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Opioid Coverage (6/22) Afternoon Report
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Missouri Latest State to Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Jun 22, 2017 | Medscape
By Alicia Ault
Missouri has become the third state to sue opioid manufacturers, claiming the drug companies defrauded consumers. -
Missouri attorney general sues opioid manufacturers
Jun 22, 2017 | Springfield Business Journal
By SBJ Staff
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley field suit yesterday against three opioid manufacturers. -
Big Pharma Sued For Sparking ‘Nightmare’ Addiction Epidemic With ‘Fraud And Deception’
Jun 22, 2017 | The Daily Caller
By Steve Birr
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is suing major pharmaceutical companies for alleged complicity in spreading opioid addiction through a “campaign of fraud and deception.” -
Missouri AG sues drugmakers for fraudulent opioid advertising
Jun 22, 2017 | Beckers Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the state against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen Pharmaceuticals for allegedly engaging in fraudulent opioid advertising. -
MO citizen who joined AG Hawley for opioid lawsuit announcement speaks out
Jun 22, 2017 | Missourinet
By Jason Taylor
A mid-Missouri man joined Attorney General Josh Hawley yesterday for the announcement of a state lawsuit against three pharmaceutical companies. -
Missouri attorney general sues drug companies over opioids
Jun 22, 2017 | Normangee Star
By Madeline Patric
Missouri on Wednesday became the third US state to accuse major drug manufacturers of fraudulently misrepresenting the risks of opioid painkillers now at the center of a national addiction epidemic. The complaint alleges that the companies employed deceptive trade practices and cited fake research to convince doctors and consumers that their products were safe despite knowing they were addictive and potentially life-threatening. If the suit is successful, Hawley says the funds will go towards addiction treatment programs to aid the community and families. -
Missouri attorney general sues drug companies over opioids
Jun 22, 2017 | Junior College
By Vanessa Colemna
Missouri became the latest state to file a lawsuit against opioid-painkiller companies, alleging they helped create an addiction crisis by misrepresenting the risks and benefits of their drugs. -
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Missouri AG Lawsuit Coverage
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Missouri Latest State to Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Jun 22, 2017 | Medscape
By Alicia Ault
Missouri has become the third state to sue opioid manufacturers, claiming the drug companies defrauded consumers.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a civil lawsuit on June 21 in the Circuit Court of St. Louis City. The state is seeking compensation from Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, alleging that the opioid manufacturers misrepresented the risks posed by their products.
The suit alleges that "this opioid epidemic is the direct result of a carefully crafted campaign of deception carried out by Defendants."
Ohio and Mississippi have filed similar suits, as have two California counties, the cities of Chicago, Illinois, and Dayton, Ohio, three Tennessee district attorneys, and nine New York counties.
"Our state faces an urgent public health crisis brought on by fraud," said Hawley in a press release. "These companies have profited from the suffering of Missourians," he said.
Missouri, like Ohio, has been hard hit by the opioid epidemic. Overall, the opioid death rate in the state was 9.3 per 100,000, but in some counties, it was as high as 42 per 100,000.
The Ohio suit named Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, its subsidiary Cephalon, and Allergan, in addition to Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, and Janssen.
Mississippi, which named those same manufacturers in a suit filed in December 2015, enlisted the help of private plaintiff attorneys, some of whom worked on the big class action suits brought against tobacco manufacturers, which were eventually settled in a master action in 1998.
Ohio is also using private plaintiff lawyers in its suit, but Missouri is not.
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Missouri attorney general sues opioid manufacturers
Jun 22, 2017 | Springfield Business Journal
By SBJ Staff
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley field suit yesterday against three opioid manufacturers.
The suit alleges Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma LP, Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Endo Health Solutions and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals fraudulently misrepresented the risks associated with the drugs they manufacture and sell, according to a news release.
Specifically, the pharmaceutical firms deliberately misrepresented the addictive side effects of opioids, resulting in thousands of Missourians being prescribed the drugs unnecessarily, according to Hawley’s office.
“Our state faces an urgent public health crisis brought on by fraud. These companies have profited from the suffering of Missourians,” Hawley said in the release. “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.”
More than 33,000 people died of opioid overdose in the United States in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than any other year on record. -
Big Pharma Sued For Sparking ‘Nightmare’ Addiction Epidemic With ‘Fraud And Deception’
Jun 22, 2017 | The Daily Caller
By Steve Birr
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is suing major pharmaceutical companies for alleged complicity in spreading opioid addiction through a “campaign of fraud and deception.”
Hawley launched the lawsuit Wednesday, taking aim at Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, three of the largest drug makers in the country. The lawsuit seeks to collect “hundreds of millions of dollars” for the public cost of addiction on communities in Missouri, reports CBS News.
Hawley, a Republican, alleges the three companies deliberately misrepresented the addiction risks of their popular painkiller brands like Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin in the name of profit. If the suit is successful, Hawley says the funds will go towards addiction treatment programs to aid the community and families.
“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 Wednesday in a statement. “These companies have profited from the suffering of Missourians.”
A bipartisan group of attorneys general from Nevada, Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania announced June 15 they will probe marketing and sales practices used by pharmaceutical companies to distribute their painkillers. It is not yet clear how many states are involved in the investigation, but an official from Nevada said a majority of state attorneys general are participating.
Officials said they want to know “what role, if any,” drug makers played in causing the opioid epidemic, which claimed 33,000 lives in 2015. The New York Times recently culled through data from state health departments and county medical examiners and coroners, predicting there were between 59,000 and 65,000 drug deaths in 2016.
Lawsuits are mounting against the largest drug makers 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.
Purdue Pharma, which often comes under the harshest scrutiny, says they are committed to solving the opioid addiction crisis. A representative of the drug maker previously noted their medication OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of the prescription opioid market in the country.
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Missouri AG sues drugmakers for fraudulent opioid advertising
Jun 22, 2017 | Beckers Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the state against Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen Pharmaceuticals for allegedly engaging in fraudulent opioid advertising.
The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis, accuses the pharmaceutical giants of engaging in a "carefully crafted campaign of deception" and purposely misleading both patients and physicians about the potential adverse effects related to the misuse of opioid prescription painkillers.
"These companies have profited from the suffering of Missourians," said Mr. Hawley. "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."
Mr. Hawley said the lawsuit seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in both damages and civil penalties, according to The Kansas City Star. Mr. Hawley hopes the money would go to drug rehabilitation services and other services to help families harmed by addiction.
"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," Purdue Pharma spokesman John Puskar told Becker's via email. "[W]e 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, a spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, told Becker's the drugmaker "has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are [Food and Drug Administration]-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label."
The senior director for corporate affairs at Endo, Heather Zoumas-Lubeski, told Becker's via email that Endo's "top priorities include patient safety and ensuring that patients with chronic pain have access to safe and effective therapeutic options. We share in the FDA's goal of appropriately supporting the needs of patients with chronic pain while preventing misuse and diversion of opioid products."
Approximately 500 Missourians died of non-heroin, opioid overdoses in 2015, according to the lawsuit.
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MO citizen who joined AG Hawley for opioid lawsuit announcement speaks out
Jun 22, 2017 | Missourinet
By Jason Taylor
A mid-Missouri man joined Attorney General Josh Hawley yesterday for the announcement of a state lawsuit against three pharmaceutical companies.
Eddie Bunnell of Columbia is a recovering opioid addict. He’s happy Hawley’s taken a lead role in responding the crisis. “He was elected into office at the end of last year and took office this year” said Bunnell. “And he’s already jumping on this thing for us. So it’s really exciting and hopeful.”
During his introduction of the lawsuit, Hawley said the three companies – Purdue Pharmaceutical, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals – have violated Missouri’s consumer-protection laws, claiming they had committed fraud and perpetrated lies.
While stating that he was seeking one of the largest judgments in Missouri history, Hawley announced that Bunnell and another person would speak about their experiences with opioids.
Bunnell, who struggled for years in and out of rehab, notes he spent time with Hawley before the attorney general’s presentation, advising him on ways to help people with the addiction. “I’m really glad that my experiences are hopefully helping people in our state, and opening the eyes of people who don’t know about the issue.”
Jamie Fabick, who lost her 17-year-old daughter to an opioid overdose, also addressed the audience.
Hawley launched into series of facts and figures to back-up the lawsuit that was filed in St. Louis, where the announcement took place.
He said 30,000 hospital and emergency room visits in 2015 were attributed to opioids, a 200% increase over the last decade. He added that in the same year, 500 deaths from opioid overdoses or complications took place in Missouri.
Hawley’s remarks were an ironic twist from some fellow conservatives in the legislature who, while blocking proposals for an opioid monitoring system, downplayed the effects of the drugs in Missouri vs. other states.
For his part, Bunnell said it’s time to target lawmakers for failing to approve a PDMP – Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
“We need to start going after the legislators and figuring out why we aren’t passing a PDMP for our state. We’re the only state that doesn’t have one. We need that in place to help battle this thing.”
Missouri’s Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill was highly critical of the state legislature’s inability to pass a PDMP bill this year. She also called for Hawley to work with lawmakers to get legislation approved, and since has said the state should hold a special session to solve the roadblock.
According to Hawley, the lawsuit he’s bringing seeks “hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from these drug companies, and hundreds of millions more in civil penalties”.
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Missouri attorney general sues drug companies over opioids
Jun 22, 2017 | Normangee Star
By Madeline Patric
Missouri on Wednesday became the third US state to accuse major drug manufacturers of fraudulently misrepresenting the risks of opioid painkillers now at the center of a national addiction epidemic. The complaint alleges that the companies employed deceptive trade practices and cited fake research to convince doctors and consumers that their products were safe despite knowing they were addictive and potentially life-threatening. If the suit is successful, Hawley says the funds will go towards addiction treatment programs to aid the community and families.
“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”.
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 Missouri lawsuit involves Purdue’s marketing of OxyContin, Endo’s marketing of Percocet and Opana ER, and Johnson & Johnson’s marketing of Duragesic and Nucynta ER. “These companies have profited from the suffering of Missourians”.
“We seek one of the largest judgments in Missouri history”.
Stephen Mock, the vice president for investor relations and corporate affairs at Endo, said in an email that the Pennsylvania-based company has a policy not to comment on current litigation. 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.
Missouri remains the only U.S. state that has failed to create a prescription drug monitoring system, a database that allows doctors and pharmacists to keep track of patients’ prescriptions. McCaskill’s probe extends to two of the companies named in Hawley’s lawsuit, Purdue Pharma and Janssen.
Earlier this month several state attorneys general announced an initiative to investigate what role manufacturers may have played in contributing to the opioid epidemic.
Mr. Hawley said the opioid-addiction crisis has been a key focus since he took office in January. It is not yet clear how many states are involved in the investigation, but an official from Nevada said a majority of state attorneys general are participating.
“Today’s suit is about seeking justice for the victims of this epidemic and their families”, Hawley said.
Hawley, a Republican, filed suit St. Louis Circuit Court, naming Endo Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
“We have laws that prohibit exactly the kind of things that these companies are doing, so what we need now is for the law to be enforced”, he said.
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Missouri attorney general sues drug companies over opioids
Jun 22, 2017 | Junior College
By Vanessa Colemna
Missouri became the latest state to file a lawsuit against opioid-painkiller companies, alleging they helped create an addiction crisis by misrepresenting the risks and benefits of their drugs.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit Wednesday against three of the largest manufacturers of opioids, accusing the companies of violating Missouri's consumer protection laws.
He said the companies have used fraudulent science to mislead patients on the addictive risks of opioids and "profited from the suffering of Missourians".
Those action, the suit claims, caused thousands of Missourians patients to be given unnecessary opioids prescriptions, often to treat chronic pain. Hawley plans [Kansas City Star report] to put any monetary compensation won through the suit towards drug rehabilitation and other family services for those who have been impacted by addiction.
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. Purdue, Endo and Johnson & Johnson were cited in both, reportedReuters.
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.
The lawsuit states that roughly 500 people in Missouri died from non-heroin opioid overdoses in 2015 alone and that thousands more have to go to the hospital for opioid abuse each year.
Stephen Mock, the vice president for investor relations and corporate affairs at Endo, said in an email that the Pennsylvania-based company has a policy not to comment on current litigation.
Missouri remains the only U.S. state that has failed to create a prescription drug monitoring system, a database that allows doctors and pharmacists to keep track of patients' prescriptions.
Earlier this month several state attorneys general announced an initiative to investigate what role manufacturers may have played in contributing to the opioid epidemic. Purdue and Janssen were on her list of companies from whom she demanded information. A number the Attorney General, Fabick and others are trying to change.
"I hope that and expect that numerous funds would be used for restitution, for recovery, for rehabilitation programs, for job re-training programs", Hawley said. The law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC is spearheading cases in NY, as well as two lawsuits in California, two in West Virginia, one in Chicago and one in Washington state.
"Today's suit is about seeking justice for the victims of this epidemic and their families", Hawley said. Asked about the decision to file the suit in St. Louis, Hawley noted that almost half of all opioid-related hospitalizations in the state take place in the St. Louis area.
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