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Opioid Coverage (6/22) Morning Report

Missouri AG Lawsuit Coverage

In lawsuit, Missouri says big pharma caused opioid crisis with ‘campaign of fraud and deception’
Jun 22, 2017 | The Washington POst
By Katie Mettler

Helen Fabick was an honors student who in February 2014 was supposed to attend a daddy-daughter dance at her high school.
Missouri sues opioid manufacturers for fraud, hiding risks
Jun 21, 2017 | RT (Russia Today)

Missouri became the third US state to accuse major drug manufacturers of misrepresenting the risks posed by opioids. About 500 Missourians have died in 2015 from non-heroin opioid overdoses, and thousands of others were hospitalized.
Missouri attorney general sues three opioid drugmakers over false claims, advertising
Jun 21, 2017 | KBIA Radio
By Durrie Bouscaren

The state of Missouri filed suit Wednesday against three major drug companies, alleging they fueled the nation’s opioid epidemic with a campaign of false advertising and fake claims.
Missouri attorney general sues three opioid manufacturers
Jun 21, 2017 | The Joplin Globe
By Crystal Thomas

With opioid manufacturers making millions in Missouri, Attorney General Josh Hawley is hoping to recoup some of those dollars on behalf of the "countless" lives destroyed by addiction and overdoses.
Statewide efforts aim to combat opioid epidemic
Jun 21, 2017 | NBC Montana
By Madison Dapcevich

MISSOULA, Mont. - It’s been called a national epidemic unlike any other. Overdose is the leading killer in the United States, now surpassing HIV, car crashes and gun deaths at their peak.
facebook twitter reddit Comment 'Fraud, Deception' Led To Opioid Crisis In Missouri, Says Attorney General
Jun 21, 2017 | Tech Times
By Alyssa Navarro

A "deliberate campaign" of fraud and deception from three pharmaceutical companies has led to the current opioid crisis in Missouri, the state's attorney general accused on Wednesday, June 21.
Health Care Up as Trump Order Seen Helping Drug Makers -- Health Care Roundup
Jun 21, 2017 | Dow Jones
By Rob Curran

Shares of health-care companies rose as traders bet the Trump administration wouldn't crack down on drug prices.
Missouri AG accusing several pharmaceutical companies of creating the opioid crisis for profit
Jun 21, 2017 | KMBC News 9
By Michael Mahoney

Did big pharmaceutical companies create the opioid crisis? Advertisement The state of Missouri says they did. In a lawsuit, the Missouri Attorney General is accusing some of the biggest drug companies in America of creating the nation's opioid crisis for their own profit.
Missouri AG files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers (video)
Jun 21, 2017 | KSDK
By Ashley Cole and Marianne Martinez

ST. LOUIS - Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced a lawsuit against three opioid manufacturers on Wednesday.
Opioid epidemic in the Ozarks continues as attorney general files lawsuit (video)
Jun 21, 2017 | KY3
By Linda Russell and Tom Schulteis

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Missouri's attorney general today filed a lawsuit against three big pharmaceutical companies, claiming the companies fraudulently misrepresented the risks posed by the opiods they manufacture and sell.
Missouri attorney general sues three pharmaceutical companies alleging fraud
| Missourinet
By Jill Enders

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is taking the state’s fight against the opioid epidemic through the court system. On Wednesday, Hawley filed a lawsuit in St. Louis Circuit Court against three pharmaceutical companies, alleging that these companies fraudulently and deliberately misrepresented the addictive risks of opioids. Named in the suit are Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Other Coverage

Twin Counties may join lawsuit against big pharma for opioid epidemic expenses
Jun 22, 2017 | Columbia-Greene Media
By Richard Moody

Columbia and Greene counties are considering joining a statewide lawsuit against several pharmaceutical companies that accuses the companies of falsely advertising such drugs as safe and nonaddictive.
Will the Law Treat Opioids More Like Cigarettes or Handguns?
Jun 22, 2017 | Bloomberg
By Paul Barrett

In late May, Ohio followed Mississippi, the City of Chicago, and counties in New York and California, among others, in filing suit against drug makers for marketing powerful painkillers in allegedly misleading ways. The defendants—which include Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.—deny wrongdoing and say they’ve acted responsibly. Meanwhile, attorneys general of another group of states—Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont—have also been issuing opioid-related subpoenas without naming the companies they’re investigating or committing themselves to going to court.

Missouri AG Lawsuit Coverage

In lawsuit, Missouri says big pharma caused opioid crisis with ‘campaign of fraud and deception’

Jun 22, 2017 | The Washington POst

By Katie Mettler

Helen Fabick was an honors student who in February 2014 was supposed to attend a daddy-daughter dance at her high school.
Instead, the 17-year-old’s father found her dead in her bed.
“If this sounds like a nightmare, it has definitely been a nightmare for our family,” Helen’s mother, Jammie Fabick, said during a news conference Wednesday with Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley. “It’s something no parent should ever have to do, to bury her own child, to something so senseless.”
Fabick and Hawley stood together in St. Louis as the state’s top lawyer announced he was suing three pharmaceutical giants he claims are responsible for a “coordinated campaign of fraud and deception” that has led to Missouri’s current opioid crisis.
The lawsuit, Hawley said, will seek “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damages and civil penalties from Endo Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is owned by Johnson & Johnson, reported the Associated Press.
He said the companies have used fraudulent science to mislead patients on the addictive risks of opioids and “profited from the suffering of Missourians.”
“They used bogus front organizations and fake research; they used fraudulent advertising and deceptive trade practices,” Hawley said in prepared remarks, according to Reuters. “And they repeatedly lied about the true risks of the drugs they sold.”
In Missouri in 2015, thousands of people were hospitalized from non-heroin opioid overdoses and about 500 people died, according to the AP.
Yet it’s the only state in the country with no prescription drug monitoring system, a database that experts have said is a crucial step to curbing addiction and overdoses.
Proposals have languished in the legislature for half a dozen sessions.
At the news conference Wednesday, Hawley said Missouri lawmakers “should act to pass a prescription drug monitoring program” as just one of several efforts to “address what is a national epidemic but one that has had serious consequences here in the state of Missouri,” reported the AP.
With Hawley’s lawsuit, Missouri becomes the third state to legally challenge the pharmaceutical industry over the current opioid epidemic.
In 2015, Mississippi sued several drug companies, and just last month Ohio filed its own lawsuit against five pharmaceutical groups. Purdue, Endo and Johnson & Johnson were cited in both, reported Reuters.
Endo told the Kansas City Star it would not comment on pending litigation, but Stephen Mock, the vice president for investor relations and corporate affairs wrote in an email that the company’s “top priorities include patient safety and ensuring that patients with chronic pain have access to safe and effective therapeutic options.”
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A spokesman for Purdue vigorously denied the allegations, reported the Star, but said the company shares “the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions.”
A Janssen spokeswoman told the Star that the company had “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 March, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) launched an investigation into five top opioid manufacturers and their alleged role in the deaths of more than 200,000 people since 2000, as The Washington Post previously reported. Purdue and Janssen were on her list of companies from whom she demanded information.
At the news conference Wednesday with the attorney general, Fabick said she wasn’t educated when her daughter died in 2014.
“I didn’t see any of the exact signs (of drug abuse),” Fabick said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “You never know when it’s going to be your last hug.”

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Missouri sues opioid manufacturers for fraud, hiding risks

Jun 21, 2017 | RT (Russia Today)

Missouri became the third US state to accuse major drug manufacturers of misrepresenting the risks posed by opioids. About 500 Missourians have died in 2015 from non-heroin opioid overdoses, and thousands of others were hospitalized.
On Wednesday, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed the civil lawsuit in state court in St. Louis against Purdue Pharma LP, Endo Health Solutions, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
The three companies carried out a complex, multi-year campaign in which they deliberately misrepresented the addictive risks of opioids, and “engaged in a deliberate campaign of fraud to convince Missouri doctors and consumers otherwise,” according to the complaint.
"They used bogus front organizations and fake research; they used fraudulent advertising and deceptive trade practices," Hawley said in remarks prepared for a news conference. “And they repeatedly lied about the true risks of the drugs they sold."
Those action, the suit claims, caused thousands of Missourians patients to be given unnecessary opioids prescriptions, often to treat chronic pain. The complaint argues the companies violated Missouri’s consumer protection laws and its Medicaid statutes, and seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and civil penalties.
Opioids are a class of drugs that range from prescription pain medications like oxycodone, codeine and morphine, to illegal drugs like heroin. Opioid overdoses have killed more than 33,000 people in the US in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hawley said the suit seeks to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable so that families that have suffered from the opioid epidemic can start to heal.
“I lost my daughter to the opioid epidemic three years ago,” Jammie Fabick told reporters. “For the sake of my daughter and all the other lives lost, we have to put a stop to this epidemic.”
Hawley said any money awarded in the Missouri suit should go toward drug rehabilitation services and efforts to help families affected by drug addiction, according to WTOP.
This makes Missouri the third US state to sue drug manufacturers over opioid marketing and sales practices. Purdue, J&J and Endo were previously sued in Ohio and Mississippi. Those lawsuits also targeted Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Allergan Plc.Read more‘Deadly mess’: Ohio sues 5 pharma companies over opioid crisis
Last month, Senator Claire McCaskill (D- Missouri), began an investigation of the pharmaceutical industry that included Purdue Pharma and Janssen, two of the companies named in Hawley’s lawsuit.
Similar lawsuits have been filed by local governments, including two California counties; the cities of Chicago and Dayton, Ohio; three Tennessee district attorneys; and nine New York counties.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement that it acted appropriately and responsibly, adding that its pain medications were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and carry mandated warnings about their known risks, according to Reuters.
Purdue, which manufactures OxyContin, said it denied the allegations but shared Hawley's concerns about the opioid crisis and was "committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
Endo declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said its "top priorities include patient safety and ensuring that patients with chronic pain have access to safe and effective therapeutic options."
Earlier this month, the FDA asked Endo to withdraw its long-lasting opioid painkiller Opana ER from the market.
In an unprecedented move, the US Food and Drug Administration has requested a drugmaker withdraw an opioid pain medicine from the market due to its potential for abuse. The agency cited the current...rt.com 99 Retweets 99 likesTwitter Ads info and privacy
Missouri remains the only US state that has failed to create a prescription drug monitoring system, a database that allows doctors and pharmacists to keep track of patients’ prescriptions.

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Missouri attorney general sues three opioid drugmakers over false claims, advertising

Jun 21, 2017 | KBIA Radio

By Durrie Bouscaren

The state of Missouri filed suit Wednesday against three major drug companies, alleging they fueled the nation’s opioid epidemic with a campaign of false advertising and fake claims.
On the steps of St. Louis Circuit Court, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said he would seek “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damages against Purdue Pharma L.P., Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
“These companies knew that the drugs they sell and market are highly addictive, even life threatening if misused. And yet they have engaged in a deliberate campaign of fraud to convince Missouri doctors and Missouri consumers otherwise,” Hawley said.
Last year, at least 712 people died in the bi-state St. Louis region after overdosing on painkillers or other opioid drugs, such as heroin, according to the anti-addiction group NCADA STL. Missouri’s case claims that the companies carried out a multi-year campaign to mislead doctors and patients, downplaying the addictive properties of opioid medications and generating billions in profits.
The state argues that drug makers falsely said people with symptoms of addiction are experiencing “pseudoaddiction” to opioids and that they should be treated by increasing the dose. In another claim, it argues that Purdue created a medically inaccurate “Opioid Risk Tool” to screen patients for their tendency to abuse the drugs, and misrepresented the benefits of non-drug treatments.
A spokesman for Purdue, the maker of OxyContin, denied the allegations listed in the Missouri suit, but said the company shares Hawley’s concerns about the opioid crisis.
“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,” the statement read, in a nod to the overdose antidote most commonly sold as Narcan.
Endo, which makes Percocet and Opana, declined to comment. Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked Endo to pull Opana ER from the market, citing the risk of abuse.
Janssen manufactures Duragesic, and used to make Nucynta and Nucynta ER as well.
“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,” Janssen spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith wrote
In addition, the suit alleges that the companies used third-party advocacy organizations, such as the American Academy of Pain Medicine, to disseminate the narrative that opioid medications were safe.
Dr. Steven Stanos, a Seattle-based pain physician who serves as president for the AAPM, denied that accusation.
“The Academy is an independent professional medical association governed by a Board of Directors,” Stanos wrote. “AAPM is not and never has been controlled by any outside third party organization.”
Mississippi and Ohio filed similar cases earlier this year. Though the lawsuits have echoes of legal actions taken against the tobacco industry decades ago, these allegations may be harder to prove, said Kelly Dineen, a health policy expert at the Saint Louis University School of Law.
“Right now, I don’t think anybody has a smoking gun, in terms of proof that these drug companies were intentionally deceptive,” Dineen said. “The thing is, everybody’s looking for someone to blame for the harms we’ve seen.”
Omitted from the Missouri suit is Mallinckrodt, manufacturer of a generic form of oxycodone. The company agreed in April to pay a $35 million settlement following an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Missouri attorney general sues three opioid manufacturers

Jun 21, 2017 | The Joplin Globe

By Crystal Thomas

With opioid manufacturers making millions in Missouri, Attorney General Josh Hawley is hoping to recoup some of those dollars on behalf of the "countless" lives destroyed by addiction and overdoses.
On Wednesday, he filed a lawsuit in St. Louis Circuit Court against Purdue, Endo and Janssen pharmaceutical companies, claiming the three have misrepresented the risk of the opioids they manufacture to both doctors and patients.
His actions are just one of the many taken by those to combat opioid overdoses in Missouri since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sounded the alarm on what is termed a nationwide epidemic. According to the lawsuit, 500 Missourians died of non-heroin opioid overdoses in 2015.
Under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, Hawley can bring civil claims against companies for consumer fraud and deceptive marketing practices. Since some Missourians have used MO HealthNet to pay for their prescriptions, Hawley contended in the lawsuit that the companies engaged in Medicaid fraud, which also falls under his jurisdiction.
"For years now, the citizens of Missouri have been the victims of a coordinated campaign of fraud and deception about the nature of drugs known as opioids," Hawley said during a news conference in St. Louis, adding that the companies have "profited from the suffering of Missourians."
Janssen, which is owned by Johnson & Johnson, makes the opiates of Nucynta and Duragesic, while Endo manufactures Percocet and Opana. Purdue offers OxyContin and MS Contin, both of which are some of the best known opioids in the market.
The lawsuit states that through third-party organizations, like the American Pain Foundation and the American Academy of Pain Medicine, as well as doctors who are "key opinion leaders," the companies hatched a "misinformation campaign" about the risks associated with their drugs, while skirting federal and state laws about what companies are allowed to market about their own drugs.
Hawley told reporters that he is hoping to get "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages that could be put toward rehabilitation programs. The suit mirrors efforts of other states such as Ohio, Maine, Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Texas to either file against or investigate pharmaceutical companies.
Hawley argues that the state itself has paid its fair share because of the opioid epidemic caused by the company's marketing practices.
In 2014, 26,000 hospitalization and emergency room visits resulted from opioid use, and about one-third of those costs were paid by the state, the lawsuit alleged. Just for OxyContin, the state through Medicaid paid Purdue close to $70 million for the reimbursement of about 127,900 prescriptions since 2012.
Officials with Janssen and Purdue Pharma said in statements that their companies share concerns about the opioid crisis, but both denied wrongdoing. Janssen spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith said the company "has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications." Purdue Pharma said the company "vigorously" denied the allegations in the lawsuit and is an industry leader in developing "abuse-deterrent technology."
Tim Mitchell, the Neosho owner of a string of independent pharmacies, said that he's talked to representatives with Purdue who have acknowledged several times over that their pills can be addictive.
"I know they know they are addictive," Mitchell said. "If someone came out in a report saying otherwise officially, I'd call them on the carpet."
He said he sees all of the drugs listed in the attorney general's lawsuit go out of his pharmacy daily and has to counsel his patients on the risks.
Jasper County Sheriff Randee Kaiser said Purdue was one of the first to recognize the risks of opioids and offered training to law enforcement on how to battle the diversion of pharmacy medication. That was partially because in 2007 Purdue had to pay $600 million to resolve criminal and civil charges for "misbranding" OxyContin.
Both Kaiser and Joplin police Chief Matt Stewart said the opioid epidemic hasn't hit the area at quite the same magnitude as urban areas of the state.
"Now that doesn’t mean it’s not going to come here; I think it’s slowly getting here," Stewart said.
Mitchell, who is the former president of the Newton County Community Coalition, said he has been working toward starting a countywide prescription drug monitoring program.
Missouri is the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program, despite bipartisan efforts by the state Legislature. A patchwork of counties have started their own monitoring programs, and the effort has been spearheaded out of St. Louis County.
Mitchell invited the public to attend an informational meeting about a monitoring program on Tuesday with the head of the St. Louis County public health department. The meeting will take place at noon at the Kelly Club/Talkington Foundation Recovery Center at 209 N. Valley St. in Neosho.
Interested parties from Jasper, Barry and McDonald counties will join their Newton counterparts at the meeting, Mitchell added. The Newton County Health Department is close to offering an ordinance for county commissioners' approval, which is when official hearings will be held for public input.
In the meantime, the Alliance of Southwest Missouri is working with county coalitions to bring awareness to the issue and youth from being addicted, said Marlissa Diggs, its director of substance abuse and violence prevention.
"I think this lawsuit is like what we saw many years ago with the tobacco industry lawsuits," Diggs said. "It's like history repeating itself."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In Missouri
According to Missouri Department of Mental Health data from 2014, the state's death rate from opioid overdoses was 9.3 per 100,000 people, while the national average was 5.9. The most affected areas are in eastern Missouri, especially in St. Louis. The rates have not seen a statistically significant increase in the most current data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Statewide efforts aim to combat opioid epidemic

Jun 21, 2017 | NBC Montana

By Madison Dapcevich

MISSOULA, Mont. - It’s been called a national epidemic unlike any other. Overdose is the leading killer in the United States, now surpassing HIV, car crashes and gun deaths at their peak.
"This is a fight we all have to join in together,” said Jean Branscum, the CEO of Montana Medical Association.
Between 2000 and 2015 nearly 700 people in Montana died from opioid overdoses. A movement launched by Montana lawmakers and health care providers hopes to fix that.
The Missouri attorney general announced a lawsuit Wednesday against three opioid manufacturers, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
“We have very positive trends in Montana. We are seeing the number of prescriptions that are written going down in regards to opiates,” said Branscum. “We’re also seeing Montana being one of the very few states where deaths are declining.”
"It really affects all of us. Probably everybody knows somebody who, whether they admit to it or not, has an opioid problem," said Carter Beck, the director of neurosurgery at St. Patrick Hospital and the legislative chairman for the Montana Medical Association.
The Know Your Dose campaign provides information tools for patients and providers to help prevent and treat opioid abuse.
"We do this by recognizing how to dispose of drugs in the right way. Recognize that the patient has to ask good questions about the side effects of opiates and educate our health care community about looking at alternative therapies for patients that need pain relief,” said Branscum.
Katherine Schwartz is a clinical psychotherapist and helps sufferers of chronic pain and addiction. She says opiates impact the brain’s center of pleasure and euphoria to change the body’s perception of pain.
“The more we use the higher that euphoria gets, as well as the tolerance level. When people use more than they're supposed to or they go to the streets that's when we start to see the addiction rise," said Schwartz.
On an average day in the U.S. more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions are written. Nearly 4,000 people will abuse them, and 78 people will die from an opioid-related overdose.
“We’re all to blame, and we’re all a part of the solution. We should all take responsibility and gather together to solve the problem,” said Beck.
Here is a list of health care providers if you or someone you know needs help:The Montana Department of Public Health and Human ServicesMontana’s Addictive and Mental Disorders DivisionThe Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services AdministrationNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline

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facebook twitter reddit Comment 'Fraud, Deception' Led To Opioid Crisis In Missouri, Says Attorney General

Jun 21, 2017 | Tech Times

By Alyssa Navarro

A "deliberate campaign" of fraud and deception from three pharmaceutical companies has led to the current opioid crisis in Missouri, the state's attorney general accused on Wednesday, June 21.
The office of Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit the very same day against Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma LP, and Endo International Plc for allegedly misrepresenting the dangerous risks of opioid painkillers, which has triggered an epidemic nationwide.
Missouri has become the third state in the United States to do so, along with Mississippi and Ohio.Campaign Of Fraud, Deception
The attorney general said these three pharmaceutical companies knew the opioids they sell are highly addictive and "life-threatening" when misused, but their reportedly fraudulent marketing campaigns convince consumers and doctors in Missouri otherwise.
Hawley said the companies repeatedly lied about the risks of the drugs they sold by using bogus organizations as front and disseminating fake research.
"They used fraudulent advertising and deceptive trade practices," said Hawley.
The lawsuit filed by Missouri accuses the three companies of violating the state's consumer protection laws as well as its Medicaid statutes. In return, Missouri seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in civil penalties and damages.
"We come to hold these companies accountable," the attorney general said.
In Missouri, approximately 500 residents have died because of opioid overdose or complications, while 300 residents died because of heroin misuse in 2015, Hawley said.National Opioid Epidemic
The crisis is far from over. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that every day, 91 people die from opioid overdose in the United States, and that the number may even be underestimated.
In fact, in 2015, opioids have killed more than 33,000 people, more than any year on record, the CDC said.
Furthermore, in 2012, doctors in the United States wrote nearly 259 million opioid prescriptions. The number is 10 million more than the number of adults living in the country, Hawley said.Responding To The Allegations
The three pharmaceutical companies involved in the lawsuit have responded to allegations of fraud and deception.
Purdue Pharma has denied the claims and explained that they share the attorney general's concern over the current opioid crisis.
"We are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions," the company said in a statement.
Endo declined to comment on the current litigation, but the company also said it shared the goal of the Food and Drug Administration to prevent misuse of opioid products.
Lastly, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals said it recognizes that the opioid epidemic is a serious public health issue and that the company has acted responsibly in the best interests of patients.

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Health Care Up as Trump Order Seen Helping Drug Makers -- Health Care Roundup

Jun 21, 2017 | Dow Jones

By Rob Curran

Shares of health-care companies rose as traders bet the Trump administration wouldn't crack down on drug prices.
An executive order would address price trends in the manner advocated by the drug industry itself, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
"President Trump is reportedly considering issuing instructions to executive agencies to use value-based contracts for drug purchases, and to pursue trade policies that enhance intellectual property rights of US pharmaceutical companies," said analysts at brokerage Credit Suisse, in a research note. "It is not clear how either action would lead to lower drug prices without accompanying legislation...experts agree that statutory changes are needed to enable insurers to enter into true value-based contracts with pharmaceutical companies."
The SPDR S&P Biotech index rose sharply, adding to Tuesday's gains.
Anthem said it would pull out of the Affordable Care Act's health-insurance marketplaces in Wisconsin and Indiana next year, the latest sign of strain in the exchanges as Senate Republicans push to quickly pass a health overhaul.
Missouri became the latest state to file a lawsuit against opioid-painkiller companies such as Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Endo Pharmaceuticals, alleging they helped create an addiction crisis by misrepresenting the risks and benefits of their drugs.

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Missouri AG accusing several pharmaceutical companies of creating the opioid crisis for profit

Jun 21, 2017 | KMBC News 9

By Michael Mahoney

Did big pharmaceutical companies create the opioid crisis?Advertisement
The state of Missouri says they did.
In a lawsuit, the Missouri Attorney General is accusing some of the biggest drug companies in America of creating the nation's opioid crisis for their own profit.
This is not the only lawsuit like this. But the language is strikingly blunt.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley says several firms are behind this.
He calls it an "extraordinary public health crisis that they have created in the pursuit of profit."
Hawley names Purdue Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Oxycontin, Endo, which makes Percocet, and Janssen Pharmecuitical. They make Duragesic. Others are also mentioned.
The lawsuit says the companies misrepresent how easy it is to become addicted to pain killers.
"I started on pain killers because of health problems."
Nancy Spencer is a former drug addict. She says painkillers are as hard to kick as heroin - she should know. She did them both.
"Your bones are aching. You can't stand. You get cramps all over your body. It's absolutely horrible."
Purdue denies the charges against them, while acknowledging the opioid crisis. Janssen did too adding it acted "appropriately, responsibly, and in the best interests of patients."
Not everyone who takes painkillers gets addicted - or even has a problem.
It's more complicated than that.
It's also a distinctly American problem according to pain management expert Dr. Muhammed Farhan.
"More than 90 percent of the opioids manufactured in the world are being used in the United States."

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Missouri AG files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers (video)

Jun 21, 2017 | KSDK

By Ashley Cole and Marianne Martinez

ST. LOUIS - Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley announced a lawsuit against three opioid manufacturers on Wednesday.
The complaint calls opioid abuse and epidemic in Missouri and an urgent public-health crisis.
“Missouri faces an urgent public-health crisis. Each year, hundreds of Missourians die from opioid overdoses, while tens of thousands more are hospitalized or require emergency treatment. Opioid addiction and abuse have destroyed the lives of countless Missourians and ravaged communities across the State.”
Jammie Fabick said she is still in disbelief over her daughter's death.
"We live in West St. Louis county. We're probably not the typical face, what everybody thinks it is," said Fabick.
Helen Fabick died on February 8, 2014. It was the morning of the father-daughter dance at Helen's high school, Ursuline Academy. She was 17.
"I always asked myself, how did we go from picking junior rings, college campus visits to picking out a casket and what we're going to bury her in?" Fabick said.
Fabick stood with Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, asking pharmaceutical companies to be held responsible for opioid addictions.
The suit alleges the companies carried out campaigns to mislead doctors and consumers about the risks and benefits of opioids, which generated billions of dollars.
"These companies knew the drugs they sell and market are highly-addictive and even life-threatening if misused. They have engaged in fraud to convince Missouri doctors and consumers otherwise," Hawley said.
Hawley asked for a jury trial and seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. If awarded, it could be the largest judgments in Missouri history.
"I hope that and expect that many of the funds would be used for restitution, for recovery, for rehabilitation programs, for job re-training programs," Hawley said.
Meanwhile, Fabick said her focus is now to educate parents about the dangers of prescription drugs.
"I do not want my daughter's death to be for nothing. I know she wouldn't either," Fabick said.
Hawley said the companies were chosen in the lawsuit because he’s confident about the evidence the office has about their fraud and they make up the ‘lion’s share’ of the opioid market.
“Defendants fraudulently misrepresented the risks posed by the drugs that they manufacture and sell, misleading both doctors and consumers,” The complaint states.
Endo Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals are all named in the suit.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals statement
We recognize that opioid abuse is a serious public health issue. 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 statement
“While we vigorously deny the allegations in the complaint, 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.”

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Opioid epidemic in the Ozarks continues as attorney general files lawsuit (video)

Jun 21, 2017 | KY3

By Linda Russell and Tom Schulteis

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Missouri's attorney general today filed a lawsuit against three big pharmaceutical companies, claiming the companies fraudulently misrepresented the risks posed by the opiods they manufacture and sell.
"We are seeing a huge increase. Every week, it seems to get more and more," says Rhonda Richards, Heartland Center for Behavioral Change drug court coordinator. Most of their clients are from the justice system, often because their addiction led to criminal activity. Now, a majority have opioid use disorders.
"Some people may have had a sports injury or work injury that resulted in a need for prescription medication. By the time that injury is healed, they find themselves struggling with coming off of the medication," says Richards.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley's lawsuit alleges three large companies that manufacture and sell opioids fraudulently misrepresented the serious risks posed by their drugs. Hawley says, "These pharmaceutical companies, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, have violated Missouri's consumer protection statutes and our Medicaid fraud statutes by committing fraud and misrepresenting the truth," Hawley said.
Hawley says 500 Missourians died in 2015 from opioids and 300 more from heroin, with Missouri's death rate at 160% of the national average. Hawley says, "The scale of the epidemic we face is startling, but for Missouri families, the epidemic cannot be quantified."
"I think historically, there was a lack of education for prescribing physicians. I think historically, we didn't always know everything we know now," Richards says.
But with education, Rhonda believes the epidemic will improve. "Neurologically, this is what's going to happen if you take six weeks of pain medication, versus take it until an ibuprofen will help you. So we just need to continue the education process, and I think it will get better," says Richards.
Hawley's lawsuit seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in both damages and civil penalties.

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Missouri attorney general sues three pharmaceutical companies alleging fraud

| Missourinet

By Jill Enders

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is taking the state’s fight against the opioid epidemic through the court system. On Wednesday, Hawley filed a lawsuit in St. Louis Circuit Court against three pharmaceutical companies, alleging that these companies fraudulently and deliberately misrepresented the addictive risks of opioids. Named in the suit are Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Attorney General Josh Hawley
Hawley announced this lawsuit during a press conference outside of the court house in downtown St. Louis, calling it one of the “largest lawsuits filed in the history of the state.”
“Our state faces an urgent public-health crisis brought on by fraud. These companies have profited from the suffering of Missourians,” Hawley said. “Today, we begin to fight to put an end to this crisis as we fight for the thousands of lives endangered and lost to the opioid epidemic.” Hawley added.
Hawley said the drug companies named in the suit “carried out a complex, multi-year campaign of fraud.”
“They used bogus front organizations and fake research. They used fraudulent advertising and deceptive trade practices, and they have repeatedly lied about the risks and true nature of the drugs they have sold.” Hawley explained.
Hawley said the lawsuit seeks one of the largest judgments in the state’s history, with “hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and hundreds of millions more in civil penalties.”
Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals haven’t responded to a request for comment.

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Twin Counties may join lawsuit against big pharma for opioid epidemic expenses

Jun 22, 2017 | Columbia-Greene Media

By Richard Moody

Columbia and Greene counties are considering joining a statewide lawsuit against several pharmaceutical companies that accuses the companies of falsely advertising such drugs as safe and nonaddictive.
As New York and the rest of the country battle what has been referred to as an opioid and heroin epidemic, the two counties were approached by a law firm, Simmons, Hanly and Conroy of Illinois, to sue for recompense for services the county has provided as a result of the epidemic.
Sarah Burns, an attorney from the law firm, told Columbia County supervisors during the Health and Human Services Committee meeting Tuesday that 10 counties in the area have joined the lawsuit so far including Albany and Schenectady.
“We have extensive experience dealing with lawsuits exactly like this,” Burns said.
Burns said the firm successfully sued Purdue Pharma LLP and Abbot Laboratories, Inc., alleging that 5,000 clients’ addictions to OxyContin was a result of the manufacturer’s fraudulent marketing campaign that claimed the drug was not as addictive as alternative drugs.
The lawsuit also names several other companies including Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutical, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; and Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as well as four physicians who were paid to appear in advertisements for opioids: Russell Portenoy, Perry Fine, Scott Fishman and Lynn Webster.
“These are physicians who acted as spokespersons on an international level,” Burns said. “They were paid a lot of money to spread the message that these drugs were nonaddictive and safe to prescribe.”
The plaintiffs are seeking to recoup money counties have spent on services such as mental health programs, addiction programs, public defenders and district attorneys, probation services and jail expenses.
“There are never any guarantees in litigation but we pay for all the legal costs for the counties,” Burns told supervisors. “We are in the early stages. We have received about 10 motions to dismiss, which we are fighting now.”
Columbia County supervisors told Burns they are interested but asked for a draft retainer contract to give to the county attorney.
“We have had a lot of lives lost in this region,” said Hudson Supervisor Bill Hughes. “The numbers are most likely worse this year than last year.”
Data provided by the Healthcare Consortium showed there were six recorded opioid-related deaths in Columbia County in 2015 and eight in Greene County that year.
According to the data a total of 194 people received some kind of treatment for a chemical dependence crisis in Columbia County in 2015; Greene County saw 144 people were treated that same year.
Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said the county was also approached about the lawsuit.
“We gave it to the county attorney to look over, but the presumption is that we will join in,” he said. “There is no cost for us, we just want to know what the best option is for us.”
Burns said the firm brought the suit before the State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, but said his office was not interested.
“How the settlement money is spent is up to your Board of Supervisors,” Burns said. “You can use it to fund programs.”

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Will the Law Treat Opioids More Like Cigarettes or Handguns?

Jun 22, 2017 | Bloomberg

By Paul Barrett

In late May, Ohio followed Mississippi, the City of Chicago, and counties in New York and California, among others, in filing suit against drug makers for marketing powerful painkillers in allegedly misleading ways. The defendants—which include Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.—deny wrongdoing and say they’ve acted responsibly. Meanwhile, attorneys general of another group of states—Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont—have also been issuing opioid-related subpoenas without naming the companies they’re investigating or committing themselves to going to court.
The abuse of brand-name prescription opioids, such as Purdue’s OxyContin and generics like oxycodone, has become a public health crisis. Overdose deaths in the U.S., including from prescription drugs and heroin, exceeded 33,000 in 2015 (the most recent year for which data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are available), up from 19,000 the year before. One study by Wolters Kluwer Health estimated that costs related to treatment, policing, and lost economic output reach into the tens of billions of dollars a year.
At issue in the current wave of litigation is who should pay those societal costs: taxpayers or drug companies? The public officials spearheading the suits compare their cases to those filed by states against major tobacco companies in the 1990s. In court papers, Ohio’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, accuses the drug companies of “borrowing a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook” by allegedly concealing addiction risks from physicians and patients, much as the tobacco industry for decades obscured the addictive quality of nicotine and the health dangers of smoking.
And much as state tobacco suits sought damages for public health costs related to treating smokers, opioid litigation seeks reimbursement for Medicaid payments and addiction treatment for prescription painkillers. It worked for tobacco litigation: In 1998, the cigarette companies agreed to a $246 billion settlement that would be divided among the states and paid out over decades.
But there are crucial differences between painkillers and cigarettes. Opioids, however potentially dangerous they may be, are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, which tells manufacturers what warnings to put on pill bottles. If used as intended under a doctor’s supervision, opioids improve patients’ health. Where painkillers are misused, manufacturers can plausibly argue—and do—that blame should rest with the doctor who overprescribes or the consumer who knowingly takes too many pills. By contrast, cigarettes don’t have the FDA’s blessing, and they cause deadly diseases if used exactly as intended.
Legal experience may suggest, though, that the better analogy for opioids is firearms. In the wake of the tobacco litigation, in the late 1990s, dozens of municipalities tried the same strategy against the handgun industry’s biggest players, seeking to recover the public costs of firearm-related violence. The national price tag for municipal police and emergency-medical services was estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars a year.
Unlike the tobacco cases, though, the gun suits soon fizzled. One reason was that judges ruled that firearm manufacturers shouldn't be held liable for the misuse of the otherwise-lawful commercial articles they made and sold. Under this view, while guns are designed to fire bullets, they’re not designed to be used in crime. In order for a pistol to be used unlawfully, another actor—the criminal—has to intervene and pull the trigger. In legal terms, the criminal “breaks the chain of causation” between the manufacturer and the harm caused by the product. In the eyes of the law, a broken chain eliminates liability.
Opioid manufacturers might be inclined to argue that their product is more like guns in this regard. When used properly, both have legitimate purposes and don’t necessarily cause harm. While firearms are dangerous, the fact remains that they're widely and legally owned for target shooting, hunting, and home security. Likewise, opioids are widely and legally used to manage pain. Pharma lawyers might argue that, as with guns, when opioids are misused, there’s a break in the chain of causation: The negligent doctor or pill-abusing consumer is analogous to the criminal triggerman.
This may have been the reasoning, at least, when, back in 2004, West Virginia settled with Purdue for a mere $10 million. The relatively small size of the settlement (in which the company didn't admit wrongdoing) “suggests that the attorney general's lawyers realized that there was no assurance that the state would ultimately prevail if the case went to trial,” observed Professor Richard Ausness of the University of Kentucky College of Law in a 2014 article. "A particular concern was that a court would conclude that misuse of OxyContin by drug abusers was a superseding cause sufficient to break the chain of causation between Purdue's marketing activities and the costs the state incurred to treat the effects of such abuse." Ausness concluded: “The overall effectiveness of civil litigation in this area is highly questionable."
Circumstances have changed since 2014, and they’ve changed a lot since 2004. Opioid abuse has spread and intensified, possibly changing attitudes among potential jurors, especially in regions where the opioid toll is high. A skeptical jury pool could raise the settlement value of the new municipal and state suits. Moreover, Ohio and the other current government plaintiffs are seeking to prove that painkiller manufacturers continue to spread falsehoods about their products, using front groups and morally corrupt physicians as their messengers. Ohio blames the drug companies for unleashing a “flood of prescription opioids” that become “available for illicit use or sale,” creating “a population of patients physically and psychologically dependent” on the pills. If these allegations are substantiated—the manufacturers deny them—the alleged corporate malfeasance could trump any concerns about broken chains of causation.
A final consideration is sheer numbers: If the opioid industry were faced with hundreds of coordinated suits, the cost of fighting them simultaneously could indeed force the drug companies to borrow a page from tobacco’s playbook and run up a very expensive white flag.

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