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Ohio
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Dayton, Ohio sues drug manufacturers, distributors over opioids
Jun 6, 2017 | Reuters Westlaw
By Nate Raymond
The city of Dayton, Ohio has become the latest local or state government to file a lawsuit seeking to hold drugmakers and wholesale distributors accountable for the national opioid addiction epidemic. -
Cranley: Cincinnati should sue opioid makers amid heroin crisis (OPINION)
Jun 7, 2017 | WCPO Cincinatti
By Lisa Bernard-Kuhn and Paula Christian
Mayor John Cranley says Cincinnati is poised to join other Ohio cities that are taking legal aim against the country’s top makers of prescription opioids. -
Dayton, Lorain Sue Drug Makers And Distributors For Alleged Role In Opioid Crisis
Jun 6, 2017 | WCBE Ohio Public Radio
By Jim Letizia
The cities of Dayton and Lorain are suing drug companies amid the state's opioid crisis. Their lawsuits go further than one filed recently by the Ohio Attorney General because they target distributors such as Dublin-Based Cardinal Health, as well as some out-of-state doctors who prescribed opioids. Ohio Public Radio's Andy Chow reports. -
City Of Dayton Sues Drug Manufacturers
Jun 6, 2017 | WMFD North Central Ohio
Dayton becomes the first city in Ohio to sue drug makers over the opioid crisis. "We want them to pay for what we're having to do because they started the mess," says Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. Mayor Nan Whaley didn't hesitate to take aim at what she calls "Big Pharma." -
Ohio sues drug companies over opioids
Jun 6, 2017 | KDVR Fox Denver
The state of Ohio is suing at least five of the largest drug makers in the country. They are the makers of Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin and other opioids that Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine says were sold and marketed as non-addictive. -
FOX 45 News at Eleven on ABC
Jun 6, 2017 | ABC Dayton, OH
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/27669629?token=38dd425a-cab5-40bb-a493-bbb2dc1eb978 -
Fox 59 News: Live at Five
Jun 6, 2017 | FOX Indianapolis, IN
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/27669672?token=38dd425a-cab5-40bb-a493-bbb2dc1eb978 -
Take a break from politics with these 5 important stories
Jun 6, 2017 | PBS Newshour
By Joshua Barajas, Erica R. Hendry and Jenny Marder
Discussion of the lawsuit in PBS News' evening roundup of news. Relevant section included below. -
Ohio targets 5 opioid manufacturers, alleging fraudulent marketing
Jun 6, 2017 | Legal Newsline
By Mark Iandolo
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a lawsuit May 31 against five prescription opioid manufacturers for allegations of fraudulent marketing about the risks of opioids. -
Our Views: AG Schimel, take on the opioid makers (Editorial)
Jun 6, 2017 | Walworth County Gazette Xtra (WI)
Ohio’s Republican attorney general, Mike DeWine, last week launched one of the nation’s most comprehensive lawsuits against drug companies most responsible for kick-starting the opioid epidemic. -
Opioid Makers Charged in Pain Killer Lawsuit
Jun 7, 2017 | The Jewish Voice
By Kristina Stukalenko
Ohio recently followed the lead of Mississippi and filed a lawsuit against the maker of prescription painkillers. The lawsuit will be brought against five drug companies that have been linked to what the Attorney General refers to as a statewide opioid addiction crisis.
Dayton Lawsuit
Ross County Lawsuit
Full Text of Stories Below
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Dayton, Ohio sues drug manufacturers, distributors over opioids
Jun 6, 2017 | Reuters Westlaw
By Nate Raymond
The city of Dayton, Ohio has become the latest local or state government to file a lawsuit seeking to hold drugmakers and wholesale distributors accountable for the national opioid addiction epidemic.
The city filed the lawsuit in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas on Monday, just days after the Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine brought a high-profile lawsuit against five drugmakers that manufacture opioids.
To read the full story on WestlawNext Practitioner Insights, click here: bit.ly/2sQ6yUJ
Remainder of article behind a paywall accessible here: http://www.reuters.com/article/health-dayton-idUSL1N1J31XO
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Cranley: Cincinnati should sue opioid makers amid heroin crisis (OPINION)
Jun 7, 2017 | WCPO Cincinatti
By Lisa Bernard-Kuhn and Paula Christian
Mayor John Cranley says Cincinnati is poised to join other Ohio cities that are taking legal aim against the country’s top makers of prescription opioids.
The city of Dayton this week sued more than 20 opioid drug makers, distributors and doctors.
The lawsuit alleges that deceptive marketing by drug makers and distributors and unethical prescribing practices by physicians sparked the surging rate of painkiller addiction and overdoses.
"The heroin epidemic was no accident," said Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a democrat who is also running for governor. "These big drug companies have destroyed too many lives, broken too many families and done so much damage to our communities.”
The city of Lorain has filed a similar lawsuit, and both follow a legal battle launched last week by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine against the country’s top five largest opioid makers.
Cranley said he’s been working with the city’s solicitor office for “months” to explore similar legal actions.
“We thought we were going to be ready by now but the lawyer we talked to for several months told us at the last minute that he had a conflict,” Cranley said. “Just as Mike Dewine and Nan Whaley did ... we intend to get involved as well.”
WCPO Insiders can read more about the legal maneuvers communities are taking up to battle the opioid epidemic.
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Dayton, Lorain Sue Drug Makers And Distributors For Alleged Role In Opioid Crisis
Jun 6, 2017 | WCBE Ohio Public Radio
By Jim Letizia
The cities of Dayton and Lorain are suing drug companies amid the state's opioid crisis.
Their lawsuits go further than one filed recently by the Ohio Attorney General because they target distributors such as Dublin-Based Cardinal Health, as well as some out-of-state doctors who prescribed opioids. Ohio Public Radio's Andy Chow reports.
The cities of Dayton and Lorain are filing suit against nearly two dozen drug manufacturers and distributors.
Democratic Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley says the drug companies misled doctors in thinking that the pills were not addictive.
A similar argument in the lawsuit Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine filed last week. But DeWine chose not to go after drug distributors and Whaley is.
Whaley: “We’ve always had the plan to hold everyone accountable and definitely distributors and manufacturers are culpable in it.”
DeWine is expected to run for governor next year. Whaley mentioned action against drug companies in launching her campaign last month.
Listen to audio clip here: http://wcbe.org/post/dayton-lorain-sue-drug-makers-and-distributors-alleged-role-opioid-crisis
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City Of Dayton Sues Drug Manufacturers
Jun 6, 2017 | WMFD North Central Ohio
Dayton becomes the first city in Ohio to sue drug makers over the opioid crisis.
"We want them to pay for what we're having to do because they started the mess," says Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
Mayor Nan Whaley didn't hesitate to take aim at what she calls "Big Pharma."
Pharmaceutical companies she says make painkillers that get people hooked opiates and opioids, then leaves them searching for dangerous alternatives like heroin and fentanyl.
"The drug companies we know are profiting and we are paying for it, taxpayers are paying for it," Mayor Whaley says.
The mayor says Dayton Police have already responded to 1,800 calls in 2017 that center around suspected overdoses.
Dayton follows Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's lawsuit last week against five companies.
But I obtained some of the language in Dayton's suit, which names more than two dozen makers and distributors.
"We're trying everything," says Sen. Rob Portman.
Ohio Senator Rob Portman has spent the last couple of years seeking more federal funding for the war on opioids and opiates.
He says going after pharmaceutical companies is just one part of a solution.
He wants more education and prevention.
"Keep the fentanyl out of the Miami Valley, it comes from one country mostly, china, it comes in through the postal system," Sen. Portman says.
But the prevention, treatment, and education, plus service calls are overwhelming first responders.
The mayor believes pharmaceutical companies should help foot that bill.
" We don't think it's fair those resources should be paid for by Dayton taxpayers," Mayor Whaley says.
The city of Lorain has also sued drug manufacturers.
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Ohio sues drug companies over opioids
Jun 6, 2017 | KDVR Fox Denver
The state of Ohio is suing at least five of the largest drug makers in the country.
They are the makers of Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin and other opioids that Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine says were sold and marketed as non-addictive.
Dewine calls them the spark that lead to the opioid epidemic.
Even though other states have filed suit against the same companies, Dewine says Ohio has been hit particularly hard saying that it is overwhelming some of the states smallest and poorest communities.
Colorado state Rep. Brittany Petersen is like many other Coloradoans with loved ones battling addictions.
For 29 years her mother relied on opioid medication and in recent years turned to heroin. Petersen has been an advocate against over-prescribing and believes something needs to be done.
"I think we need to take every action and every step possible to address this issue," Petersen said. "I think it's well documented that pharmaceutical companies knew how addictive these drugs were and unfortunately they were pushed on doctors to over-prescribed now we find ourselves in this situation in Colorado."
The Ohio lawsuit alleges the drug companies engaged in fraudulent marketing regarding the risks and benefits of prescription opioids. Petersen believes the problem isn't isolated to just Ohio.
"This is an epidemic, a public health crisis," Petersen said.
Although the state is seeking unspecified damages, Dewine says opioid addiction is costing hundreds of millions of dollars for medicaid and police and fire services all across the state.
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Jun 6, 2017 | ABC Dayton, OH
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/27669629?token=38dd425a-cab5-40bb-a493-bbb2dc1eb978
Rough transcript: attorney general mike dewine talking about a lawsuit against several drug manufacturers. last week dewine filed suit on behalf of ohio against a number of big drug manufacturers. he believes by allowing painkillers to be sold it is a pathway to the opioid epidemic that we have been seeing here for the past few years. >> the mayor indicated before that she was thinking about filing a lawsuit. we think this is fine, i'm encouraging other states to get involved, we are the second state, mississippi filed about a year ago. >> adam: Whaley is running to become ohio's next governor and so far dewine hasn't made a formal announcement
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Jun 6, 2017 | FOX Indianapolis, IN
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/27669672?token=38dd425a-cab5-40bb-a493-bbb2dc1eb978
Rough transcript: ohio cities are suing opioid makers. this could be a big move. the cities of lorain and dayton voted to sue a number of drug makers and distributors. they say the drug makers are partially to blame for this problem. the state of ohio filed a similar lawsuit just last week.
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Take a break from politics with these 5 important stories
Jun 6, 2017 | PBS Newshour
By Joshua Barajas, Erica R. Hendry and Jenny Marder
1. Ohio sues drug makers for their role in the opioid epidemic
Ohio is suing five drugmakers over its opioid epidemic, saying the companies misled both doctors and patients about the risks of their medications, “unleash[ing] a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the State of Ohio.”
The lawsuit, filed last week by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, says five major drugmakers, including Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Johnson & Johnson, “continues to spend 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.”
“They knew all of it was wrong, and they did it anyway,” DeWine said in a news conference Wednesday.
More than 25,000 people died of an opioid overdose in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control — more than 3,000 of them in Ohio. In the first two months of 2017, state officials tallied at least one overdose a day, NBC reported last week.
“OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, “Purdue Pharma said in a statement. “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.”
Why it’s important
“Deaths from prescription opioids—like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone—have more than quadrupled since 1999,” the CDC says. Today, more than six out of 10 overdose deaths in the U.S. are related to the drugs.
Opioid manufacturing was an $11 billion industry in 2016, the lawsuit claims. In 2012, doctors prescribed 793 million doses of opioids to Ohioans — “enough to supply every man, woman and child in the state with 68 pills each,” it says.
DeWine told NPR his state is home to 200,000 people addicted to opioids. It sees 10 to 12 opioid-related deaths every day, he said. While some people have also pointed to doctors’ role in prescribing these medications — and hospitals and medical associations are rethinking how to use opioids when managing pain — DeWine told NPR that drug makers “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.”
The lawsuit in Ohio — and a similar pending case filed in 2015 by the state of Mississippi — marks a new strategy in fighting the crisis: going directly after the source. At least 11 counties in West Virginia — where manufacturers flooded the market with 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills over the course of six years, according to a Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation — have taken similar action.
It’s a strategy several states also used in the 1990s against the tobacco industry, the New York Times points out, which ultimately paid out $200 billion in settlements.
A decade ago, Purdue Pharma paid out more than $630 million after pleading guilty in a federal court for “making misleading claims”about its drug Oxycontin and the associated risks of addiction. But some states, like Kentucky, were unhappy with the settlement and decided to go after drugmakers on their own.
In 2015, Kentucky settled with Purdue and another pharmaceutical company for nearly $40 million, though the manufacturers did not admit wrongdoing or liability as part of the settlement, Cleveland.com points out.
How the pending cases play out could set a new precedent for how lawmakers can market their drugs — and what responsibility, if any, they have in how doctors and patients use them.
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Ohio targets 5 opioid manufacturers, alleging fraudulent marketing
Jun 6, 2017 | Legal Newsline
By Mark Iandolo
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a lawsuit May 31 against five prescription opioid manufacturers for allegations of fraudulent marketing about the risks of 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.
"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 involved in the lawsuit are Purdue Pharma, marketer of OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, and Targiniq, Endo Health Solutions, the marketer of Percocet, Percodan, Opana and Zydone, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, the marketers Actiq and Fentora, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, marketers of Duragesic and Nucynta, and Allergan, marketer of Kadian, Norco and a multitude of generic opioids.
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Our Views: AG Schimel, take on the opioid makers (Editorial)
Jun 6, 2017 | Walworth County Gazette Xtra (WI)
Ohio’s Republican attorney general, Mike DeWine, last week launched one of the nation’s most comprehensive lawsuits against drug companies most responsible for kick-starting the opioid epidemic.
“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 May 31 news conference.
Yes, it is.
And it’s about time states seek justice for drug makers misleading the public about the dangerous nature of prescription painkillers. Ohio’s mess is also Wisconsin’s mess, and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel should join Ohio in suing these five drug makers: Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Allergan PLC and Endo International’s health unit.
Depending on how many states get involved, this litigation could take on historic proportions, perhaps rivaling the $206 billion settlement won by states from tobacco companies during the 1990s. The Ohio suit references the Big Tobacco suit and argues drug companies used tactics similar to those employed by tobacco companies to deceive patients and doctors about the risks of long-term opioid use.
It took years for the public to fully understand the extent of Big Tobacco’s cover-up, and we’ve only begun to get to the bottom of the scope of the pharmaceutical industry’s dishonesty. Drug makers claim they’ve never advocated for misusing medications, but their denials lack credibility amid one of the worst drug epidemics this nation has ever experienced.
These companies worked for years to manipulate the public’s perception, beginning in the 1990s when drug makers advanced a false narrative about the public suffering from a “pain epidemic.” As an investigation conducted last year by the Associated Press and Center for Public Integrity found, drug makers pumped millions of dollars into lobbying firms that sought to persuade lawmakers and the public that opioids would solve this made-up problem. To be sure, some people suffer from pain and painkillers have appropriate uses, but prescribing them became an all-too-routine event in many doctor offices, giving rise to pill mills in many states.
What both doctors and patients failed to realize is these drugs are powerfully addictive, and many doctors compounded the problem by cutting off addicts’ supplies without giving patients proper treatment. The result—as we are now aware—is thousands of users turning to heroin and synthetic versions, such as fentanyl.
No community is immune from this crisis. In Janesville only two weeks ago, two cousins overdosed, and one of them died.
Lawmakers claim they want to end this crisis, but their efforts so far have been more symbolic than substantive. Too many addicts go without treatment because it’s not available, unaffordable, or both.
But with Ohio’s lawsuit, Wisconsin lawmakers and Attorney General Schimel no longer have an excuse to sit on the sidelines and complain they lack the resources to combat this problem.
If the lawsuits against opioid makers follow a trajectory similar to the ones against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, states could reap billions of dollars. This kind of money could pay for more treatment for addicts and help the state make real progress toward ending, or at least getting under control, the opioid epidemic.
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Opioid Makers Charged in Pain Killer Lawsuit
Jun 7, 2017 | The Jewish Voice
By Kristina Stukalenko
Ohio recently followed the lead of Mississippi and filed a lawsuit against the maker of prescription painkillers. The lawsuit will be brought against five drug companies that have been linked to what the Attorney General refers to as a statewide opioid addiction crisis.
The complaint against the companies was filed in state court against Ross County last Wednesday. It will target parent companies and various subsidiaries. The companies that are set to be sued include Purdue Pharma L.P., Johnson & Johnson; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.; Allergan PLC and Endo International PLC’s Endo Health Solutions unit.
Johnson & Johnson denied the allegations. The other companies either declined to comment or said officials were reviewing the allegations.
Mississippi filed a similar lawsuit against these five companies in 2015 and the suit is currently pending. The Attorney General of Ohio, Mike De Wine(R) filed the suit on behalf of the State of Ohio. De Wine stated at a news conference that the aforesaid companies have been dishonest with doctors and the general public regarding the risks associated with the painkillers.
"The evidence is going to show they knew what they were saying was not true and they did it to increase sales," he said.
Mr. DeWine spoke about the toll that opioid addiction was taking on the population of the State of Ohio, which currently has the highest opioid death rate of any state. The financial toll is also staggering. Ohio pays a high price for the actions of the pharmaceutical companies. There has been a precipitous increase in Medicaid programs that offer substance abuse treatment related to opioid addiction and foster-care programs that have to accommodate children that have been abandoned because of opioid addicted parents.
At the press conference, the attorney general described the toll that opioid addiction was taking on the overall productive potential of the civilian population. “You have so many people today who can’t take a drug test, who can’t work in a factory, who can’t be employed to drive a car or work in a factory, who can’t be employed to drive a car or work around machinery or be a store manager at McDonalds because they can’t pass a drug test.”
This is not the first time that the government is taking a stand to protect Americans from Big Pharma. The government has already pursued legal action against Purdue in the past, suing the company for the improper marketing of the painkiller OxyContin. The government won substantial settlements from that company. Other cities and counties have also pursued lawsuits against opioid painkillers and makers.
In response to the attorney general’s grievances, a representative from Johnson & Johnson stated “We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded….Johnson & Johnson 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 was more sensitive in its response to the accusations alleged in the complaint. "We share the attorney general's concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
In fact, one of the most forceful documented blows to the pharmaceutical industry came when the government sued Purdue Frederick Co. in 2007. Three of Purdue’s executive pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal charges of misleading the public regarding the addictive quality of OxyContin. The company ended up paying the State and federal governments $634.5 million in fines.
Dayton Lawsuit
Ross County Lawsuit
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