, DeWine said the companies told medical professionals that opioid addiction was easily managed, denied the risks of high opioid dosages and claimed opioids could improve quality of life for everyone. (Subscribe to the Patch Cleveland newsletter for more updates and local news.)
The five companies named in the lawsuit are:
Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla and Targiniq Endo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana and Zydone Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and Fentora Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and Nucynta Allergan, which sold Kadian, Norco and several generic opioids
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids. These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids" said DeWine.
A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen categorically denied any wrongdoing in the company's marketing campaign, saying the allegations in the suit are both "legally and factually unfounded."
"Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," the spokesperson told Patch.
A spokesperson for Purdue Pharma sent an emailed statement, arguing the company has made broad efforts to fight the opioid crisis.
“We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions," the spokesperson said. "OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
Teva declined to comment through a spokesperson, saying it needed to fully review the complaint. The other companies named in the suit did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.
DeWine said in an emailed statement that he is seeking the following from the companies:
A declaration that the companies’ actions were illegal An injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have caused Damages for the money that the state spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive acts Repayment to consumers who, like the state, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
"They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it," DeWine said. "Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth."
The lawsuit was filed in the Ross County Court of Common Pleas. A copy of the lawsuit is available for viewing here.

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Ohio sues 5 drug companies over opioid crisis

May 31, 2017 | Cleveland.com

By Jackie Borchardt

Ohio is suing five drug companies for flooding the state with prescription painkillers that gave rise to the state's opioid addiction and overdose crisis.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the lawsuit during a Wednesday news conference. Ohio is the second state to sue drug manufacturers, following Mississippi.
The lawsuit, filed in Ross County Common Pleas Court, seeks an injunction and damages from five major opioid manufacturers:Purdue Pharma.Endo Health Solutions.Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and subsidiary Cephalon.Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals.Allergan, formerly known as Actavis.
The lawsuit alleges the companies overstated benefits of prescription opioids and understated the risks. DeWine said the evidence will show the companies did so to boost profits and deceived physicians who prescribed the drugs.
"This lawsuit is about justice, it's about fairness. It's about what is right," DeWine said during a news conference. "It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up."
That includes hundreds of millions of dollars spent by Medicaid, the Bureau of Workers' Compensation and other state programs, as well state spending to mitigate the effects of the epidemic. For example, DeWine said, increased foster care placements for children of addicted Ohioans costs about $45 million a year.

Ohio led the nation in overdose deaths in 2014 and a reported 3,050 people died in 2015. Early 2016 numbersfrom some counties indicate the death toll climbed at least 30 percent in 2016.
The opiate epidemic claimed 666 lives in Cuyahoga County last year, and officials project that number to climb to 775 deaths in 2017.
State officials have taken steps to crack down on opiate prescribing by requiring doses be logged in the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System and shutting down "pill mill" operations that dispensed a large number of opioids. Between 2012 and 2016, the total number of opioid doses dispensed to Ohio patients declined by 20.4 percent -- from a peak of 793 million pills to 631 million pills, according to the State Board of Pharmacy.
But overdose deaths have continued to increase because of greater heroin and fentanyl use.
A Janssen spokeswoman said the lawsuit's allegations are "legally and factually unfounded."
"Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith said in an email.
In a statement, Purdue Pharma said it shared DeWine's concerns about the opioid crisis and is committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.
"OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone -- all important components for combating the opioid crisis," the company said.
DeWine said 80 percent of heroin users report first using prescription opioids. Officials in several cities, counties and Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma have sued drug companies for making and widely distributing the addictive drugs. Ohio's lawsuit does not target drug distributors, but DeWine did not rule out future legal action.

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Ohio sues 5 major drug manufacturers for contributing to opioid crisis

May 31, 2017 | Toledo Blade (Block News Alliance)

By Jim Provance

In a case reminiscent of the battle against tobacco, the state of Ohio on Wednesday sued five major drug manufacturers, blaming their marketing practices for fueling a painkiller addiction crisis that claims thousands of lives a year.
Attorney General Mike DeWine filed the suit against the makers of such drugs as OxyContin, Percocet, Dilaudid, and Percodan in Ross County Common Pleas Court.
“Pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million to sales reps peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with their smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risk and highlighted the benefits,” Mr. DeWine said.
The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages and an injunction to halt the practices of Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Phamaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, and a variety of their subsidiaries.
The lawsuit does not name individual doctors nor does it go after drug distributors. It contends the companies intentionally and irresponsibly marketed their brand-name and generic opiate products for treatment of chronic pain, rather than just short-term pain or end-of-life care.
It claims they’ve spent millions to downplay the risks of addiction and undermining the warnings of the U.S. Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control, and the Food and Drug Administration, while also ignoring their own small-print warnings on their packaging.
Although a number of other states have gone after manufacturers and distributors to some degree, Mr. DeWine is just the second state attorney general, following Mississippi’s, to file such a suit.
Like the successful suits more than a decade ago against tobacco companies, this one seeks an injunction against the manufacturers to halt their sales practices and seeks unspecified damages to reimburse the state for its costs in fighting the addiction epidemic.
It also urges payment to consumers who paid for drugs that are considered unnecessary for chronic pain.
Mr. DeWine picked Ross County for the suit because southern Ohio was seen as Ohio’s ground zero for an epidemic of painkiller and heroin addiction that has since spread across the state. As so-called “pill mills” were shut down, many addicts turned to heroin for a cheaper and easier-to-obtain fix.
“Small towns were rocked as men, women, and children succumbed to addiction,” he said. “From there the fires spread out across Ohio, touching every community and every county, no matter how rich or poor. It was a fire stoked by greed.”
The state has won some praise for its efforts to monitor the writing of prescriptions, prevent doctor shopping, and increase access to the anti-overdose drug naloxone. But the number of fatal overdoses continues to climb dramatically, surpassing 4,000 in 2016.
“We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded,” said Jessica Castles Smith, spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
“Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly, and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label...,” she said. “Our opioid pain medications give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain.”
In a statement, Purdue said, “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.
“OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone -- all important components for combating the opioid crisis,” it said.
Teva Pharmaceuticals spokesman Doris Saltkill said the company would not comment until it has a chance to review the lawsuit.
When asked why he filed the suit now, after more than six years in office, Mr. DeWine said the time was right.
“One, I felt we had enough to go on,” he said. “I thought we had enough to go to court. And quite candidly, I think it’s my moral obligation to this. I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and say we should have had the guts to file it, we should have had the guts to call a spade and spade, the guts to say what really happened, however unpleasant that is or that people don’t like it. “
He is expected to seek the Republican nomination for governor next year, and opiate addiction has emerged as a major issue in the race. Democratic candidates have blamed the current Republican-controlled government of not doing enough to fight the epidemic, or help those addicted, and go after the major pharmaceutical companies.
“Now we know that an average of 11 Ohioans died every single day from drug overdoses last year,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. “That was a 36 percent increase over the previous year…
“DeWine’s call for litigation today is acting on a suggestion that Ohio Democrats have offered on multiple occasions, going back years,” he said. “To solve this crisis, Ohio needs leaders who are ahead of the crisis, not years behind in their response.”
The path from prescriptions to addiction is a familiar theme for those in Toledo’s addiction treatment community.
Dr. Steven Dood, a Waterville physician and medical director at the Lucas County jail, said it was appropriate to include drug companies in attempts to recover from the damage of the state’s addiction crisis.
“This was inevitable that someone had to go to the ultimate source of the pills,” he said, though he added that the problem has a broader scope that includes changing attitudes in the medical community about how to treat pain and getting the drugs off the street so they can’t be abused.
Sharon Hawkins is president of AMAL Center of Hope in South Toledo, which offers a variety of services including intensive outpatient treatment and counseling.
“If I look at percentages of people who talk to us, an excess of 90 percent of them who are currently on heroin started out on pain medication,” she said. She worked on the administrative side of addiction treatment since the 1990s and moved to the clinical side after her granddaughter formed an addiction that began with pain pills prescribed after surgery.
“The script got filled and refilled several times,” she said. “She liked the way it made her feel, and she became addicted.”
In Ross County on Wednesday, Christina Arredondo stood next to Mr. DeWine as he announced the lawsuit. Her daughter, Felicia Detty, became addicted to prescribed opioids and died of an overdose in 2015. She was six months pregnant.
“They had the ability to just consume all of our communities to fill what, their pockets?” she said. “…They line their pockets while they’re doing this, and they keep pushing them and pushing them, because it hasn’t stopped. I think that this will help some of it, because they’re still creating the addiction every single day.”

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Ohio Sues 5 Drug Companies for Fueling the Opioid Epidemic

Jun 1, 2017 | Daily Intelligencer

By Eric Levitz

In the president’s telling, the great villains of the opioid epidemic are Mexican cartels and the politically correct politicians who’ve allowed them to run amok. In reality, the opioid crisis wasn’t launched by drug dealers smuggling narcotics across America’s border, but by pharmaceutical companies hawking them over the nation’s airwaves.
In the mid-1990s, Purdue Pharma patented OxyContin, and began aggressively marketing the opioid to doctors and patients. The company held all-expenses-paid conferences for specialists, in which they treated the assembled physicians to fine food and wine — and seminars on OxyContin’s capacity to relieve chronic pain with little risk of engendering abuse or addiction. Purdue conveyed that same message to patients in lay terms through media advertisements.
The Drug Enforcement Agency would later claim that this “aggressive, excessive and inappropriate” marketing had “very much exacerbated” the abuse of OxyContin. And in 2007, Purdue and three of its executives pleaded guilty to federal charges of misbranding drugs, and were forced to pay a $635 million fine.
But by then, Purdue’s signature pain reliever had already earned the company billions of dollars — and cost 29,600 Americans their lives.
Further, the company’s “inappropriate” advertising had already popularized the notion that opioids were a low-risk means of alleviating chronic pain, and spurred other pharmaceutical firms to bring their own addictive analgesics to market.
Fortunately, some self-avowed opponents of the epidemic are willing to follow the money. On Wednesday, Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine announced that his state is suing five drugmakers for fueling the opioid crisis by consciously misleading Ohioans about the the addictive potential of their prescription painkillers.
“The evidence is going to show they knew what they were saying was not true and they did it to increase sales,” DeWine told reporters at a news conference, alleging that the firms deliberately marketed their products to general practitioners who “may not have a particular specialty in that area.”
The lawsuit targets Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Allergan PLC, and Endo International PLC.
Mississippi, Chicago, and California’s Orange and Santa Clara counties have also sued opioid makers on allegations of malevolent marketing.
Following DeWine’s announcement, Purdue told The Wall Street Journal, “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.”
In truth, Purdue has been working diligently to export America’s opioid crisis to Europe and the developing world. All around the globe, the company’s international brand, Mundipharma, is striving to overcome “opiophobia” — its term for foreign doctors’ mistaken belief that prescription opioids carry a high risk of abuse. As the Los Angeles Times reported late last year:For generations, physicians have been taught that opioid painkillers are highly addictive and should be used sparingly and primarily in patients near death. Mundipharma executives and consultants call this “opiophobia” and top company officials have said publicly that success in new markets depends on defeating this mind-set.
Meanwhile, the company spent millions encouraging potential patients to recognize their chronic pain as an illness that requires lifelong opioid use.Seeking new patients in Spain, Mundipharma chose ambassadors guaranteed to attract attention: Naked celebrities. A string of topless actors, musicians and models looked into the camera and told fellow Spaniards to stop dismissing aches and pains as a normal part of life. “Don’t resign yourself,” Maria Reyes, a model and former Miss Spain, said in the 2014 television spot.
So, don’t expect a guilty conscience to tame Purdue’s addiction to profit. Nor, for that matter, can you trust federal regulators to push back against the pharmaceutical industry’s worst instincts: After lamenting the opioid epidemic on the campaign trail, President Trump appointed an FDA chief who has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from opioid makers — and who condemned the DEA’s crackdown on companies that supply “pill mills” in 2012 as a “war on pharmacies and pain patients.”

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Ohio suit will be 'tough to win' for opioid drugmakers, analyst says

Jun 2, 2017 | FiercePharma

By Eric Sagonowsky

While opioid drugmakers have been sued plenty of times before, this week’s lawsuit from Ohio may prove a genuine threat to the companies involved, according to one influential analyst.
Bernstein’s Ronny Gal said the new lawsuit Ohio filed against Teva, Allergan, Johnson & Johnson, Purdue and Endo is “well written and well researched,” adding that it could potentially be duplicated by other states if it advances.
Ohio sued the companies on Wednesday for unlawful marketing contributing to the state’s devastating opioid and addiction epidemic. Gal notes that the suit will be “tough to win” for drugmakers.
He said some of the facts made him "cringe" and that drugmakers may find it difficult to convince a jury or judge in their favor when they hear about babies born with addiction or that in 2012 "the total number of opioid doses prescribed to Ohio patients soared to 793 million—enough to supply every man, woman and child in the state with 68 pills each."
Among other arguments, the lawsuit claims the drugmakers broke pharma marketing laws and “helped unleash” a “catastrophic” opioid crisis in the state. To do so, Ohio alleges, the companies worked individually and together to convince “key opinion leaders” and professional societies of the benefits of opioids in treating chronic pain, borrowing a page from the “Big Tobacco playbook.”
In their defense, the opioid drugmakers will likely dispute some of the facts and make the case that it wasn't their specific drug that caused so much harm, according to Gal.
Further, they could argue that they acted “within the law, within industry norms and with best understanding of the science available at the time,” the analyst wrote. Importantly, he noted, Bernstein didn’t tap expert legal counsel for its analysis; rather, it’s a “layperson view on legal matters.”
Responding to FiercePharma on the Ohio suit, a spokesperson for J&J’s Janssen unit said the company believes the “allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded.” A Purdue spokesperson said the company shares “concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.”
Teva said it’s reviewing the complaint and can’t comment until that review is complete. Endo said it couldn’t comment on ongoing litigation; Allergan declined to comment.
As the nation grapples with a severe opioid crisis, the Ohio suit follows several others alleging unlawful pharma marketing from local and state governments, including the City of Chicago, counties in New York, plus Illinois and New Hampshire.

In Ohio, drug-related overdoses have been the leading cause of accidental deaths since 2007.

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Trade Coverage

Ohio Becomes Second State to Sue Opioid Manufacturers

Jun 2, 2017 | FDA News - Drug Industry Daily

Ohio’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan this week, alleging they contributed to the opioid epidemic through fraudulent advertising.
Remainder of article behind paywall, accessible here: http://www.fdanews.com/articles/182007-ohio-becomes-second-state-to-sue-opioid-manufacturers?v=preview

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DeWine: Drugmakers' Targeting Lead to Ohio's Opioid Problems

Jun 2, 2017 | Newsmax

By Sandy Fitzgerald

The nation's major drug companies "tried to change the culture of prescribing" opioids, leading to the spiraling epidemic of drug addiction and abuse, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said Friday while explaining his state's decision to target five drugmakers with legal action.
"This is not a decision, as you know, that we would have made lightly," DeWine, a former Republican senator, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "We think the evidence is going to clearly show that for an extended period of time, beginning in the late 1990s these major drug companies tried to change the culture of prescribing."
The lawsuit is similar to one filed by Ohio's neighboring state, West Virginia, which reached settlements with major drug distributors resulting in tens of millions of dollars being awarded to the state. Several other places, including Mississippi, Chicago, and individual counties in New York, California and West Virginia have also started lawsuits.
The defendants in Ohio's case are Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan.
Purdue, which makes the time-release opioid OxyContin released a statement to The New York Times, saying that it shares DeWine's concerns about the crisis and is "committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
On Friday, DeWine alleged the companies spent "millions and millions of dollars, talking primarily to primary care physicians" like most people would be seeing in their local communities.
"They told them the drugs were not very addictive," DeWine said of the drugmakers. "Historically these opioids, pain pills, are used for end of life, [like when] someone has cancer, to alleviate their pain. Or they are used, just one or two, after something has happened, an operation or an accident. They were never used really for this long period of time."
Drug companies looked at how the medications were being prescribed, he continued, and "set up this machine" to amp up the sales.
"The machine, unfortunately, is still going and has been going for about two decades now," said the attorney general.
DeWine continued that the evidence will show the companies "knew they were misleading" doctors about their drugs, even while putting information in the fine print that "hardly anyone ever reads" about the dangers.
"When you looked at the brochures put out to doctors it was a very different story," said DeWine. "It was very sophisticated how they did this."
A record 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015, and once figures are tallied for 2016, the numbers are expected to climb even higher, and DeWine said the problem started "with a huge spike in prescribing of pain meds."
"We saw it first really in southern Ohio, in many of our Appalachian counties," said DeWine. "oday it has spread throughout the entire state. What many times happens is people go from the pain meds to the heroin and to the fentanyl. We think 80 percent of people who are on heroin started with pain meds."
The problem is not only affecting users, but is hurting children and overwhelming jails, said DeWine.
"Our children's services are overwhelmed," said DeWine. "Half the kids in foster care today in Ohio is because one or both parents are addicts. We see it manifested in jails that are just overcrowded and become detox centers."

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These 101 Words May Have Pushed Opioids Into Dangerous Popularity

Jun 2, 2017 | Consumerist

By Mary Beth Quirk

As Americans around the country battle opioid addiction, and health officials and lawmakers try to find a way to stem the rising tide of painkiller overdose deaths, everyone is looking for answers as to how we got here. Now, a new report says five simple sentences made up of just 101 words on addiction to narcotic painkillers in a 1980 medical journal may have a lot to do with it.
In a one-paragraph letter to the editor in a 1980 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Jane Porter and Dr. Hershel Jick of the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program describe an analysis of 11,822 hospital patients who had taken a narcotic painkiller at least once.
Most of those patients tolerated it without incident, they wrote, and “there were only four cases of reasonably well documented addiction in patients who had no history of addiction,” adding that the addiction was considered major in only one instance.
The authors concluded that “despite widespread use of narcotic drugs in hospitals, the development of addiction is rare in medical patients with no history of addiction.”
But with more than 183,000 deaths from prescription opioids between 1999 through 2015, that letter turned out to be terribly wrong. And according to the authors of a new report in the NEJM, the current epidemic can be blamed partly on this letter.
“The crisis arose in part because physicians were told that the risk of addiction was low when opioids were prescribed for chronic pain, write researchers led by Pamela T.M. Leung of the University of Toronto.
They performed a bibliometric analysis of the letter from the time it was published through March 30, 2017, and found it had been cited 608 times, including “a sizable increase after the introduction of OxyContin” in 1995.
That’s a lot: Leung and her colleagues found 11 other letters to the editor published within four weeks of this one, and the median number of citations for those other letters was just 11.
But it’s not just that the letter was mentioned so often, it’s the way that many authors of these articles interpreted it, researchers say. To that end, the authors of 491 articles “did not note that the patients who were described in the letter were hospitalized at the time they received the prescription,” Leung notes. Outpatients who were already at home could have been addicted away from the watchful eyes of doctors.
Other authors “grossly misrepresented the conclusions of the letter,” researchers say, like a 1999 report in Nursing Economics in which a nurse practitioner at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Center wrote: “This pain population with no abuse history is literally at no risk for addiction.”
This letter was “heavily and uncritically cited as evidence that addiction was rare with long-term opioid therapy,” Leung writes, and as such, it has contributed to our current opioid crisis “by helping to shape a narrative that allayed prescribers’ concerns about the risk of addiction associated with long-term opioid therapy.”
Leung and her colleagues note that in 2007, the manufacturer of OxyContin and three senior executives pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges that they misled regulators, doctors, and patients about the risk of addiction associated with the drug.
And more recently, authorities in Ohio filed a lawsuit accusing Purdue Pharma; Endo (Percocet); Teva (Fentora); Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (Duragesic); and Allergan (Norco) of operating marketing campaigns that “falsely deny or trivialize the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain.”

Leung and her fellow researchers say their findings highlight the potential consequences of inaccurately citing medical articles, and “underscore the need for diligence when citing previously published studies.”

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Are Pharmaceutical Companies to Blame for the Opioid Epidemic?

Jun 2, 2017 | The Atlantic

Opioid abuse is rampant in states like Ohio, where paramedics are increasingly spending time responding to overdoses and where coroners’ offices are running out of room to store bodies. In 2012, there were 793 million doses of opioids prescribed in the state, enough to supply every man, woman, and child, with 68 pills each. Roughly 20 percent of the state’s population was prescribed an opioid in 2016. And Ohio leads the nation in overdose deaths.
Who is responsible for this? Some attorneys general and advocates are now asking in court whether the pharmaceutical companies who marketed the drugs and downplayed their addictive nature can be held legally responsible for—and made to pay for the consequences of—the crisis. This may not be such an outlandish idea; in fact, there’s a good precedent. In 1998, the tobacco industry, 46 states, and six other jurisdictions entered into the largest civil-litigation settlement agreement in U.S. history. State attorneys general had sued tobacco companies, arguing that the companies should take up the burden of paying for the costs of treating smoking-related diseases. In the settlement, which left the tobacco industry immune from future state and federal suits, the companies agreed to make annual payments to the states, in perpetuity, to fund public-health programs and anti-smoking campaigns.
Now, as a new public-health crisis ravages states, Ohio’s Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a handful of pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson. The lawsuit accuses the companies of spending millions on marketing campaigns that “trivialize the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain.” The companies, the lawsuit alleges, lobbied doctors to influence their opinions about the safety of opioids, “borrowing a page from Big Tobacco.”
The lawsuit follows similar recent lawsuits in Illinois, Mississippi, four counties in New York, and Santa Clara and Orange Counties in California. Last month, the Cherokee Nation filed a lawsuit against distributors and pharmacies in tribal court over the opioid epidemic. In January, the city of Everett, Washington, filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, alleging that the company knew the drug was being funneled into the black market but did nothing to stop it.
“What you’re getting now is a lot more legal minds across the country focusing on this, and figuring out how to pay these huge bills,” Sam Quinones, the author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, told me. “Everyone is groping for a legal theory that will work in court.”
There is some significant evidence that pharmaceutical companies may have engaged in some activities that led to the opioid crisis. A Los Angeles Timesinvestigation into Purdue Pharma, for instance, found that the drug maker, which marketed OxyContin as relieving pain for 12 hours, knew that the drug wore off before that time period. Since the drug didn’t last as long as promised, some patients suffered withdrawal, which led them to become addicted. (Purdue responded that OxyContin had been approved by the FDA as a 12-hour drug, and said it was working to “address our nation’s opioid epidemic.”)
But the situation differs in significant ways from the tobacco example, and proving the pharmaceutical companies are responsible will be difficult. Individual plaintiffs who have sued pharmaceutical companies over how opioids have been marketed have rarely been successful, according to Richard Ausness, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Courts have made clear that they believe that individual victims are largely responsible for their addiction. People who die of overdoses are often using the pills not as they were prescribed, but are obtaining the pills on the black market. They are disregarding doctors’ prescriptions and taking more than is safe. “It is difficult to persuade courts that FDA-approved prescription drugs are defective and that their warnings are inadequate,” Ausness told me.
With the tobacco-industry lawsuits, customers were using the product as instructed and got sick. With opioids it’s a different story: Customers are not using the pills as directed, and so it is harder to blame the pharmaceutical companies for the effects of that misuse, according to Lars Noah, a professor of law at the University of Florida. In addition, doctors, not consumers, were the ones targeted by the aggressive marketing campaigns undertaken by pharmaceutical companies, so it can be difficult to link consumer deaths with aggressive marketing.
State entities have been only a little more successful than individuals at suing pharmaceutical companies, according to Ausness. The most successful government lawsuits have taken a page from tobacco litigation, arguing that companies created financial costs for the state because of the widespread addiction. That tactic was what led to the 1998 settlement with the tobacco industry. The Ohio lawsuit, for instance, alleges that pharmaceutical companies created a “public nuisance” because they misrepresented their opioid drugs, downplaying their addictive nature. It seeks restitution for Ohio consumers and compensation for the state’s Department of Medicaid, which paid for “excessive” opioid prescriptions. States are more sympathetic defendants than individual patients because they cannot be blamed for misusing pills, but still suffer financial consequences.
Yet using the “public nuisance” tactic against pharmaceutical companies has a similar flaw to the lawsuits brought by individuals. Pharmaceutical companies may be able to argue that they are not to blame because individuals misused the drug, and eventually used more than any doctor prescribed. The mere prescribing of opioids is not usually the problem, after all. Pharmaceutical companies are often able, in court, to shift the blame to doctors who prescribed the pills, absolving themselves of responsibility. “The overall effectiveness of civil litigation in this area is highly questionable,” Ausness wrote, in a 2014 article about the role of litigation in fighting drug abuse. When the West Virginia attorney general sued Purdue Pharma in 2001 for creating a “public nuisance” because of its marketing and distribution of OxyContin, for example, the case settled for $10 million in 2004, a relatively small sum, which indicates that the state thought it was not likely to prevail in a trial, Ausness says.
It may be even more difficult to legally hold pharmaceutical companies accountable in 2017, according to Noah. Purdue, which was allegedly the most aggressive marketer of opioids, admitted wrongdoing and entered into a multi-million-dollar settlement with the federal government in 2007. (Three executives also pled guilty to criminal charges.) In the years since it has taken steps to reduce abuse, according to Noah of the University of Florida. Purdue changed its policies and made clearer warnings about how addictive the pills were, and also came out with a less-easily-abused version of Oxycontin, Noah said. That could make it difficult to allege that the company is still behaving in a way that creates a nuisance. “These strike me as an even longer shot than the handgun lawsuits,” he said, referring to lawsuits filed against gun manufacturers after mass shootings such as Sandy Hook.
The companies say they work hard to deter abuse. They emphasize that some Americans who suffer from chronic pain depend on opioids to manage that pain.
“We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions,” Purdue Pharma said in a statement provided to The Atlantic. “We are an industry leader in abuse-deterrent technology.”
Another company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, said in response to the lawsuit that the company has acted “appropriately, responsibly, and in the best interests of patients” regarding opioid pain medications.
There are a lot of different parties that can be blamed for the opioid epidemic, Noah argues. Doctors were too loose with their prescribing practices. The scientific community published and depended on letters and papers that downplayed the risk of addiction from opioids. (Many doctors depended on a five-sentence letter from 1980 that said that the majority of a sample of hospital patients who had been prescribed opioids did not get addicted.) Pharmacies and distributors allegedly failed to report suspicious orders for controlled substances from patients or doctors. (One distributor, McKesson, entered into a $150 million settlement with the Justice Department in January over this issue.) The FDA approved new, more powerful opioids but did not demand further restrictions on how they were distributed. The DEA did not impose quotas on how many opioids were manufactured. “There are any number of actors who could have tried harder,” Noah said.
What’s more, the settlements from the tobacco industry were not particularly effective in preventing smoking. Very little of the money allocated actually went to tobacco prevention—states often used the money for unrelated expenditures. There’s reason to believe that the windfall, if there is any, from the recent spate of opioid lawsuits may also not be helpful in stopping abuse. Such lawsuits take a long time to wind their way through the courts, and there may be no way to guarantee that states are using the money to address opioid addiction. Skeptics also say that the Ohio lawsuit is mostly political—DeWine is running for governor, and his Democratic opponents have made opioid abuse a central issue to their campaigns.
A better strategy than casting around for blame, then, may be to focus state efforts on how to curb the opioid epidemic before it gets any worse. They could adopt programs that monitor doctor’s prescriptions of opioids, or try to prevent doctor-shopping, or collect unused prescription drugs. In the end, looking for someone to blame for the epidemic might be less useful than figuring out how to stop it.

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U.S. States Filing More Lawsuits Over Opioids (VIDEO)

Jun 2, 2017 | All Media NY

More and more of states, counties and cities in the United States are filing lawsuits accusing drug companies of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers to downplay their addictiveness. Some lawyers think the industry's highly regulated nature could pose a hurdle to their success however. Ohio became the latest, and largest, state or local government to bring an opioid lawsuit. It issuing Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson's and others, seeking to recover money the state and its residents spent on unnecessary opioid prescriptions, as well as costs associated with addiction treatment.
View video clip here: http://www.allmediany.com/news/86927-us-states-filing-more-lawsuits-over-opioids

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Ohio AG sues drug companies over opiate abuse

Jun 2, 2017 | Galion Inquirer

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine this week filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers and their related companies in Ross County Court of Common Pleas.
The lawsuit alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.
“We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” DeWine said. “These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids. They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway. And they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth.”
The five manufacturers which are listed as defendants include:Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and TarginiqEndo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and ZydoneTeva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and FentoraJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and NucyntaAllergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids
The lawsuit alleges, among several counts, that the drug companies violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and created a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids. This false marketing included medical journal advertising, sales representative statements, and the use of front groups to deliver information which downplayed the risks and inflated the benefits of certain formulations of opioids. This behavior proliferated the prescription of opioids and fueled the opioid epidemic Ohio is currently facing.In the lawsuit, Attorney General DeWine is seeking the following remedies, including:A declaration that the companies’ actions were illegalAn injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have causedDamages for the money that the State spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive actsRepayment to consumers who, like the State, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
The lawsuit was filed in Ross County as Southern Ohio was likely the hardest hit area in the nation by the opioid epidemic.
The information in this article is from the Ohio Attorney General’s website.

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Ohio Sues Cephalon, Purdue, Endo Over Opioid Crisis

Jun 2, 2017 | Law360

By Dani Kass

Allergan, Endo, Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen, Purdue and Teva unit Cephalon furthered the opioid crisis by downplaying the addictive risks of their products, Ohio’s attorney general said Wednesday in filing a new suit against the drugmakers in state court.

Attorney General Mike DeWine said the companies violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and “created a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids.” Such advertising was in medical journals and through sales representatives and so-called front groups that gave information about the drugs, the suit says.

“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids," DeWine said in a statement. "They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth."

Allergan PLC sells Kadian, Norco and several generics, the latter of which are actually owned by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Teva unit Cephalon Inc. sells Actiq and Fentora. Purdue Pharma sells OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hysingla and Targiniq. Endo Health Solutions sells Percocet, Percodan, Opana and Zydone. Janssen sells Duragesic and Nucynta.

DeWine wants the court to declare that the advertising was illegal and is seeking an injunction to prevent such actions in the future, damages to the state for money it spent on the drugs, and repayment to customers who bought the drugs.

The complaint was filed in southern Ohio's Ross County, an area DeWine said was likely the most affected by the crisis nationwide.

New York’s Suffolk County, two California counties and Chicago have also sued these drugmakers over their alleged contribution to the addiction crisis.

“We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis, and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions,” Purdue said in a statement. “OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”

Janssen spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith said in a statement, “We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label.”

Representatives for Endo, Teva and Allergan didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Ohio is represented by Mark H. Troutman, Shawn Judge and Gregory Travalio of Isaac Wiles Burkholder & Teetor LLC, Steve W. Berman, Emilee Sisco and Jennifer Fountain Connolly of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Mike Moore and Jonathan Compretta of Mike Moore Law Firm LLC, Jay Ward of McGowan Hood & Felder LLC, and John L. Davidson of Davidson Bowie PLLC.

Counsel information for Purdue, Endo, J&J, Teva and Allergan was not immediately available.

The case is State of Ohio ex rel. Mike DeWine, Ohio Attorney General v. Purdue Pharma LP et al., case number unavailable, in the Common Pleas Court of Ross County, Ohio.

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Ohio sues five opioid drugmakers

Jun 2, 2017 | Consumer Affairs

By Mark Huffman

Ohio, like many states, has a raging opioid drug epidemic and is now trying to hold the companies making the drugs accountable.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has sued five opioid manufacturers, accusing the drug companies of engaging in fraudulent marketing of the drugs by minimizing the risks and inflating the benefits of prescription opioids.
The state of New York settled a similar lawsuit against two opioid drug manufacturers last year.

"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans -- our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids -- addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids," DeWine said.
DeWine said the drugmakers routinely misinformed doctors, leading them to believe the drugs are not addictive, or that if patients became dependent, it was easy to get them off the drugs.'Doing precious little to take responsibility'
"They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it," DeWine said. "Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth."

The suit names Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and Targiniq; Endo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and Zydone; Teva Pharmaceutical and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and Fentora; Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and Nucynta; and Allergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids.Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act
The complaint alleges the companies violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, which bars false and deceptive marketing. It points to what it says are medical journal advertising, sales representative statements, and the use of front groups to convince doctors that opioids offered their patients strong and effective relief from pain. It blames the alleged activity for what it says is Ohio's current opioid epidemic.
The suit asks the court to declare that the companies' actions regarding the marketing and distribution of opioid drugs were illegal and seeks unspecified damages, including restitution to consumers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) classifies opioid overdose deaths as the leading cause of injury death in the U.S. Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, HHS estimates 52 million people have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons at least once in their lifetimes.
Most medical authorities say doctors share part of the blame, routinely prescribing opioids for conditions that could be treated by less addictive means.

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State Sues Big Pharma For Opioid Carnage

Jun 2, 2017 | RTT News

Ohio has filed a lawsuit against five major drug manufacturers for their alleged role in the state's devastating opioid epidemic.
In the filing on Wednesday, state Attorney General Mike DeWine accused these companies of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers. The drug makers were also said to promote benefits of the drugs not backed by science. DeWine said the companies are accountable for their role in the crisis and need to pay to clean up the deadly mess they created in Ohio.
These drugmakers include Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and its subsidiary, Cephalon, Johnson and Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, as well as Allergan.
In a press release Wednesday, DeWine's office noted that the "lawsuit alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which fueled Ohio's opioid epidemic."
As per reports, 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015.
In the filing, DeWine said these five companies helped unleash a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the State of Ohio.
Ohio's lawsuit, following Mississippi's similar filing earlier this year, alleges that these pharma companies engaged in a sustained marketing campaign to downplay the addiction risks of the prescription opioid drugs they sell. They also exaggerated the benefits of their use for health problems such as chronic pain.
Meanwhile, Janssen, one of the defendants, reportedly called the lawsuit legally and factually unfounded.
"Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," it said.

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Ohio AG Sues Pain Pill Makers, Says They Fueled Opioid Epidemic

Jun 2, 2017 | National Pain Report

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against the major prescription opioid manufacturers alleging that the companies engaged in fraudulent marketing around the risks and benefits of the drugs, “which fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.”
The companies listed in the lawsuit include:Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and TarginiqEndo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and ZydoneTeva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and FentoraJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and NucyntaAllergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids
“We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” said OH AG DeWine.
He went on to say, “These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids. They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth.”
“Janssen spokesman Jessica Castles Smith said in an emailed statement: “The allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded.”
She said Janssen has acted responsibly regarding its opioid pain medications, which are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and carry FDA-mandated warnings on their labels about the drugs’ known risks.
Allergan and Teva declined to comment. Endo could not immediately be reached.”
Purdue Pharma told ABC News, “OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
In the lawsuit, AG DeWine is seeking the following:“A declaration that the companies’ actions were illegalAn injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have causedDamages for the money that the State spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive actsRepayment to consumers who, like the State, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.”
The federal government, including the CDC, FDA and DEA, have been coming down hard on opioids, and like with any crisis, they want to point the fingers while kicking the vast, vast, vast majority of people who use these medications for pain to the curb.
Now in Ohio, like West Virginia and California, the state is looking to cash in while not differentiating illegally obtained prescription pain medicines, heroin, and black market fentanyl from the legal opioid prescriptions that treat pain.
Drug companies are a convenient target, as they are faceless and have enormously deep pockets. They are more convenient of a target then the physicians who prescribe these medicines, who in nearly all circumstances prescribe opioids responsibly.
Government is a powerful beast, and these forces are scaring many physicians into treating patients how the government says they should be treated versus how the individual needs treatment.

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Ohio First State to Sue Opioid Manufacturers

Jun 1, 2017 | Medscape

By Alicia Ault

The state of Ohio, an epicenter of the opioid epidemic, is suing five opioid manufacturers, alleging the companies engaged in fraudulent marketing that misled the state, prescribers, and users about the medications' risks and benefits.
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans ― our friends, our family members, our coworkers, our kids ― addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids," said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in a statement.
"These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids," said DeWine. "They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway ― and they continue to do it."
The suit, filed in Ross County, Ohio, was brought against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan.
Ohio is an epicenter of the opioid epidemic. The state experienced an 18% increase in drug overdose deaths in 2014 (2744 deaths) and a 21% increase in 2015 (3,310), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two thirds of overdose deaths in the United States are due to opioids, both prescription and illegal, says the CDC.
The state is seeking an injunction to stop the companies from what it calls continued "deceptions and misrepresentations" of the risks and benefits of opioids. It also wants manufacturers to repay the state and consumers for purchases of unnecessary prescriptions.
Ohio is the first state to sue opioid manufacturers. A number of municipal and county governments ― including Chicago, several counties in New York, and the city of Everett, Washington — currently have suits pending. They, too, have alleged that the companies engaged in deceptive and fraudulent marketing.

Senator Claire McCaskill, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also has been investigating the opioid manufacturers.

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Ohio Blames, Sues Drugmakers for Opioid Crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | Tribune News Service

By Jim Provance

In a case reminiscent of the battle against tobacco, the state of Ohio on Wednesday sued five major drug manufacturers, blaming their marketing practices for fueling a painkiller addiction crisis that claims thousands of lives a year.
Attorney General Mike DeWine filed the suit against the makers of such drugs as OxyContin, Percocet, Dilaudid, and Percodan in Ross County Common Pleas Court.
"Pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million to sales reps peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with their smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risk and highlighted the benefits," Mr. DeWine said.
The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages and an injunction to halt the practices of Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Phamaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, and a variety of their subsidiaries.
The lawsuit does not name individual doctors, nor does it go after drug distributors. It contends the companies intentionally and irresponsibly marketed their brand-name and generic opiate products for treatment of chronic pain, rather than just short-term pain or end-of-life care.
It claims they've spent millions to downplay the risks of addiction and undermining the warnings of the U.S. Surgeon General; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration, while also ignoring their own small-print warnings on their packaging.
Although a number of other states have gone after manufacturers and distributors to some degree, Mr. DeWine is just the second state attorney general, following Mississippi's, to file such a suit.
Like the successful suits more than a decade ago against tobacco companies, this one seeks an injunction against the manufacturers to halt their sales practices and seeks unspecified damages to reimburse the state for its costs in fighting the addiction epidemic.
It also urges payment to consumers who paid for drugs that are considered unnecessary for chronic pain.
Mr. DeWine picked Ross County for the suit because southern Ohio was seen as Ohio's ground zero for an epidemic of painkiller and heroin addiction that has since spread across the state. As so-called "pill mills" were shut down, many addicts turned to heroin for a cheaper and easier-to-obtain fix.
"Small towns were rocked as men, women, and children succumbed to addiction," he said. "From there the fires spread out across Ohio, touching every community and every county, no matter how rich or poor. It was a fire stoked by greed."
"We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded," said Jessica Castles Smith, spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.
"Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly, and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label," she said. "Our opioid pain medications give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain."
In a statement, Purdue said, "We share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis, and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.
"OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone -- all important components for combating the opioid crisis," it said.
When asked why he filed the suit now, after more than six years in office, Mr. DeWine said the time was right.
"One, I felt we had enough to go on," he said. "I thought we had enough to go to court. And quite candidly, I think it's my moral obligation to this. I don't want to look back 10 years from now and say we should have had the guts to file it, we should have had the guts to call a spade and spade, the guts to say what really happened, however unpleasant that is or that people don't like it."
He is expected to seek the Republican nomination for governor next year, and opiate addiction has emerged as a major issue in the race. Democratic candidates have blamed the current Republican-controlled government of not doing enough to fight the epidemic, or help those addicted, and go after the major pharmaceutical companies.
"Now we know that an average of 11 Ohioans died every single day from drug overdoses last year," Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said. "That was a 36 percent increase over the previous year.
"DeWine's call for litigation today is acting on a suggestion that Ohio Democrats have offered on multiple occasions, going back years," he said.
The path from prescriptions to addiction is a familiar theme for those in Toledo's addiction treatment community.
Dr. Steven Dood, a Waterville physician and medical director at the Lucas County jail, said it was appropriate to include drug companies in attempts to recover from the damage of the state's addiction crisis.
"This was inevitable that someone had to go to the ultimate source of the pills," he said.
Sharon Hawkins is president of AMAL Center of Hope in South Toledo, which offers a variety of services including intensive outpatient treatment and counseling.
"If I look at percentages of people who talk to us, an excess of 90 percent of them who are currently on heroin started out on pain medication," she said. She worked on the administrative side of addiction treatment since the 1990s and moved to the clinical side after her granddaughter formed an addiction that began with pain pills prescribed after surgery.
"The script got filled and refilled several times," she said. "She liked the way it made her feel, and she became addicted."
In Ross County on Wednesday, Christina Arredondo stood next to Mr. DeWine as he announced the lawsuit. Her daughter, Felicia Detty, became addicted to prescribed opioids and died of an overdose in 2015. She was six months pregnant.
"They had the ability to just consume all of our communities to fill what, their pockets?" she said. "I think that this will help some of it, because they're still creating the addiction every single day."

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Ohio Sues 5 Rx Opioid Makers For Deceptive Marketing Schemes

Jun 1, 2017 | Media Post

By Thom Forbes

The State of Ohio is suing five prescription drug manufacturers for false and deceptive marketing of their branded opioids charging, among other things, that they have falsely trivialized or failed to disclose known risks, overstated their products’ benefits, and targeted susceptible prescribers and vulnerable patients.
“The lawsuit claims that five drugmakers — Purdue, which makes OxyContin, Endo, Johnson & Johnson [and its Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary], Teva and Allergan — committed fraud and other offenses by knowingly downplaying the dangers of opioids, and by marketing the pills to patients who did not need them,” David Crow reports for Financial Times.
The drugs the companies are accused of selling also include MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, Targiniq, Percocet, Percodan, Opana, Zydone, Actiq, Fentora, Duragesic, Nucynta, Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids, according to a press release.
“‘Defendants broke the simple rules [of drug marketing] and helped unleash a healthcare crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the state of Ohio,’ said the lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday by state attorney general Mike DeWine,” FT’s Crow continues.
The companies “named in the lawsuit have been quick to speak out against the action,” reports Jessica Wapner for Newsweek.
“We firmly believe the allegations in the lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded,” says Janssen spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith. The company “has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients…,” she continues.
“Purdue Pharma said that Oxycontin accounts for less than 2% of opioid analgesic prescriptions and that it is leading the development of abuse-deterrent technology,” Wapner writes.
But DeWine charged that “pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million in 2014 alone through sales representatives ‘peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with their smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risks and highlighted the benefits,’” reports Alan Johnson for the Columbus Dispatch.
“The companies knew what they were doing was wrong but did it anyway — and continue to do so,” DeWine, a Republican who will run for governor next year, said.
Ohio is not alone in pointing a finger at Big Pharma for abetting opioid misuse.
“Ohio joins other governments, including the city of Chicago, counties in New York, plus Illinois and New Hampshire, that have gone after opioid makers as the United States faces a damaging addiction epidemic. Last year, the CDC rolled out new opioid guidelines calling for a drastic reduction in scripts,” Eric Sagonowsky reports for FiercePharma.
The Ohio suit “comes shortly after Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) kicked off a probe of the opioid industry’s marketing practices, targeting Johnson & Johnson, Mylan, Depomed, Insys and Purdue. She’s seeking opioid abuse estimates by the companies, plus info about marketing strategies, sales quotas and contributions to patient groups,” Sagonowsky continues.
“Complaints like these are being closely watched by state and local governments around the country that are trying to decide how to proceed — decisions that are complicated by differences in state laws,” reports Richard Pérez-Peña for the New York Times.
“We are in ongoing discussions with attorneys general about what can only be described as a national epidemic,” said Michael P. Canty, a lawyer in New York whose firm, Labaton Sucharow, is advising states on possible opioid litigation.”
In the end, opioid misuse is a story about either recovery or, too often, suffering or death.
“For Christina Arredondo of Frankfort, the moment could not come soon enough. She buried her 24-year-old daughter, Felicia Detty, in 2015 because of a heroin overdose,” the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Jessie Balmert writes in a story also published in USA Today. “Detty was five-and-a-half months pregnant with Arredondo's grandson at the time. She started using prescription pain pills when she was 18, after being prescribed Adderall. Arredondo blames drug companies for how they marketed these drugs.”
“We've got to stop looking at (addiction) like it’s our fault. Because it's not our fault,” she said during the press conference announcing the action. “I did nothing to cause this.”
The suit was filed in Ross County, “a southern Ohio community slammed by fatal drug overdoses,” writes the AP’s Julie Carr Smyth. “A record 3,050 Ohioans died from drug overdoses in 2015, a figure expected to jump sharply once 2016 figures are tallied."
“It is a human tragedy that is ripping families apart,” attorney general DeWine said. “The people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up.”

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Ohio Sues Opioid Makers As Drug Wars Rage In Mexico

Jun 1, 2017 | Latin Post

The state of Ohio is suing five major American pharmaceutical firms for their role in creating the conditions that led to the opioid epidemic currently ravaging their state and large swaths of North America.
The suit filed Wednesday by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine alleges that Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Allegran, Johnson & Johnson and subisidiary Janssen, and Teva Pharmaceuticals and subsidiary Cephalon all engaged in disingenuous marketing campaigns about the effectiveness of prescription pain killers to treat chronic conditions and knowingly downplayed their addiction risks to doctors and patients.
"Defendants persuaded doctors and patients that what they had long known, that opioids are addictive drugs, unsafe in most circumstances for long-term use," DeWine said in an interview with NPR. "That the compassionate treatment of pain required opioids."
Often when people who are now addicted to pain meds run out in towns and neighborhoods without many healthcare options and limited employment opportunities, they often turn to prescription opioids' dirtier and stronger cousin: heroin. Drug cartels in Mexico are happy to meet rising demands for heroin from across the border and that has made the Drug War in Mexico the second deadliest conflict on Earth in 2016.

The production of opium plants or poppies has exploded in the past decade, along with various competing and intercooperating drug cartels throughout Mexico intimidating journalists and buying the inaction of local governments. After dealing with years of extortion and violence, local citizens have banded together in militias to try and defend their towns and villages from cartel forces that have claimed the lives of over 23,000 last year alone.

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Ohio suing Purdue Pharma, four others over opioid marketing

Jun 1, 2017 | Westfair Online

By Kevin Zimmerman

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is suing five makers of opioid painkillers – including the already legally embattled Purdue Pharma, based in Stamford – for their role in that state’s opioid epidemic.
The suit, which DeWine said is the second by a U.S. state after Mississippi, alleges that the drugmakers violated multiple state laws, including the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act, and committed Medicaid fraud.
The other companies being sued are Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen Pharmaceutical unit, Teva Pharmaceuticals and its Cephalon unit, Endo Health Solutions and Allergan.
DeWine maintained in a press conference that pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million in 2014 to help convince doctors that their opioid products’ sales tactics downplayed the risks of such medicines. Last year, he said, 2.3 million people in Ohio, or about a fifth of the state’s population, were prescribed opioids.
Purdue Pharma issued a statement that said: “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis, and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone – all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
The city of Everett, Washington sued Purdue Pharma earlier this year, accusing the drugmaker of gross negligence and seeking payment for the costs of handling opioid addiction.
Meanwhile, Gov. Dannel Malloy applauded the bipartisan, unanimous vote in the Connecticut House of Representatives on May 31 to approve legislation he introducedearlier this year designed to further Connecticut’s efforts to combat the opioid crisis. The legislation now moves to the State Senate for consideration.
The provisions of House Bill 7052,“An Act Preventing Prescription Opioid Diversion and Abuse,” include:
Increasing data sharing between state agencies regarding opioid abuse and opioid overdose deaths;
Facilitating the destruction of unused prescription medication by utilizing registered nurses employed for home health care agencies;
Increasing security of controlled substances prescriptions by requiring scheduled drugs be electronically prescribed;
Allowing patients to file a voluntary non-opioid form in their medical records indicating that they do not want to be prescribed or administered opioid drugs;
Expanding requirements about information regarding provider communications about of the risk and signs of addiction, and the dangers of drug interactions to cover all opioid prescriptions – current law is just for minors;
Reducing the maximum opioid drug prescription for minors from seven days to five days;
Requiring the Department of Public Health to put information online about how prescribers can obtain certification for suboxone and other medicines to treat opioid use disorder;
Requiring individual and group health insurers to cover medically necessary detox treatment, as defined by American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria; and
Requiring alcohol and drug treatment facilities use ASAM criteria for admission guidelines.

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Ohio joins growing list of governments suing drug makers over opioid crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | Hot Air

By Andrew Malcolm

The state of Ohio has sued five major drug makers charging they oversold the benefits and undersold the risks of their opioid painkillers that have become a major epidemic in many states across the country.
The suit was filed by Ohio’s Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine, a former Ohio state senator, a former House member from Ohio, a former lieutenant governor in Ohio and a former U.S. senator from Ohio.
It might be a coincidence that last week DeWine announced his candidacy to succeed term-limited John Kasich and become the next governor of Ohio in 2018.
One of the benefits of elections in America, besides providing untold millions in ad revenues to local TV stations, is that candidates have an incentive to profess attention to issues of pressing public concern. Few contemporary issues have more pressing concerns than opiod addiction and deaths. You may recall much talk about it during last year’s presidential campaign.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that in excess of 33,000 Americans died from both prescription painkillers and heroin two years ago. That’s almost as many as the 40,000 estimated to die in vehicle crashes last year.
According to DeWine, the drug companies abetted the current opiod crisis by spending lavishly to oversell the benefits of drugs such as Percocet and OxyContin, while minimizing their potential addictive possibilities.
He said about one-in-five Ohioans were prescribed opioids last year, while one newspaper study found that nearly 4,200 died from overdoses. The government map above shows Ohio among a swath of states from Michigan to Louisiana and Oklahoma to North Carolina with the highest opioid prescription rates per 100 people.
The Ohio suit, similar to those filed in several other states and counties, alleges that drug companies violated the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, created a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements and committed Medicaid fraud.
DeWine says he wants the companies to halt their alleged deceptive practices and pay unspecified damages to the state and Ohio consumers. At a Wednesday news conference DeWine stated, “These companies continue to mislead the public.”
The five companies sued are Allergan Plc, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma LP, Endo International Plc and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s Cephalon unit. Companies reacting either rejected the lawsuit’s claims and/or vowed to help address the problems.

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Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sues five prescription opioid manufacturers

May 31, 2017 | Crain's Cleveland Business

By Scott Suttell

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is going to court to help combat the state's opioid crisis.
DeWine's office on Wednesday, May 31, filed a lawsuit against five prescription opioid manufacturers and their related companies. The lawsuit, filed in Ross County Court of Common Pleas in southern Ohio, where the opioid epidemic has been particularly damaging, alleges that the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids.
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans -- our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids -- addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids," DeWine said in a statement.
"These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids" he continued. "They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it."
Here are the five manufacturers listed as defendants:Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla and Targiniq;Endo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana and Zydone;Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and Fentora;Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and Nucynta; andAllergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids.
The lawsuit alleges that the drug companies "violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and created a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids," DeWine said in a news release.
The false marketing included medical journal advertising, sales representative statements, and the use of front groups to deliver information which downplayed the risks and inflated the benefits of certain formulations of opioids.
DeWine is seeking the following remedies that include a declaration that the companies' actions were illegal; an injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have caused; damages for the money the state spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio; and repayment to consumers.
The Columbus Dispatch on Sunday, May 28, reported that at least 4,149 Ohio residents died from unintentional drug overdoses in 2016, according to county coroner data.
Cleveland.com last week reported there were 666 opiate-related deaths in Cuyahoga County in 2016.

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Ohio AG files suit against 5 drug manufacturers for role in opioid epidemic

May 31, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review

By Brian Zimmerman

Mike DeWine, Ohio's attorney general, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against five opioid manufacturers, accusing the companies of engaging in fraudulent marketing and subsequently fueling the opioid epidemic in the state.
The five listed defendants are Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan. The suit alleges these companies violated Ohio consumer law by misleading the public about the risks and benefits involved with the use of opioid medications.
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids," said Mr. DeWine. "These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids. They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway —and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth."
In recent months, Ohio's lawsuit is the latest in a series of comparable suits targeting drug wholesalers, pharmacies and drug manufacturers for allegedly contributing to rising rates of opioid overdoses.

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Ohio Sues Five Major Drug Makers For Role In Opioid Crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | The Fix

By Victoria Kim

The lawsuit alleges that the drug makers' marketing trivialized the potential addictive qualities of the opioid meds.
The state of Ohio is taking five major opioid manufacturers to task—for their alleged role in escalating the epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose.
The companies named in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday (May 31), are Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a unit of Johnson & Johnson), a unit of Endo International Plc, Cephalon (a unit of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries), and Allergan Plc.
Attorney General Mike DeWine, who filed the lawsuit in Ross County, said the bulk of the opioid crisis can be blamed on the pharmaceutical companies, who are accused of marketing and promoting powerful opioid meds like OxyContin and Percocet, in addition to “overstating their benefits and trivializing their potential addictive qualities,” according to Reuters.
By allegedly misrepresenting the risks of the addictive painkillers, the companies violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, committed Medicaid fraud, and “created a public nuisance” by spreading misleading information about the products, said DeWine.
“We believe the evidence will show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans—our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids—addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” said DeWine.
According to Reuters, 2.3 million Ohioans were prescribed opioids in 2016, making up nearly a fifth of the state’s population.
Just this week, The Columbus Dispatch reported that at least 4,149 Ohioans died of drug overdose in 2016—a 36% increase from the previous year’s total of 3,050. Public health officials say it’s only getting worse in 2017, which is on pace to exceed last year’s numbers.
William Denihan, head of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County, likened the state’s opioid overdose crisis to a “tsunami” that’s wiping out Ohioans hooked on heroin or pain meds. Cuyahoga County led the state last year with a total of 666 fatal overdoses.
Nationwide, opioids killed more than 33,000 Americans in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prescription painkillers accounted for nearly half of these deaths.
In March, the Washington Post reported that West Virginia also sued three drug distributors—McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen—which distribute 85% of prescription drugs in the United States.

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In the midst of a deadly opioid crisis, Ohio sues drugmakers for marketing fraud

May 31, 2017 | FiercePharma

By Eric Sagonowsky

After seeing drug overdoses become the state’s leading cause of accidental deaths, officials in Ohio have had enough. In a new lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is going after Teva, Allergan, Johnson & Johnson, Purdue and Endo for alleged “fraudulent marketing practices” on powerful opioid painkillers.
Ohio’s 101-page lawsuit says the pharma companies, individually and together, broke pharma marketing rules and “helped unleash” an opioid epidemic that has had “far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences” in the state. The companies did that, according to the suit, by spending millions to widely market the meds while downplaying risks.
Similar to a host of other lawsuits filed against opioid makers, Ohio's suit says that to push their painkillers, the companies borrowed a page from the "Big Tobacco playbook." They worked to convince “key opinion leaders” and professional societies of the benefits of opioids in treating chronic pain, according to the AG.
With influencers and other groups on their side, the companies could then “taint the sources that doctors and patients relied on for ostensibly ‘neutral’ guidance, such as treatment guidelines, Continuing Medical Education programs, medical conferences and seminars, and scientific articles,” the suit says.
Ohio asks for restitution and punitive damages, plus an order requiring the companies to stop the “unlawful promotion,” among other items.
Responding to FiercePharma, a spokesperson for J&J’s Janssen unit said the company believes the “allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded.” Janssen has acted “appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications,” she added.
A Purdue spokesperson said the company shares “concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.” He added that Purdue’s OxyContin represents a small fraction in the market, but that Purdue is “an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access” to overdose med Naloxone.
RELATED: CDC guidelines call for drastic cuts in opioid painkiller use
For its part, Teva said it’s reviewing the complaint and can’t comment until that review is complete. Endo said it couldn’t comment on ongoing litigation; Allergan also declined to comment.
Ohio joins other governments, including the city of Chicago, counties in New York, plus Illinois and New Hampshire, that have gone after opioid makers as the United States faces a damaging addiction epidemic. Last year, the CDC rolled out new opioid guidelines calling for a drastic reduction in scripts.
The Ohio suit says the marketing strategies started in the late 1990s and continue today. To date, the tactics have been “wildly successful,” according to the suit, as opioids are now the most prescribed drug class in the country, with billions in annual sales.
Drug-related overdoses have been Ohio’s leading cause of accidental deaths since 2007.
DeWine’s lawsuit comes shortly after Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., kicked off a probe of the opioid industry’s marketing practices, targeting Johnson & Johnson, Mylan, Depomed, Insys and Purdue. She’s seeking opioid abuse estimates by the companies, plus info about marketing strategies, sales quotas and contributions to patient groups.
In the wake of the legal attention to opioid promotion, Chicago has implemented a $750 pharma sales rep license aimed at curbing abuse, while Pfizer and the city agreed to a marketing agreement for painkillers.

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Ohio Attorney General Sues 5 Drug Companies for Fueling Opioid Epidemic

May 31, 2017 | The Root

By Monique Judge

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids, as well as their related companies, alleging that the companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids, which he says fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.
In a press release Wednesday, DeWine named the five companies listed as defendants in the suit:Purdue Pharma, which sold OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and TarginiqEndo Health Solutions, which sold Percocet, Percodan, Opana, and ZydoneTeva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, which sold Actiq and FentoraJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which sold Duragesic and NucyntaAllergan, which sold Kadian, Norco, and several generic opioids
“We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans—our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids—addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids. These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids” DeWine said. “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway—and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth.”
The lawsuit accuses the companies of violating the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and creating a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids.
“This false marketing included medical journal advertising, sales representative statements, and the use of front groups to deliver information which downplayed the risks and inflated the benefits of certain formulations of opioids. This behavior proliferated the prescription of opioids and fueled the opioid epidemic Ohio is currently facing,” DeWine said.
DeWine is seeking the following remedies in the lawsuit:A declaration that the companies’ actions were illegalAn injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have causedDamages for the money that the state spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive actsRepayment to consumers who, like the state, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
Drugs like Percocet and OxyContin are basically pharmaceutical heroin, and extremely addictive. It’s unfortunate that no one really cared until white people became the face of that addiction, but good on Ohio for taking steps to try to remedy or rectify that.

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Ohio sues five opioid manufacturers

May 31, 2017 | Axios

By Shane Savitsky

Ohio's attorney general filed suit against five manufacturers of opioids, claiming they violated state laws and committed Medicaid fraud in their marketing of medications, per CNBC.
What Ohio wants: An injunction to prevent further "glossy" marketing of opioids, damages repaid for the state's continued response to the crisis, and some sort of reparations paid to opioid consumers.
By the numbers: Almost 20% of Ohio's population was prescribed an opioid at some point last year.
Why it matters: Ohio is the second state (after Mississippi) to sue opioid makers, and it increases the odds that drug manufacturers could face more lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis.

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‘Deadly mess’: Ohio sues 5 pharma companies over opioid crisis

May 31, 2017 | RT News

Ohio is suing five drug manufacturers for their role in causing the state’s unprecedented addictions crisis, and accusing them of intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and claiming drug benefits not backed by science.
State Attorney General Mike DeWine, who announced the lawsuit on Wednesday, said the state was awash in opioids and engulfed in a public health crisis. DeWine said the drug companies had created a “deadly mess in Ohio that they now need to pay to clean up.”
The five companies being sued were Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc unit, a unit of Endo International Plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s Cephalon unit and Allergan Plc.
The lawsuit claims that brand-name drugs such as OxyContin and Percocet and generics such as oxycodone and hydrodone are powerful narcotic painkillers that historically “were considered too addictive and debilitating for the treatment of chronic pain (like back pain, migraines and arthritis),” and were only to treat “short-term acute pain or for palliative (end of life) care.”
“[B]y the late 1990s, and continuing today, each Defendant began a marketing scheme designed to persuade doctors and patients that opioids can and should be used for chronic pain, a far broader group of patients much more likely to become addicted and suffer other adverse effects from the long-term use of opioids,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint claims that the total number of opioid doses prescribed to Ohio patients in 2012 soared to 793 million.
“[E]nough to supply every man, woman and child in the state with 68 pills each. In 2016 alone, 2.3 million Ohio patients – roughly 20 percent of the state’s population – were prescribed an opioid drug,” stated the complaint. “There are an estimated 1.2 million Ohio citizens suffering from chronic pain,” it added.
“This lawsuit is about justice, it’s about fairness, it’s about what is right,” DeWine said in announcing the suit, which was filed in civil court in Ross County.
DeWine argued the state saw a 36 percent increase in unintentional fatal overdoses in 2016 from the previous year, when the state led the nation for the most fatal overdoses.
Drug-related overdoses surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the state in 2017.
“We believe the evidence will [show] … these drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids,” said DeWine during a livestreamed press conference. “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway – and they continue to do it.”
The defendant companies are accused of spending millions of dollars on promotional activities that “trivialized the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain,” and borrowing a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook by enlisting third parties to present guidelines that mislead doctors and patients.
The defendants are accused of creating a financial burden on the state, increasing costs for Medicaid and Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and additional costs for addiction treatment and treatment of babies born addicted to opioids.
They are also accused of violating Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and creating a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids.
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the companies’ actions were illegal, an injunction to stop their continued deceptions and to stop the harm they have caused, damages for the money the state spent and repayments to consumers for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
Opioids are now the most prescribed class of drugs and generated $11 billion in revenue for drug companies in 2014 alone, according to the complaint.
A growing number of state and local governments are suing drug makers and distributors, seeking to hold them accountable for the opioid crisis.
In 2015, Kentucky settled a similar lawsuit with Purdue Pharma. The company agreed to pay the state $24 million in a lawsuit that accused the company of misleading the public about the addictiveness of the prescription drug OxyContin.

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Latest in Ohio's Opioid Crisis - The State Is Suing Some Drug Manufacturers

Jun 1, 2017 | Statehouse News Bureau

By Jo Ingles

Ohio’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against five major drug companies that make opioids, saying they have contributed to the overdose crisis here. Ohio leads the nation in the number of opioid deaths, with more than 4000 in 2016.
Ross County resident Christina Arredondo knows about opioid addiction. Her daughter, Felicia Detty, became addicted after pills were prescribed for her when she was 18 years old.
“It never went away. It was a battle she fought every moment of every day.”
And in 2015, when she was just 24 years old and five months pregnant, her fight ended.
“She loved with all of her heart. But she suffered from something she lost the fight to, no matter how hard she tried to fight. And to think that people do this to make money.”
Ohio’s Attorney General, Mike DeWine, says drug manufacturers have made millions of dollars, selling these pain killers to doctors and customers, by deceiving doctors and without disclosing the addictive nature of the opioids.
“Between 2011 and 2015, 3.8 billion doses of this medication were prescribed just to Ohioans. In 2016, 2.3 million Ohioans were prescribed opioids. That’s roughly one-fifths of our state’s population.”
DeWine says these companies have been deceptive and have put profits ahead of the well-being of Ohioans. So he’s filed a big lawsuit against five drug manufacturers. He’s asking for a jury trial. And he’s asking these drug companies to pay damages that could then be used to help fight the opioid battle in Ohio.
“This lawsuit is about justice. It’s about fairness. It’s about what is right. It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up.”
DeWine, who is likely running for Governor in 2018, says the opioid problem costs the state hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid, BWC, and other state programs. And he says the problem is responsible for an increased need for foster care that costs about $45 million a year.
The head of Ohio’s Democratic Party, David Pepper, who ran against DeWine back in 2010, says legal action against drug companies should have been taken years ago.
“You know I think it’s too little, too late. This is….the attorney general is the state’s chief law enforcement officer. For six years, he’s had town hall meetings, press conferences, he’s said the solutions were coming, the problem was peaking and every year it’s gotten worse.”
Pepper says the Republicans who are in charge of every branch of state government have taken money away from local governments that deal with the opioid crisis first hand every day. State officials have taken steps to crack down on opiate prescribing by requiring doses be logged in the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System and shutting down "pill mill" operations that dispensed a large number of opioids. Between 2012 and 2016, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy reports the total number of opioid doses dispensed to Ohio patients declined by 20.4 percent -- from a peak of 793 million pills. Yet opioid deaths in Ohio continue to rise, often because of heroin and fentanyl use.
Some of the drug companies named in the lawsuit say they can’t comment on pending litigation right now. But Jessica Castles Smith, a spokeswoman for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, one of the companies named in the suit, sent a written statement saying the allegations are both legally and factually unfounded. The statement went on to say Janssen has acted appropriately, responsible and in the best interests of patients when it comes to their FDA-approved drugs.

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Ohio attorney general sues pharmaceutical companies over opioid crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | The Week

By Catherine Garcia

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five pharmaceutical companies, saying that by making users believe their opioid products were not addictive, they helped start the state's opioid epidemic.
The suit targets Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan. The lawsuit alleges that the companies violated Ohio's Consumer Sales Practices Act and created a "public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits of opioids." In a statement, DeWine said the state believes evidence will show that "these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our coworkers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids. These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids."
Ohio is seeking a declaration from the companies that they acted illegally, an injunction to stop "their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate them the harm they have caused," and damages for money Ohio has spent on opioids and repayment to consumers who "like the state paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain," ABC News reports. In 2015, 3,050 people died in Ohio from drug overdoses.

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Ohio Sues Drug Makers it Accuses of Fueling Opioid Crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | Voice of America

The U.S. state of Ohio filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five prescription drug manufacturers, saying they used deceptive practices that fueled an opioid addiction epidemic.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway.”
Five companies
The state wants the companies to stop misrepresenting the drugs, to pay damages for the amount of money the state spent on excessive opioid prescriptions and resulting addiction treatments for patients, and to reimburse patients as well.
The lawsuit names Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Allergan, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, and Johnson & Johnson with its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
A Janssen statement called the lawsuit legally and factually unfounded and said the company has acted appropriately and responsibly. Purdue said it shares DeWine’s concerns about the opioid crisis and wants to work together on a solution.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioids are most commonly given for moderate-to-severe pain after surgery or injury, but that in recent years there has been an increase in their prescription for chronic pain “despite serious risks and the lack of evidence about their long-term effectiveness.”
Tens of thousands died
Opioids, including prescription varieties, and heroin killed a record 33,000 people in the United States in 2015, according to the CDC.
Ohio’s lawsuit says 2.3 million people, or nearly 20 percent of its population, were prescribed an opioid drug last year, and that the drugs are the main source of unintentional overdose deaths in the state. It called the opioid crisis in the state “catastrophic.”
“Because they know prescribing doctors and other health care providers rely on drug companies’ statements in making treatment decisions, drug companies must tell the truth when marketing their drugs and ensure that their marketing claims are supported by science and medical evidence. Defendants broke these simple rules and helped unleash a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social and deadly consequences in the state of Ohio.”
Crisis across US
The effects of the opioid crisis have been felt across the United States, and Ohio is not the first to sue drug companies. Kentucky settled a lawsuit with Purdue in 2015, while a group of 27 states did so with Purdue as well in 2007. Oregon also reached a settlement with another drug maker, Insys, in 2015.
U.S. President Donald Trump pledged during his campaign last year that he would fight the opioid epidemic, which has ravaged many of the rural areas and small towns where Trump received strong support.
The president has created a drug addiction task force, but critics of the budget proposal he unveiled last month said his planned cuts in government spending would hurt the opioid epidemic fight.
Trump’s spending plan would slash funding for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy by 95 percent, eliminating its drug-free communities and high-intensity drug trafficking programs that each have bipartisan congressional support.

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Ohio Going After Drug Makers for Fueling Opioid Crisis

May 31, 2017 | The Street

By Amanda Schiavo

Ohio is suing five drugmakers, alleging that the companies contributed to the opioid crisis by misrepresenting the addictive nature of their painkillers, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The lawsuit targeted after Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon and Allergan (AGN) .
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine claims the companies weren't honest with doctors about the risks associated with the painkillers, noting that the companies marketed the drugs to general practitioners that may not have a specialty in pain management.

"The evidence is going to show they knew what they were saying was not true and they did it to increase sales," DeWine told the Journal.

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Ohio sues drug makers for spreading the opioid crisis

May 31, 2017 | STAT News

By Ed Silverman

You can add Ohio to the list of state and local governments that are filing lawsuits against drug makers for spreading the opioid epidemic by allegedly downplaying risks and improperly encouraging prescribing of the addictive painkillers.
Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against five companies — Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, and Endo International — for false marketing that included misleading ads in medical journals and the use of physicians and front groups to boost prescriptions for their medicines.

(Remainder of article behind a paywall.)

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Ohio AG Sues Drugmakers Over Opioid Crisis

May 31, 2017 | Courthouse News Service

By Kevin Koeninger

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday the filing of a lawsuit against numerous prescription pain medication manufacturers, as part of the Buckeye State’s ongoing effort to fight its opioid addiction epidemic.
In a press conference announcing the lawsuit, DeWine described the state’s drug crisis as a “fire stoked by greed, fueled by deceit, and tended by a multi-billion dollar industry.”
The complaint was filed Wednesday morning in the Ross County Common Pleas Court against five major pharmaceutical manufacturers and several of their subsidiaries.
The companies include Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Allergan.
The suit says the manufacturers used sales reps and advertising to downplay the risks associated with opiates, which has led to a rapid increase in prescription drug and heroin addiction across the state.
“The result of Ohio’s opioid crisis has been catastrophic. Opioids have become the main source of unintentional drug overdose in the state and, due to the vast supply of opioids, the number of annual deaths attributable to unintentional drug overdoses has rapidly increased in recent years,” the complaint states. “2016 saw a 36 percent increase in unintentional fatal overdoses in the state of Ohio from the previous year, when Ohio led the nation in the total number of fatal overdoses. This total is expected to go higher as coroners in six smaller counties update their numbers.”

In his press conference, DeWine said Ohio wants to “clean up” the mess caused by prescription pain meds
“I want to hold these companies accountable for the undeniable harm they have inflicted on our families and on our state,” he said.
The 107-page complaint seeks a declaration that the pharmaceutical companies’ persistent push to get doctors to prescribe their opioid painkillers was illegal, as well as punitive damages and restitution for the state and families of those who paid for unnecessary prescriptions.
“Defendants’ deceptive marketing campaign deprived Ohio patients and their doctors of the ability to make informed medical decisions and, instead, caused important, sometimes life-or-death decisions to be made based not on science, but on hype,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants deprived patients, their doctors, and health care payors of the chance to exercise informed judgment and subjected them to enormous costs and suffering.”
The state asserts claims of public nuisance, Medicaid fraud, common law fraud, and violations of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.
“Southern Ohio was likely the first and hardest hit area in the United States,” DeWine said. “Small towns were rocked as men, women, and children succumbed to addiction. From there, the fire spread out across Ohio. It was a fire stoked by greed, fueled by deceit, and tended by a multi-billion dollar industry.”
Speaking to reporters, the AG said he had contemplated a lawsuit of this nature for some time.
“Quite candidly,” he said, “I think it’s my moral obligation to do this. I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and say, ‘we should have had the guts to file it; to call a spade a spade.’”
Mark Troutman of Isaac, Wiles, Burkholder, and Teetor LLC in Columbus, Ohio, is the lead attorney on the case.
Purdue Pharma said in a statement Wednesday, “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
Jessica Castles Smith, spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, said the company believes the allegations in DeWine’s lawsuit “are both legally and factually unfounded.”
“Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label,” Smith said.

Endo, Teva and Allergan did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment.

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Ohio: Makers Of OxyContin, Percocet & Other Opioids Helped Fuel Drug Epidemic By Misleading Doctors, Patients

May 31, 2017 | Consumerist

By Chris Morran

As Americans nationwide deal with the ongoing opioid epidemic, which has also resulted in the resurrection of heroin in many parts of the country, the Ohio Attorney General is accusing five major pharmaceutical companies of misleading the public about the safety and benefits of opioid painkillers.
In a lawsuit [PDF] filed in Ross County, OH, Court of Common Pleas, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine accused Purdue Pharma (maker of OxyContin and others); Endo (Percocet); Teva (Fentora); Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (Duragesic); and Allergan (Norco) of operating marketing campaigns that “falsely deny or trivialize the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain.”
The pharma companies allegedly downplayed the risk of addiction posed by these drugs, and instead talked up the concept of “pseudoaddiction” — the notion that apparent symptoms of addiction may actually be signs of under-treatment.
The complaint cites a number of instances where the defendant companies allegedly put their support behind pseudoaddiction as a reason for prescribing more of a painkiller, like a 2007 book sponsored by both Purude and Teva subsidiary Cephalon, which allegedly stated that patients who request certain opioids by name, exhibit manipulative behavior, are hoarding or seeing multiple doctors may just be experiencing pseudoaddiction.
A 2009 website paid for by Janssen allegedly stated that pseudoaddiction “refers to patient behaviors that may occur when pain is under-treated,” and that it differs from true addiction “because such behaviors can be resolved with effective pain management.”
The lawsuit describes a Purdue-sponsored role-playing exercise wherein “a chronic pain patient with a history of drug abuse tells his doctor that he is taking twice as many hydrocodone pills as directed. The narrator notes that because of pseudoaddiction, the doctor should not assume the patient is addicted even if he persistently asks for a specific drug, seems desperate, hoards medicine, or ‘overindulges in unapproved escalating doses.’ The doctor treats this patient by prescribing a high-dose, long-acting opioid.”
AG DeWine also says the defendant drug companies exaggerated the effectiveness of screening tools to detect and prevent addiction in chronic pain patients. In marketing materials — taking the form of webinars, supplements, and conference presentations — the complaint notes that Purdue and Endo communicated to physicians that things like urine tests could be used to identify and weed out bad apple patients who were overusing opioids. However, opioid dispensing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that current screening methods “show insufficient accuracy for classification of patients as at low or high risk for abuse or misuse.”
Drug companies also allegedly misled physicians and patients into believing that they could increase the dosage of their opioid medications without increased risk.
A 2007 pamphlet for Kadian acknowledged to patients that, “Over time, your body may become tolerant of your current dose. You may require a dose adjustment to get the right amount of pain relief. This is not addiction.”
A joint Cephalon/Purdue guide from that same year allegedly claims that some patients “need” a larger dose of an opioid, regardless of their current prescribed dosage, and that there is “no ceiling dose” for patients with severe pain.
“The ability to escalate dosages was critical to Defendants’ efforts to market opioids for long-term use to treat chronic pain,” contends the lawsuit. “[A]bsent this misrepresentation, doctors would have abandoned treatment when patients built up tolerance and lower dosages did not provide pain relief.”
DeWine claims that the drug makers downplayed the difficulty in managing opioid dependence and withdrawal to “make doctors feel more comfortable starting patients on opioids.” As noted by the CDC, opioid withdrawal symptoms run the gamut from anxiety, insomnia, abdominal pain to tremor and tachycardia (rapid heartbeat).
The AG’s office is asking for a jury to declare that the companies’ actions were illegal; for the court to grant an injunction to stop these marketing practices. It seeks damages to compensate the state for the additional costs of dealing with the ongoing epidemic, and refunds for Ohio consumers who allegedly paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids” says DeWine. “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth.”
We’ve reached out to each of the defendant companies for comment; not all have responded.
A rep for Janssen maintains that the allegations in the lawsuit are “legally and factually unfounded,” and that the company has “acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications.”
Purdue says it shares DeWine’s concerns about the opioid crisis but did not address the lawsuit directly.
“OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis,” reads the statement from Purdue.
In a statement to Consumerist, Teva says, “We are reviewing the complaint filed today by the Ohio Attorney General in the Ross County Court of Common Pleas. We have not completed review of the complaint and cannot yet provide comment.”

Allergan has declined to comment. We will update this story if we receive additional comment from Endo.

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State of Ohio suing 5 huge opiates producers

May 31, 2017 | BuzzBry

The State of Ohio’s lawyer common introduced Wednesday his workplace has filed a lawsuit towards the 5 largest producers of opiates.
Lawyer Basic Mike DeWine carried out a information convention to announce the most important litigation and stated pharmaceutical corporations use gross sales reps visiting docs workplaces to market and down-play the dangers of opioids.
Proof exhibits these corporations “put income above well being and properly-being of Ohio shoppers,” DeWine stated.
The 5 corporations included within the lawsuit are:
• Purdue Pharma
• Endo Prescription drugs
• Janssen Prescription drugs
• Cephalon Inc.
• Allergan
He additionally stated hundreds of thousands is spent on advertisements and medical journals to fund messages to make sure the advertising of those medicine is persistently delivered.
DeWine stated the issue is how addicted Ohio’s residents are getting to those medicine. Habit is main to make use of of heroin, which is an epidemic within the state, he stated.
“Coroners in Ohio are struggling to maintain up with the physique rely,” DeWine stated of the opioid disaster.
The lawsuit was filed in Ross County, Ohio, which is likely one of the extra struggling areas when it comes to the drug epidemic.
He stated the gross sales of opioids accounted for $eleven billion in income in 2014 with projections rising to greater than $17 billion by 2021.
In March, a Senate committee stated it’s conducting a probe into opiates producers and whether or not they’re chargeable for over-prescriptions and thus overdose deaths.
Ohio noticed greater than four,one hundred drug overdose deaths in 2016, in line with the Columbus Dispatch.
DeWine additionally stated the 5 corporations ought to be held liable for Medicaid fraud as a result of infants born to addicted moms value $one hundred and five million in hospital bills in 2014. He’s suing for damages on behalf of the state and shoppers.

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Overdose Ravaged Ohio Goes After Big Pharma Companies ‘Peddling’ Prescription Drugs

May 31, 2017 | The Daily Caller

By Steve Birr

Officials in Ohio are joining the group of states suing the major pharmaceutical companies for fueling the opioid epidemic by allegedly deceiving the public about addiction risks.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine launched a lawsuit Wednesday against five drug makers alleging they violated the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act and committed Medicaid fraud in their push to sell prescription painkillers. The lawsuit seeks damages for the funds spent on combating opioid addiction and prescription drug overdoses in Ohio, which claimed 690 lives in 2015, reports Reuters.
DeWine alleges the companies intentionally misrepresented the addiction profile of their medications in pursuit of profits. He notes nearly a fifth of the state’s population was prescribed opioids in 2016. The lawsuit targets Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions and Allergan.
“In 2014 alone, pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million through sales reps peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risks,” DeWine said at a press conference Wednesday, according to CNBC. “We understand what we’re taking on: five huge drug companies. I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and say we should have had the guts to file …it’s something we have to do.”
A spokesman for Purdue Pharma, which often comes under the harshest scrutiny, said they are committed to solving the opioid addiction crisis and noted their medication OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the prescription opioid market in the country. Representatives for Janssen denied the allegations as “both legally and factually unfounded,” reports CNBC.
Lawsuits are mounting against the largest drug makers in the country for their alleged complicity in sparking the opioid crisis through dishonest advertising. The law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC is spearheading cases in New York, as well as two lawsuits in California, two in West Virginia, one in Chicago and one in Washington state.
Mayor Ray Stephanson of Everett, Wash., is suing Purdue Pharma for gross negligence, claiming the company turned a blind eye to suspicious activities that funneled pills into the streets of Everett, where opioid abuse is now rampant. Stephanson said “Purdue’s drive for profit” directly fueled opioid addictions in the community and the rising rate of heroin abuse.
Representatives for Purdue Pharma said the lawsuit is a misrepresentation of what sparked the opioid crisis in Everett and “look forward to presenting the facts in court.”
Ohio is being hit particularly hard by the national opioid epidemic, which claimed a record 33,000 lives in the U.S. in 2015. The opioid death rate in the state spiked 13 percent between 2014 and 2015, among the largest increases in the country. Heroin deaths increased by nearly 20 percent over the same period, claiming 1,444 lives.

Officials in Ohio say opioids are also the main driver of a 19 percent spike in the number of kids removed from parental custody to foster care since 2010.

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Ohio Has Sued Five Pharma Companies Over Their Opioid Marketing Tactics

May 31, 2017 | Uproxx

By David Matthews

Earlier this year, Anthony Bourdain spoke to GQ about the opioid crisis in America and the pharmaceutical industry’s role in exacerbating it, saying the drug companies were “knowingly selling narcotics far and above any reasonable or acceptable level of need.” As addiction numbers and drug overdose incidents rise (the Center for Disease Control says nearly 2 million abused painkillers in 2014), and with the repeal of Obamacare set to decimate resources for those affected by drug addiction, some states are taking it upon themselves and agreeing with Bourdain that the drug companies must be brought to heel.
Joining Mississippi, Ohio has sued five pharmaceutical companies for their role in the state’s painkiller crisis (Ohio has one of the highest overdose rates in the U.S.). The suit, brought by Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine, claims that Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit, Teva Pharmaceuticals and its Cephalon unit, Endo Health Solutions, and Allergan violated several state laws and committed Medicaid fraud:
In a statement, Purdue Pharma, the makers of Oxycontin, said the company was working to combat the opioid crisis through monitoring programs (so people are not over-prescribed) as well as increasing access to Naloxone, a drug that can save people who have overdosed. Johnson & Johnson called the allegations “both legally and factually unfounded.”
One of the aspects of DeWine’s suit calls for the drug companies to end their practices of “deception and misrepresentation in marketing.”
DeWine’s suit is arguably the largest one yet brought against opioid manufacturers. Several counties, cities, and towns both inside and outside of the Rust Belt have brought lawsuits since the start of the year.
“I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and say we should have had the guts to file. … It’s something we have to do,” DeWine said.

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Ohio Wants To Hold Drug Companies Responsible For The Opioid Epidemic (Video)

Jun 1, 2017 | Newsy

By Grant Suneson

Ohio has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, and now it wants to hold drug companies responsible.
Ohio's Attorney General Mike DeWine filed suit against five drug companies he says are responsible for the drug addiction crisis because they misled consumers.
The suit names Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Allergan — the five largest makers of opiates.
DeWine said the drugmakers "led prescribers to believe opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids. They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway — and they continue to do it."
But the companies are disputing that they're responsible for the problem.
A Janssen Pharmaceutical spokeswoman said the company "acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications."
People who take prescription painkillers can get addicted, and some turn to drugs like heroin when their prescriptions run out. More than 4,000 people reportedly died from opioid overdoses in Ohio in 2016.
View video clip here: http://www.newsy.com/stories/ohio-is-suing-drug-companies-over-the-opioid-epidemic/

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Ohio Sues Drug Companies Over Opioid Epidemic

Jun 1, 2017 | Daily Beast

Authorities in Ohio filed a lawsuit Wednesday against several pharmaceutical companies for marketing drugs in a way they say contributed to the state’s opioid crisis. The lawsuit, filed by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, accuses drug makers of creating misleading or deceptive advertising campaigns that fail to inform patients about the risks of overdose and addiction. The state has one of the highest overdose rates in the country, along with Kentucky, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.
In the lawsuit, DeWine accuses drug companies of spending “millions of dollars on promotional activities and materials that falsely deny or trivialize the risks of opioids while overstating the benefits of using them for chronic pain.” Ohio’s lawsuit adds to a long list of litigation against drug companies by other states and jurisdictions, in a case reminiscent of the legal battle waged against tobacco companies in the 1990s by numerous states. Mississippi, West Virginia, the City of Chicago, and counties in New York and California have all sued pharmaceutical companies for allegedly contributing to the drug epidemic. The respondents in Ohio’s lawsuit include Purdue Pharma, Teva, Johnson & Johnson, Endo, Allergan, and others.

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Ohio Is Suing 5 Drug Companies for Lying About Opioid Painkillers

Jun 1, 2017 | Tonic

By Amber Brenza

On Wednesday, the state of Ohio filed a lawsuit against five major drug companies for their role in the state's opioid addiction epidemic.
The state alleges that those named in the suit—Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries subsidiary Cephalon, Allergan, Endo Health Services—borrowed "a page from Big Tobacco's playbook" in downplaying the risks of their products, which "helped unleash a health care crisis" in the state.
The Buckeye State's not the only state or local government suing Big Pharma: Two California counties, the city of Chicago, four counties in New York, and the state of Mississippi all have lawsuits against drug companies regarding their painkiller marketing practices, while several counties in West Virginia have filed lawsuits against drug wholesalers for failing to report suspiciously large orders of opioids. But Ohio's lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Mark DeWine, is the one of the biggest to date.
Reminder: Opioid painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet are crazy-addictive. So much so that, historically, they were strictly used short-term to treat acute pain or for palliative (end-of-life) care. But, according to the lawsuit, by the late 1990s, each of the five defendants began to market long-term use of opioids to treat chronic pain by downplaying their addictiveness and exaggerating their effectiveness. Basically, they've been accused of persuading doctors and patients to believe, without any "good evidence," that opioids weren't unsafe for long-term use and were the best treatment for chronic pain.
If you're thinking: Wait, do drug companies really have that much clout? In short: Abso-fucking-lutely. Prescribing doctors and other healthcare providers rely on these drug companies' statements when making treatment decisions, believing their marketing claims are backed by science and medical evidence. Which is why, in an interview with NPR, DeWine said he believes much of the fault rests on these companies' actions.
"There was a concerted effort for an extended number of years to really pound this into the heads of doctors," DeWine told NPR. "And when you're told something time and time and time again and there's a lot of advertising [money] that is being spent...it takes a while to turn that around." Last year, 2.3 million Ohio residents were prescribed opioid painkillers, nearly a fifth of the state's population, DeWine said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3,310 Ohio residents died from overdoses in 2015—up 21.5 percent from 2014—meaning the state had the 4th highest rate of overdose death in the US, behind only West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Kentucky. And according to early numbers from some counties, overdose deaths increased by at least 30 percent in 2016; the Columbus Dispatch put the total at 4,169. While opioids are still largely to blame in Ohio—they caused 85 percent of all overdose deaths in 2015—people are also overdosing on illicit drugs like heroin and fentanyl. Because prescription opioids are so expensive, many resort to cheaper drugs like heroin for a similar high.
The state is asking that the manufacturers own up to any allegations of wrongdoing and stop falsely promoting opioids, and is also seeking damages for the millions it has spent on the crisis so far, as well as compensation for Ohio residents who paid for opioids to treat chronic pain.
Only a few companies have responded to the allegations so far: A spokeswoman for Janssen called the lawsuit "legally and factually unfounded," and went on to say that the company "acted appropriately, responsibly, and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid medications," in a statement to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Purdue Pharma also issued a statement to The Plain Dealer, noting their involvement in combating the opioid crisis by developing abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for prescription drug monitoring programs, and supporting access to the opioid overdose treatment Naloxone. The other three manufacturers have yet to comment.

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Hoping to stop a “human tragedy of epic proportions,” Ohio takes the fight to pharmaceutical manufacturers

Jun 1, 2017 | Rare.us

By Patrick McMahon

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against five pharmaceutical manufacturers, alleging that the companies “engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids which fueled Ohio’s opioid epidemic.”
That’s taken from a release sent by the Attorney General’s office aligned with yesterday’s announcement.
DeWine places blame for the ongoing opioid epidemic at the feet of the drug companies, who he says enticed Ohio residents with opioid pain medication, leading to addiction and “use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids” such as Fentanyl and Carfentanil.
Ohio is the second state to file a suit of this nature, following Mississippi.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids. They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway, and they continue to do it,” the statement says.
The five manufacturers named in the suit are Johnson and Johnson’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Allergan.
The suit charges each of them with violations of Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, as well as creating a public nuisance by “disseminating false and misleading statements about the risks and benefits” of the drugs. According to the suit, damages and remedies sought include:
A declaration that the companies’ actions were illegalAn injunction to stop their continued deceptions and misrepresentations and to abate the harm they have causedDamages for the money that the State spent on the opioids that these companies sold and marketed in Ohio and for other costs of their deceptive actsRepayment to consumers who, like the State, paid for unnecessary opioid prescriptions for chronic pain.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Ohio has been hit hard by the epidemic that’s sickening the nation. Ohio led the nation in overdose deaths in 2014 and saw over 3,000 overdose deaths in 2015. The state made news again when a Dayton-area county coroner ran out of room at their facilities and began renting refrigerated trucks to stack the bodies, sometimes handling as many as ten victims per day, due to what is believed to be an increase in the number of overdose victims in the area.

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International Coverage

Ohio Opioid Epidemic: List Of Drug Companies Sued By State Amid Addiction Crisis

Jun 1, 2017 | International Business Times

By Vishakha Sonawane

Ohio state filed a lawsuit against five major drug manufacturers Wednesday amid an ongoing opioid addiction crisis. In the lawsuit, state Attorney General Mike DeWine accused the companies of misrepresenting the risks of prescription opioid painkillers that led to a drug addiction problem in the state.
The lawsuit accused the companies of being involved in a sustained marketing campaign to undermine the risks of the prescription opioid drugs and exaggerate the benefits of the drugs in treating health problems.
Following are the companies sued by Ohio state. Purdue Pharma Endo Health Solutions Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and subsidiary Cephalon Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Allergan
"We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” DeWine said, in a statement Wednesday.
“These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids,” he said, adding: “They knew they were wrong, but they did it anyway -- and they continue to do it. Despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth.”
In the lawsuit, DeWine said 2.3 million people in the state were prescribed opioids last year leading to heroin abuse. He also said opiods became the prime source of unintentional drug overdoses in Ohio.
Purdue issued a statement to Reuters following the lawsuit, saying: "We share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
Purdue and Johnson & Johnson also have lawsuits against them by two California counties, the city of Chicago, four counties in New York and the state of Mississippi due to their opioid marketing practices.
Opioid addiction has led to the deaths of thousands of people and the state witnessed a 366 percent increase in drug overdose deaths from 2000 to 2012, according to statistics released by the governor’s office in 2014. In 2012, there were at least 1,900 unintentional drug overdose deaths.
Last November, the Columbus Dispatch reported Ohio led the country in deaths from heroin, a specific type of opioid.

In April, 13-year-old Nathan Wylie died in the state of a suspected heroin overdose, according to officials. Police said at the time they believed Nathan had used his father’s drugs. His father, 40-year-old Robert Wylie, was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment. He had been previously arrested on a drug-related charge.

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Ohio AG sues drug companies for role in opioid epidemic

Jun 1, 2017 | UPI

By John Culbertson

Ohio’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the ongoing opioid crisis.
The suit, filed Wednesday by Attorney General Mike DeWine, names five drugmakers: Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan.
The state accuses the companies of misleading doctors and patients about the risks and benefits of opioids, leading to drug addictions, overdoses and deaths of thousands of Ohio residents. The suit seeks to recover money the state spent purchasing drugs and funding addiction recovery programs.
“We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” DeWine said in a released statement. “These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids.”
According to the suit, drugmakers misled consumers about the dangers of opioids in medical journal ads and through false statements made by drug sales reps.
The lawsuit also alleges the listed pharmaceutical companies used “front groups to deliver information which downplayed the risks and inflated the benefits of certain formulations of opioids.”
Ohio isn’t the first state to sue drug companies over the ongoing opioid epidemic. Both West Virginia and Mississippi have lodged similar lawsuits. Mississippi’s suit is still pending, but West Virginia reached a multi-million dollar settlement with a group of major drug distributors. Several other states are considering litigation.
“We are in ongoing discussions with attorneys general about what can only be described as a national epidemic,” Michael P. Canty, a lawyer with New York-based firm Labaton Sucharow, told The New York Times.
The most addictive and powerful opioids include fentanyl, oxycodone and hydrocodon. More than 15,000 people died from overdoses of the three drugs in 2015.
In a released statement, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, described itself as “an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology.”
“We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions,” the drugmaker said.

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Ohio sues five drugmakers over role in opioid crisis

May 31, 2017 | AFP

The suit seeks to hold the companies accountable for harm to patients by blocking the drugs' allegedly deceptive marketing, as well as awarding compensation for the state and for consumers.
Prescription opioid overdoses have hit record levels in the United States, killing more than 15,000 people in 2015 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. West Virginia has also targeted drugmakers over the crisis.
In a statement, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said the drugmakers had knowingly caused patients to become addicted, with many addicts then switching to heroin and other drugs.
"These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids," DeWine said.
"They knew they were wrong but they did it anyway."
State officials say parts of Ohio are believed to be the hardest hit in the nation by the current opioid addiction crisis, with 2.3 million patients, or about 20 percent of the population, having been prescribed an opioid drug last year.
The suit names Purdue Pharma, which markets drugs such as OxyContin and Dilaudid, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Endo Health Solutions and Allergan.

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Broadcast Coverage

America's Newsroom

Jun 2, 2017 | Fox News

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Rough transcript: president trump: during my campaign i promised to take action to keep drug from pouring into our country. it has become a crippling problem throughout the united states. drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in our country and opioid overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled since 1999 this is a total epidemic. >> the state of ohio has filed a lawsuit saying pharmaceutical companies have misled doctors and patients about the addictive powers of this medication. mike dewine is leading the charge and he's with me now. go ahead and make your case. the burden of proof is on the state. would you say to these companies about how you believe the evidence points to them, sir. >> this is not a decision, as you know, that we would have made lightly. we looked at this and all the evidence. we think the evidence is going to clearly show that for an extended period of time beginning in the late 1990s these major drug companies tried to change the culture of prescribing. they basically were spending millions and millions of dollars, talking primarily to primary care physicians. interestingly they didn't target the specialists but those who you and i would go see in our local community. they told them the drugs were not very addictive. historically these opioids, these pain pills, are used for end of life. someone has cancer to alleviate their pain. or they are used just one or two after something has happened, an operation or an accident. they were never used really for this long period of time. so the drug companies looked at this and they started to try to change the culture. they set up this machine. the machine unfortunately is still going and been going for about two decades now. what they have been doing -- >> bill: based on your case, sir, do you believe they were doing it out of ignorance or do you believe it was an act of profit? >> no, we think the evidence is going to show that they knew they were misleading. one example would be if you look -- when you open up your prescription there is a little fine print in there and it goes on and on and hardly anybody ever reads it. in that fine print they were much more honest about acknowledging the dangers. but when you looked at the brochures put out to doctors it was a very different story. and -- very sophisticated how they did this. >> bill: understand the case you are making here. what i don't understand is why ohio? now, here are the numbers, in 2015 opioid deaths 3,310. that's in ohio. from 2014 to 2015 the number increased more than 21%. now, i know new hampshire was in the spotlight during the election. what's going on in your state that has led to this epidemic? >> this really started with a huge spike in prescribing of pain meds. we saw it first really in southern ohio in many of our appalachian counties. today it has spread throughout the entire state. what many times happens is people go from the pain meds to the heroin and to the fentanyl. we think 80% of people who are on heroin started with pain meds. i'm not sure that i can answer exactly why this is happening in the state of ohio but i can tell you it is very, very serious and what is happening is our children's services are overwhelmed. half the kids in foster care today in ohio is because one or both parents are addicts. we see it manifested in jails that are just overcrowded and become detox centers. >> bill: we'll follow the legal case as it winds its way through. >> mississippi still waiting on an answer for a case in that state as well. now ohio. we'll see what happens. sir, thank you for your time. mike dewine the a.g. there from dayton, ohio today. >>

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Tucker Carlson Tonight

Jun 2, 2017 | Fox

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Rough transcript: tucker: we want to bring you tonight a new segment of drugged which is an ongoing look at the horrfying opioid crisis gripping the united states major outside the major cities. in previous segments we told you the major role that the oxycontin creator purdue pharma and other drug companies have played in the wide acceptance and distribution of highly addictive painkillers. they argued for both of those and they work with terrible consequences. the attorney general of ohio wants to take them to task for that, his state is suing at purdue pharma and for other drug companies and accusing them of responsibility of creating a drug epidemic, it's killed more ohioans so far than the vietnam war did. attorney general mike dewine joins us. thanks a lot for joining us. what's the essence of your case against purdue pharma and the other four companies here? >> you know tucker the essence of our case is this -- historically these pain meds were used for end-of-life situations, someone has cancer, they are dying of cancer, they are also used for someone has a the wisdom tooth out, they might take one or two. beginning in the late 90s, what the drug companies did in a very concerted way, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars to do this, they tried to sell doctors first of all and the doctors they were targeting were not really the payment specialists, they were the general practitioners, the family doctors that you and i would go to. and they targeted them and they wanted them to believe and told them these medications were not very addictive. they told him it was very, very appropriate for someone who has long term pain, chronic pain and they were very, very successful. in fact not only did they convince doctors, they convinced the public. and they really if i can say this turned the culture. what we're saying it ohio and you've reported to very well, thank you for doing it, you've reported what's going on in ohio and we've been devastated. it's not just the number of people who die, we think we're losing ten or twelve a day, it's the children's services that are overflowing with foster kids. we think 50% of all the foster kids in ohio today are there because one or both parents are drug addicts. >> tucker: it's shocking. it's an overwhelming epidemic in its scale. so i guess the key question is did purdue pharma know the drugs they were selling were addictive? how could they not know that? >> i think that's right how could they not know? they went through great expense. you'll have to hand it to them, they were very, very successful in changing the culture. they did it in some of the same ways that we've seen before with tobacco. they would fund kind of a third party who was supposedly unbiased and they would come out with reports that say it's not very addictive. they would employ doctors, key opinion makers in their community, they would give them slides, talking points, the doctors i'm sure would believe what they were saying was true. so they believe that. they even came up with a thing they called pseudo-addiction. so when someone what showing all the signs of addiction and when the doctor was treating that person, purdue pharmas and the other ones would say you know thats pseudo addiction what you really need to do is there's not enough pain pills being prescribed, you have to go up and you haven't hit the point. >> well thats disgusting >> they just really misled the american people and the doctors. >> tucker: do you have evidence that it wasn't an honest mistake? >> here's one thing that i think is interesting. when we all get our prescriptions, you open up and there's all this fine print and there's a number of different pages in there. if you compared what was in those pages compared with what they were actually telling doctors in the glossy folders and the advertising, two different things. you would find some of the more realistic examples and problems that were connected to this when you read the fine print. how many people go read that fine print? anybody over 40 would have to take a magnifying glass to read it. they are saying one thing that was true but in their marketing, it was simply not true. all of this is going to go to court, i have to play the lawyer and say we believe this is what the evidence will show. obviously we spent a long time looking at this, we would not have filed this unless we thought the evidence would clearly this, and i think we will convince a jury in ohio that this was true. >> tucker: so many lives have been destroyed, and we're going to put an iconic picture on the screen of grandparents passed out, o.d.-ed done opiates, grandkids in the back. nobody hasn't been held accountable for this. if will be following this very closely, thanks for joining us tonight.

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Michaela

Jun 1, 2017 | CNN

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Rough transcript: our big story this hour, five major drug companies are being sued over the deadly opioid epidemic in our nation. the state of ohio says those company misled doctors the public about how addictive those painkillers are. robin meade had a very powerful interview with the ohio attorney general who fired the suit. robin, i know you have a personal connection to this. >> good morning michaela. actually i do. it's hard to come by somebody in ohio who hasn't been touched by this personally whether it's family or someone you know who may be addicted to painkillers are worse. ohio's top prosecutor mike dewine he alleges with his suit that these companies, he says misled doctors and people, really trumpening up how they this can help you with the pain its compassionate to make somebody feel better somebody who's in pain. and played down how addictive they really are. and he said it's all about profit. in a parallel perhaps you may remember in the lawsuits we saw years ago in tobacco. what about the numbers, he say more than 3,000 people for example died in 2015 in one state from unintentionally overdosing on what started out for them as a painkiller but then they got addicted. i asked him, aside from how many people died, by the way if you look at a map he said right now ohio thinks they're dealing with 200,000 addicts out of a state about 11 million people. why do we bring this story to you, it's not just ohio we're talking about it's one example, right. and michaela, he said people are so addicted they can't get a job right now, they can't pass a drug test from many cases in the state. grandparents are raising grandchildren in the years that are supposed to be their retirement years. one question i had though is, okay if what you're alleging about these pharmaceutical companies, these companies have money, what do you want out of this? you could be in court here a long time, you're never going to bring back people who died. so i asked what do you want to gain from this as a state. >> what do you want to happen? is it money that ohio wants so that it can deal with a snowball effects that the state has seen? is it that you want -- what exactly are you in for, for? >> first of all, want them to stop doing what they're doing. second, we want them to spend money to roll that back. they've created this culture. they've created this expectation from patients and from physicians. they need to spend some money to start rolling that back. the third thing is they need to reimburse ohioans whove lost a lot of money. fourth, need to reimburse for medicaid, amount of money paid out in medicaid, and the amount of money paid in workers compensation. the economic impact in ohio is very, very hard to describe how bad it is. not only all the people who have died not only their families, but children services are overflowing, for example, with kids today because half of all the kids in foster care and in ohio are there because one or both parents are drug addicts. >> i wonder too about grandparents who have to take care of them. >> detox centers. >> there seems to be a delay, sorry about that, mike. >> grandparents taking care of children is a very common thing today. >> in full disclosure. one of my first cousins in ohio crunched up, apparently, the painkillers he had been on for years, took a nap and never woke up. so are you saying for my aunt, and for all the people who have been affected in ohio, are you saying that this lawsuit, say if ohio wins it, that something could be in it for them in terms of, can't replaced their loved one but they would somehow be repaid for something? what does it mean for them? >> we really don't know until this goes to court. you know, look, anything that they might receive is going to be just trivial to what they're going through. our main concern is to turn this around. we're doing a lot of things at the local level and the attorney general's office and working with local law enforcement and we're also working to try to get people into treatment, which, by the way, is one of the kind of neat things that law enforcement is doing in ohio and a lot of jurisdictions there. they know they can't arrest their way out of this problem, so they're helping to get people into treatment. all of that has to continue, but we've got to get these pharmaceutical companies. they've created this huge, huge mess. they need to be doing some positive things. first of all, they need to stop what they've been doing, what about if all of them got together and said, you know, we're going to spend some money on ads that were accurate ads to try to address this, to try to talk directly to kids, to talk directly to parents? that would be a very positive thing that they could do >> mike, how have you been directly affected, mike dewine here, ohio attorney general that we're talking to if you're just now joining us at this hour, we're talking to mr. dewine because as attorney general of ohio, if you're joining us at this hour, that state is going to take five different big drug makers to court suing, alleging that they had a big part fraudulently in getting lot of people hooked on opioid painkillers. so back to you. how have you been directly affected? a lot of people -- you'd be hard pressed to say that you weren't. >> no, you can't find -- i'll say very few people of our 11 plus million people in ohio have not been impacted in some way. you could go into any group and find people nodding their head when you talk about this problem, people who've lost a cousin or brother, or somebody in their church or at work has died. the thing we don't talk about so much, but imagine parents of children who are in recovery and every single day, every single night they may have adult children who are in recovery. the worries of that child or loved one going to fall off the wagon, are they going to go back and start using, or get a call or knock at the door. it has tremendous emotional impact on people. the things we see in ohio is so many people cannot pass a drug test and so, you know, for these people they're never going to be able to have a lot of jobs. they're never going to be able to be hired to be around equipment or able to drive a lift truck. so many people have been impacted in this way and their kids have been impacted. >> you know, michaela you may remember this comes in tandem, not so long after the governor there, john kasich say well he proposed in any way that doctors should be allowed in most cases to describe seven days worth of opioid poinkillers instead of the maybe couple months worth in a prescription. that would be a big change too. >> robin, i didn't realize the personal connection you had, i'm so sorry about the loss in your family. i should point out, we reached out to all five drug makers named in the lawsuit for a comment, we've not heard back from in do. allergen told us it does not have a comment. we've not heard back from endo. johnson & johnson said quote, we believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. teva says we believe that its better for all concerned that the industry and public officials devote their resources to that addressing the important public issue relating to opioids rather than litigation- and purdue pharma told us quote, we share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis and we're looking to work to find solutions. we'll continue to bring you the very latest. >>>

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On the Story With Erica Hill

Jun 1, 2017 | CNN

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Rough transcript: we're "on the story" in new york. who's to blame for the opioid addiction? government stepping in to fight this growing crisis. >>> and the dash cam video. tiger woods stumbling through a field sobriety test. what more could it tell us? >> cell phone video captured a shootout as two bounty hunters tried to get their man. i'm erica hill. thank you for joining us on the story. the opioid crisis is raging and now governments are fighting back. there is a major change to tell you about for the life-saving drug, it's sold with narcan and we'll get to that in a moment but first, on the battle in ohio. where the state's attorney general, mike dewine, filed a lawsuit against five opioid drug makers. robin mead spoke to them earlier. >> these pharmaceutical companies misled good doctors, primarily, general practitioners. they did it by spending a lot of money and setting up these pseudo groups similar to what the tobacco industry did, they were supposed to be impartial and paid for them. and they misled the public. what they did is they told these doctors and they told the public that this is, these drugs, these wonder drugs that can be valuable for someone who is dying from cancer, for example, they told these doctors, these are not very addictive. well, they are very addictive and they knew that. and they put a lot of money behind this and they really changed the culture. they created a culture in this country that said these pain meds are good and not something you have to worry about. and doctors followed suit. they figured the manufacturer knew what they were talking about but the other interesting thing when you look at the glossy brochures and the other promotion these companies were doing, if you compare that to the fine print, when you open your package and you look at the fine print that i'm sure many people never read, the fine print was much more accurate, but the sales pitch out there was very, very misleading. that has resulted in ohio in so many people who have died as an overdose of the pain meds, but the other thing is we believe about at least 3/4 of people on pain meds, excuse me, on heroin, started with pain meds. the same thing would be true of fentanyl and car fentanyl. they start on the pain meds. you have a blue collar worker who gets injured, he or she goes to the doctor or primary care physician, who relies on what the pharmaceutical company said and they give them the prescription. and tragically, the person becomes addicted. >> you get hooked and then you start going to the cheaper alternative. >> they move over to the heroin. that's right. and go over to fentanyl. >> now, one drug maker, for example, we have to get their side said it's fda approved, they've got warning labels. another said they're fighting against addiction, not for it. what do you want to happen? is it money that ohio wants so that it can deal with a snowball effect that the state has seen and is it that you want, what exactly are you in for for? >> first of all, want them to stop doing what they're doing. second, we want them to spend money to roll that back. they've created this culture. they've created this expectation from patients and from physicians. they need to spend some money to start rolling that back. the third thing is they need to reimburse ohioans whove lost a lot of money. fourth, need to reimburse for medicaid, amount of money paid out in medicaid, and the amount of money paid in workers compensation. the economic impact in ohio is very, very hard to describe how bad it is. not only all the people who have died not only their families, but children services are overflowing, for example, with kids today because half of all the kids in foster care and in ohio are there because one or both parents are drug addicts. >> i wonder too about grandparents who have to take care of them. >> detox centers. >> there seems to be a delay, sorry about that, mike. >> grandparents taking care of children is a very common thing today. >> in full disclosure. one of my first cousins in ohio crunched up, apparently, the painkillers he had been on for years, took a nap and never woke up. so are you saying for my aunt, and for all the people who have been affected in ohio, are you saying that this lawsuit, say if ohio wins it, that something could be in it for them in terms of, can't replaced their loved one but they would somehow be repaid for something? what does it mean for them? >> we really don't know until this goes to court. you know, look, anything that they might receive is going to be just trivial to what they're going through. our main concern is to turn this around. we're doing a lot of things at the local level and the attorney general's office and working with local law enforcement and we're also working to try to get people into treatment, which, by the way, is one of the kind of neat things that law enforcement is doing in ohio and a lot of jurisdictions there. they know they can't arrest their way out of this problem, so they're helping to get people into treatment. all of that has to continue, but we've got to get these pharmaceutical companies. they've created this huge, huge mess. they need to be doing some positive things. first of all, they need to stop what they've been doing, but what about if all of them got together and said, you know, we're going to spend some money on ads that were accurate ads to try to address this, to try to talk directly to kids, to talk directly to parents? that would be a very positive thing that they could do. >> so there you hear what's happening in ohio from the attorney general. in the meantime, in baltimore earlier today, the drug that can treat an overdosing opioid user can be purchased over the counter. why was this change made and what could that mean? commissioner dr.

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Happening Now

Jun 1, 2017 | Fox

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Rough transcript: new information in the battle against opioid abuse in the us. the state of ohio suing five drug companies including them of misrepresenting the risks of prescription pain killers. 33,000 people die in the 2015 due to over dozing on opioids including prescription pain kills as well as heroin. that is more than any year on record according to the cdc. there are five companies named in the suit whichblames the drug makers spending millions prom promoting pain killers like oxycotin and percocet while down playing their addictive qualities.

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MSNBC Live With Hallie Jackson

Jun 1, 2017 | MSNBC

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Rough transcript: the ohio attorney general is suing five pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic accusing the firms of downplaying addiction and the risks of the drugs. the state which has been one of the hardest hit by the opioid crisis wants money in return for the millions of dollars its spent trying to find the epidemic

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Varney & Company

Jun 1, 2017 | Fox

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Rough transcript: he told police he took several prescriptions including vicodin, an opioid pain medication. dr. marc siegel is with us. we didn't show the full tape there, he's wobbly, he can't answer questions straight forwardly. he's caught in the middle of the road asleep. is that a typical behavior of someone who took too many opioids. >> we don't know his case, i never examined him. but of the four pills he reportedly had, he's had multiple back surgeries, too often a patient like that ends up addicted to opioids. they can wobble across the road and problems breathing and we would not want them driving a car. >> now, what makes it addictive. it's not just pain suppression, they work for heaven's sake. is there some kind of psychological effect, make you feel good make you feel high? >> that's part of it stuart but there also a physical addiction. there's an addiction center in the brain this plays to. yes it makes you feel good and you need more and more. 20% of the time according to c.d.c., if you take an opioid pain reliever for noncancer use, you're going to end up addicted. the more you take it and longer time the more likely you'll get addicted. more than 30 days the chances go up over 30 or 40% you'll need it in a year. stuart: the state of ohio is trying to cope with this problem and they're doing that by suing five drug firms, purdue, endo, janssen, cephalon and allergen . they're trying to get over it and suing the makers. is that a good approach? >> well you just had the judge on here, i'm the doctor here. if you take it back to 1980, there was a letter published in new england journal of medicine that said we looked at patients and it's not addictive. the drug companies seized on that to say to doctors, you're undertreating pain. you need to give more of this stuff out and they made more and more and more of it. you know, oxycontin was made in the 1990's. j&j is implicated in this, purdue, allergan, teva, but the point is my blame still falls on the physician. i'm a primary care doctor. 47% of the opioid prescriptions are written by primary care doctors. i'm not one of them. i don't tend to do that. i tend to be the varney of medicine, meaning, stuart, i look at the cause. is it muscular, is it the bone? what's the problem. i don't throw opioids at patients. stuart: we've been through this before. i come to you, i'm a patient that comes to your office, look, i've got chronic back pain. you don't relieve back pain with anything except opioids. they work. what are you going to do to those people. >> couple of points, there are new drugs on the pipeline right now that are going to take care of this without addiction. stuart: they're on the pipeline right now that are going to take care of this. >> in the meantime, heat, muscle relaxants. stuart: do they work as well as opioids. >> yes, chiropractic, and other approaches work as well as opioids. there are so many different approaches that can work just as well as opioids. opioid is a primary care doctor throwing a pill at the problem rather than the cause. the un-varney approach. i believe strongly in this. we got into this problem by not enough education, not enough education in medical school, we need more. the new head of the fda is saying let's have mandatory education for physicians, he's right. >> doctors are part of the problem>>

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Fox and Friends

Jun 1, 2017 | Fox

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Rough transcript: cracking down on the opioid epidemic by taking aim at drugmakers. ohio is suing five leading prescription opioid makers including johnson and johnson. claiming they misled customers to think pain pills like oxycontin weren't addictive. it comes after four ohio coroners ran out of space for bodies because so many people are dyign from overdoses. a record 3050 people died from that state in 2015.

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CNN Newsroom With John Berman and Poppy Harlow

Jun 1, 2017 | CNN

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Rough transcript: ohio's attorney general's filed a lawsuit against five major drug companies. the suit claims they fueled the opioid epidemic that led to "death waves.” the ohio attorney general, mike dewine, says the companies purposely misled doctors and consumers about the risks and effects of these drugs. more than 30,000 people died from opioid and heroin overdoses in 2015. in ohio alone, opioid deaths jumped 36% from 2015 to 2016. >> we reached out to all of the drug makers. all allergen has no comment, Johnson & Johnson said we firmly believe the accusations in the suit are both legally and factually unfounded. and teva says it is important to address the important public health issues relating to opioids, rather than litigation. and purdue pharma told us "w share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis. we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions." joining us now is the attorney general of ohio, mike dewine. thank you for being here. >> good morning. thank you. >> good morning. so, let's get to the evidence, because everyone agrees that the opioid crisis is real, it is urgent, it is devastating american families and claiming far too many lives. the question is who's to blame. so, your lawsuit takes on big pharma, takes on the big drug makers, and it states that these companies overstated the benefits of prescription opioids and understated the risks. you say the evidence shows that they did this to boost profits and deceive physicians who were prescribing these. what's the core of the evidence there? >> well, this we will show in court when we go to court. there's been a consistent pattern year after year to really understate, you know, the danger. and they were leading physicians to believe that this product was not very addictive. they knew that that was simply not true. the epidemic we have in ohio is fueled primarily by the pain med problem. we think about three-fourths of the people who -- at least three-fourths of the people who are on heroin started with pain meds. the same thing would be true with fentanyl. so it's not just the people who are dying in ohio of overdose of the pain meds. it's what ultimately that leads to. they get them addicted, and then they move on from there. so, really you know this is really cutting at the heart and soul of ohio, you know. it is hard to describe the gravity of this problem. we have children's services who are overflowing in foster care with children because one or both parents are drug addicts. 50% of all the kids in foster care in ohio are there because one or both parents are drug addicts. we have got emergency rooms that are overflowing. we've got coroners who simply have run out of money, and you know, it's hard for them to even do the autopsies. it's hard for them to even find space, so it's a tragic problem. >> indeed. the numbers are simply devastating, mr. attorney general, and some of the statistics you cite in your own suit -- in 2012, for instance, opioid prescriptions in ohio, 68 pills a year for every resident, including children. that is staggering! but as to the suit itself, why take it up with the manufacturers and not the distributors? why not go after the people getting these drugs out there or the doctors or the hospitals prescribing them? >> well, we have not said we're not going to go after the distributors, but we looked at this evidence, i've looked at it very long and hard and made the decision that we clearly feel that, you know, we have the evidence to prove this in court, and that's why we have filed. you have to understand, what they did is they targeted general practitioner doctors. that's who they went after. they did not really go after the pain specialists. they go to people you and i would go in to see about any kind of problem. they set up basically fake groups or groups that they funded that were supposed to be impartial, very similar to what the tobacco industry did. and they funded them, and these groups, of course, were promoting the product and saying it's not very addicting. their sales reps were going out and telling doctors, this is really not very addictive, so they grossly understaded the danger-- >> mr. attorney general? not to interrupt, but we're running out of time. i want to get you on this. >> sure. >> president trump has promised, a big campaign promise, i will stem this wave, this epidemic, i will help find a solution for this. looking at the trump budget that's been proposed, it indicates that the office of the national drug policy will receive cuts. and a recent "politico" report notes that the 2018 budget proposal by the white house would slash funding significantly to the substance abuse and mental health administration. those are the vehicles through which help comes to people in your state that is reeling right now. would you support any cuts to either of those departments? >> well, we certainly need more help. and one of the things that senator portman has done and other senators have done is to pass a bill last year, very, very significant. we're starting to see the results of that as some money is coming back to ohio. so, no, everybody has to be involved in this fight. one of the things that i said yesterday is the fact that we have filed this lawsuit against the five pharmaceutical companies should not in any way tell anyone in ohio or anyplace else that we need to stop doing what we're doing. the story in ohio is that while this tsunami continues to come, we've got people in many counties, many communities who are doing great work. they need to keep doing that and we need to keep encouraging them to do that. >> this is something that needs to be handled nationally as well this is a national crisis and we all need to pitch in. attorney general mike dewine of ohio, thank you.

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MTP Daily

Jun 1, 2017 | MSNBC

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Rough transcript: welcome back. tonight i'm obsessed with ohio's republican attorney general mike dewine who has decided to have the state sue five drug manufacturers in effect for causing the state's opioid crisis. his argument is that the manufacturers with the help of distributors, hooked patients on pain medications who then sought cheaper more powerful agents like heroin and synthetic opioids. now it's easy to see how opinion on this can divide fairly quickly you may think dewine is right to go after drug companies because you believe they chose to flood the market with addictive painkillers to flatten their own bottom lines. so how many became street addicts. or you may think this is a problem of blaming others and refusing to take responsibility for their own lives. and yes, dewine is expected to run for governor so there's that. but ohio is not the first to take this step and it won't be the last. if you're thinking hey this sounds a lot like blaiming tobacco manufacturers for lung cancer or like holding gun manufacturers responsible for shooting deaths, you're right. you may agree or disagree. but giving growing opioid crisis in america, and the frustration out there, don't be surprised if this gets contagious. i think you're going to see a lot more of these suits, not less.

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Good Morning America

Jun 1, 2017 | ABC

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Rough transcript: well, five drugmakers are being sued in connection with the opioid crisis. ohio's attorney general accuses the companies of downplaying risks associated with opioids to boost their profits. one of the companies calls the lawsuit unfounded.

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Washington Journal

Jun 1, 2017 | CSPAN

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Rough transcript: here is from ohio, independent line, dave, you are on. caller: top of the morning to you. there are two things happening in ohio that i would like to get your opinion on. one of them is a bill to reduce the cost of drugs. that will be tied to the state of ohio not being able to buy drugs that would cost more than what the v.a. pays. the other thing is the attorney general in ohio is putting a lawsuit through against the manufacturers of opioid drugs. i would like to hear your thoughts on both of those. mr. lipton: it is quite interesting because what has happened in the absence of any significant movement by congress is these prices and fights have shifted to the state capitals. there is legislation pending in these states because the states are paying many of these costs them selves through medicaid as opposed to the federal government with primarily handles medicare. and so, given that congress campaigned -- it can talk a lot about the high prices and do press conferences, they can write lots of letters, but they can't seem to pass legislation to combat the problem. so the fight has shifted to the states to a large extent. so the pharmaceutical industries and the other players are very well and intensely engaged in the state capitals across the united states, including ohio, where there is probably a better chance of actually getting legislation passed. but then you have this patchwork of rules across the united states that the industry hates and, for good reason. it is complicated to have potentially 50 different sets of rules on how drugs are priced and it makes more sense to have a national system. but to answer your question, is it a fight that has shifted to the states? it is simultaneously going on in washington and state capitals. the opioid thing is not related to price but how the drugs are manufactured, in a way that makes them seem to be prone to abuse. there is allegations that the manufacturers were aware that their drugs could be abused and perhaps did not take aggressive steps to change the way the drugs are manufactured to make it less likely that they would be abused. to some extent, they benefit from the sales of the drugs even if they are being used for religion and purposes. litigation is pending that makes that allegation. i haven't read a complaint -- i have read the stories that i haven't read the complaint so it is unclear to me what is specifically alleged. pedro: the washington correspondent for the new york times, eric lipton talking about his recent story, looking at lobbying in the prescription drug industry. you can find that story on the website

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Morning Express With Robin Meade

Jun 1, 2017 | CNN

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Rough transcript: ohio is suing five big drug companies saying that they're not forthcoming enough about how addictive opiate painkillers are. now, jen, a lot of states have a problem. ohio really has a problem dealing with this. now apparently the attorney general coming at it from this angle. >> financial analysts say maybe this is like when states started suing big tobacco. ohio's top prosecutor alleges that those five companies misled doctors by trumping up how much they help with pain and playing down how addictive these medicines can be. leading doctors to prescribe so many that at one point there were 68 pills for every man, woman, and child in 2012 prescribed. obviously children weren't taking them, but it shows you how many pills were out there. . >> these companies got thousands and thousands and thousands of ohioans. our friends or family members, our co-workers, our kids addicted to opioid pain medications. >> one drug maker says the painkiller are fda approved and have warning labels. another said they're fighting against addiction, not for it. but southern ohio is one of the areas worst hate not just in the state but in the country by the opioid crisis.

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Closing Bell

Jun 1, 2017 | CNBC

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Rough transcript: first up, ohio is suing five drug forms for fuelling the opioid crisis, they include purdue, jansen, which is now part of j & j, tevlon and allergan, mike. i'm wondering if we are looking at the next tobacco mega settlement. >> i think the pressure will stay on because of allegations they weren't clear about how exactly how addictive some of the drugs were and also the prescription guidance and the practices of the doctors. the difference to me with tobacco is cigarettes if used as directed and intended kill you. so it's not exactly the same situation. >> good point. >>

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ABC6 News at Noon

May 31, 2017 | WSYX ABC Columbus, OH

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Rough transcript:

fighting back against the opioid crisis, ohio attorney general is taking on several national drug companies, announced major legislation to sue them. abc6's tom bosco joins us with more on the lawsuit and what mike dewine hopes to accomplish. >> tom: yeah, terri, this is that lawsuit. it's more than a hundred pages. it's got five plaintiffs in it -- five defendants, rather, that are those pharmaceutical manufacturers. excuse me. including purdue pharma. and others. basically those are the makers of drugs like oxycontin and other opioid-based medicines. The attorney general says those medicines are behind the opioid crisis that we are in. the attorney general claims those companies fraudulently told doctors and the medical industry that they were not as powerful and not as addictive as they actually were. and he says, those drugs led to the opioid crisis which has claimed thousands of lives. among those lives, the daughter of kristina arredendo of ross county. She spoke at the press conference today and puts the blame for her daughter's death squarely on those drug companies. >> there was even an advocate the other day that was speaking about, i understand that addiction is a choice in the beginning. i told him, except for when it's not. when you are handed a prescription that says take this, you had some teeth pulled, take this for a couple weeks, you will be okay. and then all the sudden, you have this craving and this desire that overrules everything in your entire world. i see it every day. >> i wouldn't say there's any one tipping point. >> and the attorney general says he has seen it every day as well. this has been a major part of his term in office dealing with this. he has filed this lawsuit in ross county saying that is one of the epicenters of this epidemic of opioid addiction and the deaths. now, he also admits that this could take years to go through the court system. he wants those drug companies to admit their mistake and he also wants money from them, an unspecified amount that would go to help repay taxpayers for the cost of dealing with this. much more tonight at 5 and 6, for now reporting live, tom bosco, abc6 news.

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ABC6 News at Noon

May 31, 2017 | WSYX ABC Columbus, OH

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Rough transcript:

the state of ohio is going after major drug companies for selling opioids. the attorney general says they are putting profits before the health of ohioans. according to the u.s. department of health and human services, more than 90 americans die every day after overdosing on opioids. now, mike dewine wants to change that. abc6's tom bosco just listened to that announcement. tom. >> tom: yeah, terri, we just got out of a press conference in which mike dewine introduced this. this is a 100 page lawsuit against five major pharmaceutical makers. basically, he has claimed that those companies, as you said, put profits before patients health. that they used slick, smooth presentations and slick brochures to dupe doctors. essentially telling doctors that opioid medications were not as powerful, not as addictive as they have turned out to be. essentially blaming them for the opioid crisis that has hit ohio and other states. basically, mike dewine says the pharmaceutical companies lied about their product. >> these drug companies knew that what they were saying was wrong. but they did it anyway. and they continue to do so. despite all evidence to the contrary about the addictive nature of these pain medications, they are doing precious little to take responsibility for their actions and to tell the public the truth. >> tom: this lawsuit was filed in ross county. The county seat there is chillicothe. that is one of the counties that has been hit among the hardest by the opioid crisis in ohio. although dewine today in his press conference admitted there are many places in ohio that he could have done this if he was looking for a symbol of the opioid crisis. dewine admits this could last years. it is not clear exactly how much the state could get out of this once it wins. there is much to look at and discern. we will take a look at it and find out more information to give you in half hour. for now reporting live in downtown columbus, i'm tom bosco, abc6 news.

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New 9 Midday

May 31, 2017 | WTOV NBC Wheeling, WV

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Rough transcript:

Ohio attorney general mike delight has filed a lawsuit against five major drug manufacturers over the opioid addiction epidemic in the state. Dewine said the companies but profit over the health and wellbeing of consumers when they marketed the drugs misleading health officials. he said they flooded the market giving doctors misleading information about the benefits and addiction risks. according to statistics from dewine 2.3 million ohioans were prescribed opioids in 2016.

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Fast Money Halftime Report

May 31, 2017 | CNBC

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Rough Transcript: Scott, the Ohio Attorney General is suing five makers of prescription opioid drugs saying it violated state laws including for four of them the Ohio corrupt practices act also saying they violated medicaid fraud. those drug makers include Purdue pharma which is a private company, Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Endo pharmaceuticals and Allergan. none of them getting hit very hard. we have reached out to Johnson & Johnson getting back to us, telling us, quote, we firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are legally and factually unfounded saying they believe they've acted appropriately and responsibly. I just heard back from Purdue pharma saying they investing in deterrent technology for the opioid crisis. This the second state suit filed after one in Mississippi against makers of these prescription opioids.

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Cavuto: Coast to Coast

May 31, 2017 | Fox Business

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Rough Transcript:
Follow this one because this will be big. Ohio is suing five drug firms saying that they have helped fuel the so-called opioid crisis. Allergan, Purdue pharma, Endo health solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Cephalon. Again, this is the first time a state Attorney General in this case followed up on a specific drug companies as, contributing, i should say, to the opioid trend that has bedeviled so many states. We will keep you updated on that. a little to early to say what the long term market impact will be, especially if other states opt to follow suit here

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The Now Cincinnati

May 31, 2017 | WCPO ABC Cincinnati, OH

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Rough Transcript:
Acountability and justice. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says those are the motivators behind a lawsuit against five of the largest pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids. in an announcement today, he said their deceptive marketing led to Ohio's opioid crisis. crisis.these companies including, Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen, Cephulon and Allergan put profits above the health and well being of Ohio consumers. And they did this by flooding the market with misleading information about the risks and benefits of opioids including oxycontin, percocet and many others. others. We have reached out to the companies named in the suit for their response - but haven't heard back. DeWine, by the way, is running for governor next year.

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12 News First at 4

May 31, 2017 | WWBT NBC Richmond, VA

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The state of Ohio is about to go head to head with some of the nation's largest drug manufacturers over the opioid crisis. today, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against five drug companies that manufacturer opioids. it's the second state to file such a suit following Mississippi. DeWine noted that he filed this suit in Ross county in southern Ohio where there is a large number of opioid addiction cases. he called the lawsuit a moral obligation. >> my office filed a lawsuit against five of the largest drug manufacturers of brand name and generic opiates. companies that we conclude spent millions of dollars to deceptively market their drugs, leading our state's worst public health crisis. >> Columbus dispatch says in 2016, more tn 4,000 people in Ohio died from accidental drug overdoses. that's a 36 percent increase from the previous year

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The NOW

May 31, 2017 | WEWS ABC Cleveland, OH

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Right now legal action is being taken to fight Ohio's opioid epidemic. the state is suing five pharmaceutical companies claiming the drugmakers down-played the risks of using oxycontin and percocet. tracy carloss is digging into the lawsuit. Tracy this is pretty unusual? >> reported: yes, lee. Ohio is only the second state in the country to file a lawsuit like this. Ohio has been called ground zero by some experts in the opioid epidemic. last year in cuyahoga county alone, 666 people died from opioid overdoses. now the Ohio Attorney General is moving the battle into the court room. mike DeWine announced hours ago that Ohio filed lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers. >> we believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands and thousands of Ohioans, friends, family members, coworkers our kids, addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to the use of cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids. >> reporter: now, Mississippi was the first state to file a lawsuit like. Purdue pharma said in a statement that the company shares the concerns of Ohio's Attorney General

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News 10 at 4p

May 31, 2017 | WILX NBC Lansing, MI

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there's a new drug unit dedicated to prosecuting opioid-related crimes. it's called the "opioid trafficking and interdiction unit"--- a division of the michigan Attorney General's office. bill schuette announced the unit today-- which is focused on cutting off the heroin and pill supply--- and making sure law enforcement can prosecute those involved. the unit has already taken on more than forty cases... with six people already behind bars... and fifteen others currently facing charges. the unit will also take on felony murder cases in which it's alleged the delivery of opioids has caused death. five drug makers are being sued over the opioid epidemic. Ohio's Attorney General is accusing the companies for perpetrating the state's addiction crisis by intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers. a record three-thousand-fifty people in Ohio died from drug overdoses in 2015--- a number that is expected to jump once 2016 figures are tallied. "this lawsuit is about justice, it's about fairness, it's about what is right. it just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess in the state of Ohio should pay to clean it up.... it is a human tragedy of epic proportion, ripping families apart, tearing at the fabric of our communities, and holding our state back." one of the drug makers named in the suit--- Purdue, which makes oxycontin--- released the following statement in regards to the lawsuit... saying--- quoting now "we share the Attorney General's concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions." Purdue did not say if it was challenging the lawsuit.

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News 8 at 4p

May 31, 2017 | WGAL NBC Harrisburg, PA

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Rough Transcript:
More health news at 4:00. the state of Ohio is going head to head with some of the nation's largest drug manufacturers to battle the opioid crisis. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that his office has filed a lawsuit against five drug companies that manufacture opioids saying they , deceptively marketed the drugs. it's the second state to file such a lawsuit, Mississippi being the first. >> These drug companies knew that what they were saying was wrong, but they did it anyway. and they continue to do so. DeWine said it was his moral obligation to launch the lawsuit.

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