Preview Newsletter
Opioid Daily Media Report 8/30
-
Big Pharma shares blame for opioid epidemic (OPINION)
Aug 30, 2017 | Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
By Norbert Rug
Pharmaceutical companies must do more to combat the opioid epidemic. Each day people die from overdosing on opioids both legal (prescribed) and illegal. Last year, there were 20,101 known opioid overdose deaths in the United States alone. Those people taken from us left children without parents, grandparents without grandchildren and families with empty seats at the dinner table. -
Tompkins County To Consider Joining Opioid Lawsuits
Aug 30, 2017 | New York Public Radio
By Laura Rosbrow-Telem
According to two Tompkins County officials, the County’s been approached to join a lawsuit against the drug companies Purdue, Teva, Janssen and Endo Pharmaceuticals. -
Alaska hires Outside law firm to investigate potential opioid lawsuit
Aug 29, 2017 | Alaska Dispatch News
By Michelle Theriault Boots
The state of Alaska has hired an Outside law firm known for suing the makers of prescription painkillers to investigate a potential lawsuit related to the state's opioid crisis.
Traditional Media Coverage
-
Big Pharma shares blame for opioid epidemic (OPINION)
Aug 30, 2017 | Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
By Norbert Rug
Pharmaceutical companies must do more to combat the opioid epidemic. Each day people die from overdosing on opioids both legal (prescribed) and illegal. Last year, there were 20,101 known opioid overdose deaths in the United States alone. Those people taken from us left children without parents, grandparents without grandchildren and families with empty seats at the dinner table.
The pandemic of drug abuse and addiction has permeated our neighborhoods, overcrowded prisons, overburdened the legal system, caused children to be removed from their families and contributed to a sluggish economy, as able-bodied Americans suffering from addiction find themselves unable or unwilling to find work. Every day, over 1,000 people are treated in emergency departments for the misuse of prescription opioids. Nearly one-third of fatal overdoses occur among the habitually poor.
None of us has the privilege of saying that this is “not my problem.” This crisis affects us all. I am calling on our leaders, our elected officials, to use the authority they have to combat this rampant epidemic.
It wasn’t that long ago that doctors in America recommended opioids like OxyContin and Vicodin for pain associated with cancer treatment or surgery. Then, in 1980, a study was published that influenced many physicians to think that narcotics were a sound choice to prescribe for chronic pain management (a finding that was later refuted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Less than 10 years later, there was a uptick in opioid production and distribution by companies like Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and McKesson Corp., the behemoths known collectively as “Big Pharma.”
For the past few decades, the pharmaceutical industry has been misrepresenting the lingering effects of narcotics and encouraging doctors to prescribe these addictive drugs in ever-increasing levels.
In other words, Big Pharma figured out a way to make money at the cost of American lives, by misleading doctors and encouraging them to overprescribe a powerful drug. Big Pharma made possible the addiction of tens of thousands.
But it doesn’t stop at prescription medications manufactured and distributed by these companies. When that prescription runs out, and it will, people who are hooked frequently will turn to a less expensive and, unfortunately, easier-to-obtain alternative, like heroin. Now, with manmade opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil increasing, fatal doses of heroin are ending up in the hands of our friends and neighbors.
Big Pharma must take the steps to fight this epidemic at its source.
McKesson, based in San Francisco, is one of the nation’s biggest prescription drug suppliers. While saturating the public with opioids, its income increased from $93 billion to $199 billion over the past 10 years, with a $60 billion leap in 2015 alone.
I was encouraged to hear that McKesson announced it will divide the roles of CEO and chairman of the board of directors, and rejected an executive compensation package. The latter especially is a long-overdue action, considering that Big Pharma companies compensated their top executives by more than $450 million over the past four years. They have a responsibility to keep working harder to ensure that they put public safety before profits. We must hold Big Pharma answerable for its part in the crisis.
None of us is immune from the disease called addiction. We all know or have heard of someone with a drug problem. The time is now to join forces and help those who are recovering from addiction, so that they may build a better future for themselves, for their families and for America.
-
Tompkins County To Consider Joining Opioid Lawsuits
Aug 30, 2017 | New York Public Radio
By Laura Rosbrow-Telem
According to two Tompkins County officials, the County’s been approached to join a lawsuit against the drug companies Purdue, Teva, Janssen and Endo Pharmaceuticals.
A number of New York counties, including Broome, are suing pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis. They want firms to pay millions of dollars for downplaying the addictive qualities of prescription opioids -- qualities that have led to the addiction crisis.
Michael Lane is chair of the Tompkins County Legislature. He said any decision on whether to join in would have to go to a committee first.
“We need to better understand what our role would be, including what information we would have to gather for this, and how difficult it would be to put together the facts and figures on it,” he said in an interview.
Lane said a resolution will probably be presented to a legislative committee in the near future. If a committee passes the resolution, then it will be brought to the full Tompkins County legislature for a vote.
Santa Clara and Orange Counties in California won a $1.6 million settlement with Teva in May over the opioid crisis. They are also suing other companies.
The law firms representing county-based lawsuits in New York state against big pharma for the opioid crisis will retain a percentage of any money won from a settlement.
-
Alaska hires Outside law firm to investigate potential opioid lawsuit
Aug 29, 2017 | Alaska Dispatch News
By Michelle Theriault Boots
The state of Alaska has hired an Outside law firm known for suing the makers of prescription painkillers to investigate a potential lawsuit related to the state's opioid crisis.
The South Carolina-based firm Motley Rice will "look into whether there's any viable civil claims to file in relation to the opioid epidemic (under our) consumer protection laws," Department of Law spokeswoman Cori Mills said Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Motley Rice filed suits against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, on behalf of the states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.
If Alaska does file a lawsuit, it would join a growing number of cities and states including Oklahoma, Ohio and Missouri seeking to recover some of the money spent on the fallout of widespread opioid addiction from the pharmaceutical companies that made and marketed prescription painkillers they blame for fueling the epidemic.
Many of the lawsuits accuse the companies of using deceptive marketing practices to downplay the risk of addiction in their products.
Mills would not say more about what claims a potential lawsuit would seek compensation for.
"The state can't discuss our investigation or really what's going on until we file a lawsuit," she said.
The contract says that the law firm would be paid on a contingency basis of 20 percent of any settlement or money awarded at a trial, which is "normal in matters such as this," Mills said.
Traditional Media Coverage
Add recipients
Suggested