Preview Newsletter

Opioid Litigation Media Update 9/20/17

Traditional Media Coverage

State attorneys general expand probe into opioid companies
Sep 19, 2017 | Reuters
By Nate Raymond

A group of 41 state attorneys general announced on Tuesday they and other states were expanding their investigation into companies that manufacture and distribute opioid pain killers, demanding documents from those companies as part of the probe.
State AGs Widen Probe Into Opioid Makers, Distributors
Sep 20, 2017 | Law 360
By Christine Powell

A bipartisan state attorneys general investigation into the opioid epidemic has expanded to include more drug manufacturers and distributors, including Purdue Pharma, Allergan and AmerisourceBergen, according to a Tuesday announcement from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
Makers Of Opioids Are Asked For Data
Sep 20, 2017 | WSJ
By THomas McMillan

A bipartisan group of states investigating the opioid painkiller industry and the causes of widespread addiction has stepped up its probe with a fresh demand for documents from drugmakers and distributors.
Opioid Industry's 'Superstructure' Targeted By State Attorneys General
Sep 19, 2017 | The Pink Sheet
By Brenda Sandburg

This article remains under paywall: https://pink.pharmamedtechbi.com/PS121587/Opioid-Industrys-Superstructure-Targeted-By-State-Attorneys-General
41 State attorneys general subpoena opioid manufacturers and distributors
Sep 19, 2017 | CNN
By Nadia Kounang

A coalition of 41 states' attorneys general have served five major opioid manufacturers and three drug distributors with subpoenas seeking information about how these companies marketed and distributed prescription opioids.
CT, 38 other states widen probe of opioid manufacturers, distributors
Sep 19, 2017 | Connecticut Mirror
By Mackenzie Rigg

Attorneys general from 39 states, including Connecticut, have broadened an investigation into whether pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors have played a role in the opioid epidemic, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said Tuesday.
Why state AGs are targeting drug companies over opioids (Updated)
Sep 19, 2017 | USA Today Network
By Natasha Vaughn

ALBANY, N.Y. — Attorneys general across the country are demanding information from pharmaceutical companies in an ongoing investigation into prescription drug abuse.
Bipartisan coalition of attorneys general form to fight opioid epidemic nationwide (UPDATED)
Sep 20, 2017 | WXXI News
By Caitlyn White

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a bipartisan coalition to investigate major opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Amid opioid investigation, Texas and other states demand drug company documents (UPDATED)
Sep 20, 2017 | Texas Tribune
By Jim Malewitz

As communities nationwide grapple with opioid addiction, Texas and a coalition of 40 other states have served investigative subpoenas and other requests to eight companies that manufacture or distribute prescription painkillers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday.
Nebraska, other states demand drug company documents in opioid investigation
Sep 20, 2017 | Beatrice Daily Sun
By Lee Enterprises

The attorneys general of Nebraska and 40 other states are demanding documents and information from eight pharmaceutical companies as part of a multistate investigation into the nation's opioid epidemic.
Healey expands probe of opioid makers (UPDATED)
Sep 20, 2017 | Community Newspaper Holdings Inc
By Christian M. Wade

BOSTON — Attorney General Maura Healey is widening her investigation of opioid manufacturers as part of a probe that already involves the top prosecutors of 39 states.
Nebraska, other states demand drug company documents in opioid investigation
Sep 20, 2017 | Lincoln Journal Star
By Staff

The attorneys general of Nebraska and 40 other states are demanding documents and information from eight pharmaceutical companies as part of a multistate investigation into the nation's opioid epidemic.
Schneiderman, bipartisan coalition of AGs expand multistate investigation into opioid crisis
Sep 20, 2017 | Madison County Courier
By Staff

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that a bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general from across the country has demanded information and documents from the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioid drugs, part of a multistate investigation into whether the companies engaged in any unlawful practices in the marketing and distribution of prescription opioids.
Opioid Crisis: AGs Want Answers from Pharma Companies
Sep 20, 2017 | WWNYTV
By Staff

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is teaming up with 40 other AGs from across the nation to file subpoenas demanding information and documents from major opioid distributors and manufacturers.
Colorado attorney general joining national opioid probe
Sep 19, 2017 | The Pueblo Chieftan
By Ryan Severance

As part of a national investigation into the causes of the opioid epidemic, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman announced Tuesday that she and a coalition of other attorneys general are subpoenaing documents from leading U.S. opioid manufacturers and distributors to see if any illegal conduct contributed to the surge in opioid prescriptions.
AGs investigating opioid marketing (UPDATED)
Sep 20, 2017 | Boston Herald
By Matt Stout

Attorney General Maura Healey said her office, along with dozens of other state attorneys general, is scrutinizing more than a half-dozen manufacturers and distributors as part of a probe into opioid marketing.
Tenn., Va. attorneys general seek information from opioid companies
Sep 20, 2017 | Bristol Herald Courier
By Robert Sorrell

A group of 41 attorneys general, including those in Tennessee and Virginia, are seeking information from opioid manufacturers and distributors as part of multistate investigations.
PA Attorney General investigating pharmaceutical companies
Sep 19, 2017 | PA Homepage
By Kelly Choate

Pennsylvania's Attorney General is hoping there's strength in numbers when it comes to combating the opioid epidemic.
Nebraska's Attorney General requests documents from opioid manufacturers; distributors
Sep 20, 2017 | KHGI
By Staff

Attorney General Doug Peterson announced a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multi-state investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic. He said this information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids. There are 41 attorneys general participating in the multi-state investigations.
AL, 40 other states demand docs from opioid manufacturers, distributors
Sep 20, 2017 | WFSA 12 News
By Staff

Alabama's attorney general is among 41 AGs nationwide demanding documents from opioid manufacturers and distributors as they to stem a growing opioid abuse epidemic.
Attorneys general turn opioid-fighting focus to medical industry
Sep 20, 2017 | Click Lancashire
By Elias Hubbard

The letter said opioid overdoses kill 91 Americans every day with more than half of those deaths involving prescription opioids.
Herring seeks documents related to opioid crisis
Sep 19, 2017 | Augusta Free Press
By Staff

Attorney General Mark R. Herring today announced that a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multistate investigations into the opioid epidemic.
Nearly 40 States Collaborating On Opioid Pharma Investigation
Sep 19, 2017 | The Hartford Courant
By Christine Schmidt

In the latest move in the battle against rampant opioid addiction, a group of nearly 40 states’ attorneys general have combined their strategies in the investigations against opioid manufacturers and distributors in an effort that aims to bring heftier strength to the government’s side of the lawsuit.
Lafayette, Jeff Davis, Cenla sheriffs' suits against pharma companies allege fraud, deception in the name of profit (UPDATED)
Sep 19, 2017 | KATC
By Staff

LAFAYETTE -The makers of opioids like OxyContin, Percocet and fentanyl are the target of four Louisiana sheriffs' separate lawsuits that blame those companies for today's opioid epidemic, alleging the companies knew their products were addictive and ineffective but instead spread disinformation to protect — and grow — their profits.
What role did pharmacy companies play in opioid crisis? NC’s attorney general is investigating
Sep 20, 2017 | The News & Observer
By Anne Blythe

Josh Stein, North Carolina’s attorney general, announced on Tuesday that he and 40 other attorneys general had expanded their investigation into manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids in an attempt to hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for its part in the nationwide overdose crisis.
Attorney General Herring Seeks Documents Related to Opioid Crisis
Sep 20, 2017 | Pop Herald
By Alicia Cross

The attorneys general served subpoenas on four pharmaceutical manufacturers, Endo International plc, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc. and Allergan Inc. and their related entities.
Attorneys general hit back at opioid-pumping big pharma firms (Updated)
Sep 20, 2017 | NY Daily News
By Laura Dimon

A bipartisan coalition of Attorney Generals from 41 states announced a new weapon Tuesday in the fight against America’s opioid crisis: a multistate investigation into drug makers and marketers.
Alabama AG subpoenas opioid records from drug companies
Sep 19, 2017 | The Anniston Star
By Tim Lockette

Forty-one state attorneys general, including Alabama’s Steve Marshall, sent letters to several drug companies Tuesday demanding information on their role in the spread of opioid abuse.
States To Investigate Pharmaceutical Companies Over Opioids
Sep 20, 2017 | The Village Sun Times
By Paul Elliott

As communities nationwide grapple with opioid addiction, Texas and a coalition of 40 other states has served investigative subpoenas and other requests to eight companies that manufacture or distribute prescription painkillers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday. According to the Attorney General's Office, South Carolina has spent $15.8 million on Purdue opioids through its Medicaid program since late 2007 and more than $28 million from the State Health Plan has gone to Purdue opioids since 2010.
Schneiderman announces results of national opioid investigation
Sep 20, 2017 | Solo News
By Loredana Fabrizo

Herring today announced that a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multistate investigations into the opioid epidemic.
Florida, 40 other states investigate opioid makers
Sep 20, 2017 | News 13 Florida
By Christine Zizo

The attorneys general of 41 states, including Florida, are investigating opioid makers for possible deceptive practices that may have contributed to the nation's opioid epidemic.
Oregon AG helps lead investigation of opioid makers
Sep 20, 2017 | KTVZ
By Staaff

SALEM, Ore. - Attorney General Rosenblum today announced Tuesday that Oregon is on the leadership team of a multi-state investigation of manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
Attorney General seeks documents from opioid manufacturers and distributors
Sep 20, 2017 | KLKNTV
By Staff

LINCOLN – Attorney General Doug Peterson announced a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multistate investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic. This information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids. There are 41 attorneys general participating in the multistate investigations.
Florida joins other states seeking marketing information from opioid makers
Sep 19, 2017 | Tampa Bay Times
By Alex Leary

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that Florida has joined a number of other states seeking marketing information from opioid makers.
Stein Widens Investigation of Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors
Sep 20, 2017 | NC Health News
By Taylor Knoph

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced Tuesday that his office is expanding its investigations into opioid manufacturers to include five pharmaceutical companies and three drug distributors.
Michigan joins other states in opioid investigation
Sep 20, 2017 | Fox 47 News
By Staff

Michigan is joining dozens of other states demanding information from both the makers and distributors of prescription drugs.
State jumping into opioid investigation
Sep 20, 2017 | The Kansan
By Chad Frey

It would seem that Kansas’ legal war on opioids is beginning, at least with Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
NC investigating opioid drug makers, distributors
Sep 20, 2017 | ABC 11 Eyewitness News
By Tim Pullman

Opioid addiction is the No. 1 cause of death in North Carolina according to state health leaders.
D.C. attorney general leads multi-state investigation into opioid manufacturers
Sep 20, 2017 | The Washington Times
By Laura Kelly

The D.C. Attorney General announced on Monday that a multi-state coalition of attorneys has asked for documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of an effort to hold companies accountable for the opioid epidemic.
Coalition of attorneys general investigate drug manufacturers, distributors
Sep 19, 2017 | The Salt Lake Tribune
By Tiffany Frandsen

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, along with attorneys general from 40 other states, is investigating whether unlawful business practices contributed to the nation’s escalating opioid abuse.
States Expand Probe Into Big Pharma Opioid Marketing
Sep 19, 2017 | New York Law Journal
By Kristen Rasmussen

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is expanding its investigation into Big Pharma's alleged role in the prescription painkiller and heroin addiction epidemic gripping the nation.
Hawaii joins coalition of states seeking information from opioid manufacturers, distributors
Sep 20, 2017 | Pacific Business News
By HJ Mai

Hawaii has joined a coalition of states in seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributor of prescription opioids.
County may sue pill makers in Asheville area opioid epidemic
Sep 19, 2017 | Asheville Citizen Times
By Joel Burgess

Buncombe County is now eyeing a lawsuit against makers of prescription painkillers, companies officials say may be liable in the addiction epidemic estimated to have cost more than $19 million locally.
Elyria to file lawsuit against drug companies over opioid crisis
Sep 20, 2017 | News 5 Cleveland
By Joe Pagonakis

Elyria is expected to soon join Lorain and other Ohio cities in filing a lawsuit against the major drug companies, seeking damages for costs incurred in fighting the on-going opioid crisis.
County names attorneys in opioid lawsuit
Sep 19, 2017 | Columbia Greene Media
By Daniel Zuckerman

The Greene County Legislature’s Government Operations Committee passed a resolution Monday to retain the law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy to begin a lawsuit on behalf of the county against prescription opioid manufacturers.
Lewiston joins national opioid lawsuit
Sep 20, 2017 | Lewistown - Auburn Sun Journal
By Andrew Rice

Lewiston is the latest municipality to join a national lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.

Broadcast Media Coverage

News 13 This Morning
Sep 20, 2017 | WLOS (ABC) Greenville, SC

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480178?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Channel 2 News
Sep 19, 2017 | WGRZ (NBC) Buffalo, NY

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480036?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
NewsChannel 5 at 6
Sep 19, 2017 | KALB (NBC) Alexandra, LA

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480248?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Fast Money Halftime Report
Sep 20, 2017 | CNBC

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480265?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Morning Express With Robin Meade
Sep 20, 2017 | CNN

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480263?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189

Traditional Media Coverage

State attorneys general expand probe into opioid companies

Sep 19, 2017 | Reuters

By Nate Raymond

A group of 41 state attorneys general announced on Tuesday they and other states were expanding their investigation into companies that manufacture and distribute opioid pain killers, demanding documents from those companies as part of the probe.
The announcement by attorneys general in states including New York, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Vermont came after a group of states in June announced an effort to probe companies tied to drugs at the center of the national addiction epidemic.
To read the full story on WestlawNext Practitioner Insights, click here: bit.ly/2wvrLtl

Return to headline | Return to top
State AGs Widen Probe Into Opioid Makers, Distributors

Sep 20, 2017 | Law 360

By Christine Powell

A bipartisan state attorneys general investigation into the opioid epidemic has expanded to include more drug manufacturers and distributors, including Purdue Pharma, Allergan and AmerisourceBergen, according to a Tuesday announcement from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
Healey revealed the broadening of a probe focused on the legality of opioids marketing and sales tactics at a press conference in Boston, during which she was joined by Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, Taunton Mayor Tom Hoye, Learn to Cope Founder and Executive Director Joanne Peterson and others. She said the probe now also includes Janssen, Teva, Endo, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

“What did they know and when did they know it?” Healey said. “Did they know how addictive these drugs were when they sold them? Did they mislead patients into thinking that these drugs were safe? Did they track and report suspicious orders? Did they ignore information that could have saved lives? ... The American people deserve answers and we’re going to get them.”

By pooling their resources and demanding documents, the attorneys general from states like Massachusetts, Texas, New York, Colorado and Alabama seek to determine whether the manufacturers and distributors have contributed to the opioid crisis that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says claimed the lives of 33,091 people across the country in 2015.

When the probe was first announced in June, it focused solely on OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, according to Healey’s office. Peterson, who helms the nonprofit that supports families coping with addiction, noted during Tuesday’s press conference that three of the company’s former executives previously pled guilty to misbranding the drug, but were sentenced only to probation and community service at a 2007 hearing she attended.

“I was one of the 19 picked to testify that day to those three executives, along with another mom from another state who brought her son with her in an urn,” Peterson said. But today, she said, she “feels so much admiration and hope — we all do. We’ve yearned for a closer look at this for many years.”

Endo, Allergan, McKesson, Teva, Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen, Purdue Pharma, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health responded to Tuesday’s announcement by issuing statements, in which they by and large said that they are committed to the safe use of opioids and that they will cooperate with the attorney generals’ investigation.

Cardinal Health said its people “care deeply about the devastation opioid abuse has caused American families and communities, and we look forward to working with the attorneys general on their multi-state inquiry as they seek to better understand the myriad causes involved in this major public health issue.”

For its parts, Janssen said it “has acted responsibly and in the best interests of patients and physicians with regard to these medicines, which are [U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved] and carry FDA-mandated warnings about possible risks on every product label.”

Many of these and other companies are already tangled up in litigation stemming from the opioid epidemic. For example, Ohio has sued Allergan, Endo, Janssen, Purdue Pharma and Teva unit Cephalon Inc.; New Hampshire has sued Purdue Pharma; New York’s Suffolk County has sued Purdue Pharma, Cephalon, Janssen and Endo; and Chicago has sued Purdue Pharma, Cephalon, Janssen, Endo and Allergan. Meanwhile, the Cherokee Nation has sued AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

Return to headline | Return to top
Makers Of Opioids Are Asked For Data

Sep 20, 2017 | WSJ

By THomas McMillan

A bipartisan group of states investigating the opioid painkiller industry and the causes of widespread addiction has stepped up its probe with a fresh demand for documents from drugmakers and distributors.
States including New York, California and Tennessee announced the moves, saying a group of 41 attorneys general served subpoenas on manufacturers Endo International PLC, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Allergan PLC, and Purdue Pharma.
They also demanded documents from the three companies that account for about 90% of the country's opioid distribution: AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health, and McKesson Corp.
"For millions of Americans, their personal battle with opioid addiction did not start in a back alley with a tourniquet and syringe," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said at a press conference. "They got hooked on medicine they were prescribed for pain or that they found in a medicine cabinet."
The investigation marks the latest step in an investigation publicly announced by attorneys general this summer.
States including Ohio and Mississippi have gone further, filing lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, alleging they misrepresented the addictive risks of their painkillers.
Representatives for Allergan, Teva, Janssen, Purdue, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Cardinal Health said that they were cooperating with the investigation.
A spokesman for Endo declined to comment. A spokesman for Allergan said the company's two opioid products account for less than 0.08% of all those prescribed in the U.S. in 2016.
Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a national trade group, said distributors welcome a discussion of the opioid epidemic but aren't responsible for an increase in painkiller prescriptions.
"While distributors play a vital role as logistics companies, to suggest that they are responsible for the volume of opioids prescribed lacks a fundamental understanding of how the supply chain works and is regulated, " the group said.
Mr. Schneiderman said the attorneys general have asked the companies for marketing materials, internal research about opioid efficacy, internal memos on opioid addiction and documents detailing how painkillers are controlled.
The attorneys general want to determine whether manufacturers misled doctors and patients about the addictive power of the drugs or used incentives to encourage employees to sell more drugs, Mr. Schneiderman said. They also hope to investigate whether distributors may have neglected their legal obligation to alert the Drug Enforcement Administration of suspicious orders, according to Mr. Schneiderman.
Mr. Schneiderman said that while the effort is focused on fact-finding, it may result in litigation if misconduct is found. "We hope that this will lead to some reforms by the industry itself," he said.
In several New York counties, drug overdoses account for more than 20% of deaths of people between the ages 15 and 44, including 41% in Sullivan County, Mr. Schneiderman said.
Nora Milligan, a critical-care nurse who said she is in long-term recovery from substance abuse, applauded Tuesday's announcement. She said she witnessed a shift in culture in hospitals, from opioids being prescribed with care and concern to being handed out with little fear of addiction.
"Families are being misled to think that these medications are harmless and it's OK to just leave them in your house," Ms. Milligan said.
Tuesday's announcement follows the news that 37 attorneys general -- including Mr. Schneiderman -- on Monday called upon insurance companies to examine policies that they say may have led to the overprescription of opioids.

Return to headline | Return to top
Opioid Industry's 'Superstructure' Targeted By State Attorneys General

Sep 19, 2017 | The Pink Sheet

By Brenda Sandburg

This article remains under paywall: https://pink.pharmamedtechbi.com/PS121587/Opioid-Industrys-Superstructure-Targeted-By-State-Attorneys-General

Return to headline | Return to top
41 State attorneys general subpoena opioid manufacturers and distributors

Sep 19, 2017 | CNN

By Nadia Kounang

A coalition of 41 states' attorneys general have served five major opioid manufacturers and three drug distributors with subpoenas seeking information about how these companies marketed and distributed prescription opioids.
he development was announced at a news conference by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the first public announcement of subpoenas in this multistate effort.
The coalition was announced in June, with the aim of investigating what role these companies may have had in contributing to the United States' opioid epidemic.
Major opioid manufacturers and distributors investigated
The investigative subpoenas and document requests were served Monday to pharmaceutical manufacturers Endo International, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc. and Allergan. The group also served a supplemental investigative subpoena to Purdue Pharma.
Documents were also requested of three major pharmaceutical distributors: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. According to the Drug Channels Institute, a group that tracks the pharmaceutical industry, these three companies had more than $400 billion in revenue last year and manage about 90% of the country's national drug distribution.
The attorneys general are hoping to learn whether these companies may have marketed or distributed their products illegally.
'Prescription opioids are the on-ramp to addiction'
"Too often, prescription opioids are the on-ramp to addiction for millions of Americans," Schneiderman said. He pointed out that according to the National Institutes of Health, about 80% of all new heroin users begin with using prescription opioids.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the number of fatal drug overdoses in 2016 was expected to top more than 64,000, more than the number of American troops lost in the Vietnam War. Many of those deaths involve an opioid, either a legally prescribed narcotic or an illicit drug like heroin or fentanyl. Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the US, killing more people than guns or car accidents.
"The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I am saying, officially, right now, it is an emergency," President Trump said in August. "It's a national emergency."
However, five weeks later, the administration has yet to make an official declaration about a national emergency on the opioid epidemic.
A number of states have filed their own lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors: Oklahoma, Missouri, Ohio, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico and South Carolina. None of these states is involved in the broader multistate investigation.
In addition, New York and Kentucky filed suits that have since been settled.
Companies respond
Allergan said Tuesday that "While we work proactively with (state attorneys general) offices to provide information, it is important to put into perspective Allergan's role regarding opioids. Allergan's two branded opioid products -- Norco and Kadian -- account for less than 0.08% of all opioid products prescribed in 2016 in the U.S. These products came to Allergan through legacy acquisitions and have not been promoted since 2012, in the case of Kadian, and since 2003, in the case of Norco."
Amerisource Bergen said that it "has taken extensive action to help ensure the safe and secure delivery of these drugs, including reporting suspicious orders to the Drug Enforcement Agency and stopping tens of thousands of suspicious orders from being shipped."
Cardinal Health said, "As a pharmaceutical distributor, we operate as part of a multi-faceted and highly regulated healthcare system. We do not manufacture, promote or prescribe prescription medications to members of the public -- and believe everyone in that chain, including us, must do their part to address the current crisis."
Endo International said its policy is "not to comment on current litigation or investigations."
Janssen Pharmaceuticals said, "We have received and plan to address the request from the coalition of State Attorney Generals, and will continue to work with stakeholders to support solutions."
McKesson said it "agrees that the opioid epidemic is a national public health crisis and plans to cooperate fully with the investigation."
Purdue Pharma said, "We share the attorneys' general concern about the opioid crisis and we are cooperating with their request. This is a multifaceted public health challenge, and we look forward to working collaboratively with government entities to be part of the solution."
Teva Pharmaceuticals said, "We are committed to working with the healthcare community, regulators and public officials to collaboratively find solutions."

Return to headline | Return to top
CT, 38 other states widen probe of opioid manufacturers, distributors

Sep 19, 2017 | Connecticut Mirror

By Mackenzie Rigg

Attorneys general from 39 states, including Connecticut, have broadened an investigation into whether pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors have played a role in the opioid epidemic, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said Tuesday.
Calling it a “dramatic expansion and coordination of the investigations,” Jepsen said the coalition of attorneys general has sent investigative subpoenas to five manufacturers, including Stamford-based Purdue Pharma, the maker of the pain-killer OxyContin. The group also sent letters to three distributors requesting information.
“This is a major public health crisis nationally and in Connecticut,” Jepsen said. “For every person who dies, there’s dozens of lives that are ripped apart by this … This is an issue that certainly merits a commitment of resources from my staff and a lot of my time.”
Connecticut joined the multi-state investigation this summer, but didn’t disclose then what companies the group was looking at. Since then, the coalition has broadened its scope. Connecticut, unlike some other states, has not sued any drug companies over potential involvement in the opioid epidemic.
Jepsen said Tuesday the group is investigating whether manufacturers changed their marketing practices to doctors to encourage the use of opioids not just for acute pain, but also for chronic pain, and, “if doing so, did they overstate the benefits and understate the risks of addiction?”
He said drug distributors are mandated under federal law to monitor who they sell their products to and to report any anomalies they come across. He said distributors have showed signs of improvement in their monitoring, but “there’s a question to whether they were asleep at the wheel” in previous years and whether “they are doing enough today.”
In Connecticut, the chief medical examiner has projected more than a thousand people will die from drug overdoses this year. That number has tripled since 2012, when 357 people died from overdoses.
“We share the attorneys’ general concern about the opioid crisis, and we are cooperating with their request,” said a Purdue spokesman in an email. “This is a multifaceted public health challenge, and we look forward to working collaboratively with government entities to be part of the solution.”
The other manufacturers sent investigative subpoenas were Endo International plc; Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc.; and Allergan Inc., according to Jepsen’s office.
Janssen spokesman William Foster said in a statement that the company had received and planned to address the request from the attorneys general.
“Janssen has acted responsibly and in the best interests of patients and physicians with regard to these medicines, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about possible risks on every product label,” Foster said.
Endo spokeswoman Heather Zoumas Lubeski said in an email that the company doesn’t comment on current litigation or investigations.
But she added that Endo shared “the FDA’s goal of appropriately supporting the needs of patients with chronic pain while preventing misuse and diversion of opioid products.”
The three distributors sent letters requesting information were AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. The three companies manage about 90 percent of the United States’s opioid distribution, Jepsen’s office said.
After Tuesday’s announcement, John M. Gray, president and CEO of the HealthCare Distribution Alliance, said in a statement that, “Distributors have no ability to influence what prescriptions are written. The fact is that distributors don’t make medicines, market medicines, prescribe medicines or dispense them to consumers. Our role is to deliver medicines safely, securely and efficiently from manufacturers to pharmacies, hospitals and other healthcare institutions based on prescriptions written by licensed prescribers.”
Gabe Weissman, AmerisourceBergen spokesman, said in an email that the company had “taken extensive action to help ensure the safe and secure delivery of these drugs, including reporting suspicious orders to the Drug Enforcement Agency and stopping tens of thousands of suspicious orders from being shipped.”
A spokeswoman from McKesson said the company is “committed to maintaining—and continuously improving—strong programs designed to detect and prevent opioid diversion within the pharmaceutical supply chain.”
A number of states, counties and cities nationwide have sued various drug companies, alleging they are partially to blame for the epidemic.
Waterbury has filed a suit and 12 municipalities have signed retainers to join the suit — New Milford, Roxbury, Bristol, Naugatuck, Wolcott, Bridgeport, Oxford, Southington, Prospect, Woodbury, East Hartford and Southbury — according to the Waterbury’s mayor’s office.

Return to headline | Return to top
Why state AGs are targeting drug companies over opioids (Updated)

Sep 19, 2017 | USA Today Network

By Natasha Vaughn

ALBANY, N.Y. — Attorneys general across the country are demanding information from pharmaceutical companies in an ongoing investigation into prescription drug abuse.
A bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general said Tuesday they have jointly filed subpoenas to major opioid distributors and manufacturers as they investigate how prescription drugs are marketed and distributed, as well as the impact it has had on the national opioid epidemic.
“Too often, prescription opioids are the on-ramp to addiction for millions of Americans. We’re committed to getting to the bottom of a broken system that has fueled the epidemic and taken far too many lives,” said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overdoses from prescription opioids has more than quadrupled in the last 18 years.
Between 2010 and 2015, opioid-related overdoses in New York rose 71%, a review in April by the Rockefeller Institute of Government found.
The subpoenas were served to Endo International; Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc. and Allergan Inc.
Distributors who were subpoenaed were AmerisourceBergen; Cardinal Health and McKesson.
In June, three Tennessee prosecutors took aim at drugmakers who supplied the opiates that addicted millions, using the state’s long-ridiculed and rarely used “crack tax” law.
The district attorneys general for three east Tennessee judicial districts collectively representing nine counties filed a lawsuit in Sullivan County Circuit Court against opioid drugmakers Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt and Endo Pharmaceuticals.
The lawsuit seeks to hold the drugmakers responsible for the opioid epidemic in Tennessee by labeling them as drug dealers and accusing them of lying about the addictive properties of opiates and aggressively pushing the drugs as miracle cures for all manner of pain.
It also names as plaintiffs in the lawsuit “Baby Doe,” a boy born in March 2015 addicted to opiates because his mother, identified as “Mary Doe,” was an opiate addict and bought her drugs in Sullivan County, one of the three judicial districts represented in the legal action.
“It is now beyond reasonable question that the manufacturer defendants’ fraud caused Mary Doe and thousands of others in Tennessee to become addicted to opioids — an addiction that, thanks to their fraudulent conduct, was all but certain to occur,” the lawsuit stated.
Tennessee logs more opiate prescriptions per capita than any state in the nation except West Virginia.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of similar suits filed in Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi, New York and California. The Cherokee Nation in May sued in tribal court. Another lawsuit filed in Washington in January alleged that Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin, knew the drug was being sold on the streets and collected millions for it and did nothing to stop it.

Return to headline | Return to top
Bipartisan coalition of attorneys general form to fight opioid epidemic nationwide (UPDATED)

Sep 20, 2017 | WXXI News

By Caitlyn White

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a bipartisan coalition to investigate major opioid manufacturers and distributors.
41 attorneys general from across the country have signed on to the effort, which served subpoenas to four pharmaceutical manufacturers Monday: Endo International, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals (Cephalon), and Allergan. A supplemental investigative subpoena was served to Purdue Pharma.
The coalition is also asking for documents from AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson., the three companies that manage approximately 90% of the nation’s opioid distribution
According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 80%of heroin users report that they misused prescription opioids first. Numbers that Schneiderman says are very powerful.
“Prescription opioids are the on ramp to addiction for millions of Americans."
Schneiderman says systemic change needs to happen in order to combat the nationwide opioid crisis, and they want to investigate if any of these companies engage in unlawful distribution of prescription drugs, and what incentive structures are used in sales.
"If there is any fraud or deception that’s been involved. If there’s misrepresentations being made to doctors or the public about how addictive drugs are how effective they are, we want to know about that. If distributors are not complying with their obligation to flag suspicious orders we want to know about that."
The opioid industry makes nearly $500 billion annually.
The Attorney General says it’s difficult to come by bipartisan cooperation these days and he's grateful for all those who have signed on to the multi state investigation.

Return to headline | Return to top
Amid opioid investigation, Texas and other states demand drug company documents (UPDATED)

Sep 20, 2017 | Texas Tribune

By Jim Malewitz

As communities nationwide grapple with opioid addiction, Texas and a coalition of 40 other states have served investigative subpoenas and other requests to eight companies that manufacture or distribute prescription painkillers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday.
It’s the latest development in an investigation unveiled in June. Paxton and his counterparts are trying to determine whether opioid manufacturers played a role in creating or prolonging what has become a national epidemic.
The attorneys general served investigative subpoenas to drugmakers Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals' Cephalon, Allergan and their related entities, and they served a supplemental subpoena to Purdue Pharma, Paxton’s office said. The states also sent “information demand letters” to three opioid distributers: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.
“The goal of this phase of our investigation is to collect enough information so that the multi-state coalition can effectively evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids,” Paxton said in a statement. “We’ll determine an appropriate course of action once it’s determined what role these companies may have played in creating or prolonging the opioid crisis.”
Caitlin Carroll, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said Tuesday she could not comment on the investigation of individual companies, but she pointed to policies her group supports to "prevent and deter abuse."
An Allergan spokesman said that company was "working cooperatively with the state attorneys general," but he downplayed the company's share of the opioid market and said it didn't aggressively promote such drugs.
"Allergan’s two branded opioid products — Norco and Kadian — account for less than 0.08 percent of all opioid products prescribed in 2016 in the U.S.," the spokesman, Mark Marmur, said. "These products came to Allergan through legacy acquisitions and have not been promoted since 2012, in the case of Kadian, and since 2003, in the case of Norco."
Cardinal Health also released a lengthy statement in which the company said: "We look forward to working with the attorneys general."
Opioids are a family of drugs including prescription painkillers like hydrocodone, as well as illicit drugs like heroin.
Prescription and illegal opioids account for more than 60 percent of overdose deaths in the United States, a toll that has quadrupled over the past two decades, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Drug overdose deaths in 2015 far outnumbered deaths from auto accidents or guns.
Texas saw 1,186 opioid-related deaths in 2015, while the nation as a whole had 33,000 such deaths that year. Researchers have flagged opioids as one possible factor in Texas’ staggering rise in women’s deaths during and shortly after pregnancy.
In teaming up to probe drug companies, some experts suggest the states are following a playbook similar to one used during the 1990s to sue tobacco companies for their role in fueling a costly health crisis — an effort that resulted in a settlement yielding more than $15 billion for Texas alone.

Return to headline | Return to top
Nebraska, other states demand drug company documents in opioid investigation

Sep 20, 2017 | Beatrice Daily Sun

By Lee Enterprises

The attorneys general of Nebraska and 40 other states are demanding documents and information from eight pharmaceutical companies as part of a multistate investigation into the nation's opioid epidemic.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson and his colleagues announced the move Tuesday afternoon. Peterson's office joined the investigation in June.
The information will help determine whether the companies "engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids," the Nebraska Attorney General's Office said in a news release.
Opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths in Nebraska and nationwide. They were involved in 33,091 deaths across the U.S. in 2015, including 126 in Nebraska.
Peterson's office said investigative subpoenas, also known as civil investigative demands, were sent Monday to drugmakers Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals' Cephalon, Allergan and their related entities. They also served a supplemental subpoena to Purdue Pharma.
The states also sent "information demand letters" to distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
“The opioid crisis this nation faces today is, in part, due to the past actions of certain players in the pharmaceutical industry," Peterson said. "The goal of this investigation is to determine who in the industry should bear responsibility under our consumer protection laws."

Return to headline | Return to top
Healey expands probe of opioid makers (UPDATED)

Sep 20, 2017 | Community Newspaper Holdings Inc

By Christian M. Wade

BOSTON — Attorney General Maura Healey is widening her investigation of opioid manufacturers as part of a probe that already involves the top prosecutors of 39 states.
Healey, a Democrat, said Tuesday she is asking eight drug makers and distributors of information related to the manufacturing, marketing and sales of highly addictive opioids to determine “whether they misrepresented risks in order to increase corporate profits.”
She called it “one of the largest public investigations in history.”
“What we’re asking these companies is what did they know and when did they know it?” Healey said at a press briefing in Boston. “Did they know how addictive these drugs were when they sold them? Did they ignore information that could have saved lives?”
The opioid manufacturers are Allergan, Endo, Janssen, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly additive OxyContin painkillers. The probe is also targeting opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
A spokesman for Connecticut-based Perdue Pharma said the company is cooperating with Healey and other attorneys general.
“We share the attorneys general concern about the opioid crisis, and we are cooperating with their request,” John Puskar said in an emailed statement. “This is a multifaceted public health challenge, and we look forward to working collaboratively with government entities to be part of the solution.”
Healey was flanked at the briefing by state and local law enforcement officials and people who lost family members to opioid addiction, including Joanne Peterson, founder of Learn to Cope support group.
Peterson said she welcomed the expanded investigation.
“Our streets are raddled with pills, heroin, fentanyl, death and destruction, and a lot of it started with prescription drugs,” she said. “This has gone on for far too long.”
In June, Healey said she teamed up with a bipartisan group of 39 attorneys general to probe whether drug makers have engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing and sale of opioids.
She said her office would use subpoenas, depositions and other investigative tools to determine if any state laws were broken.
Healey’s expanded probe comes amid a flurry of federal and state investigations of the business practices of the nation’s manufacturers of prescription opioids.
Two weeks ago, a congressional committee issued a report alleging that Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics Inc. “systematically” pressured employees, physicians and the medical industry to expand the use of its fentanyl drug Subsys for pain management of noncancer conditions such as back pain, fibromyalgia and migraines.
In August, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued the company, accusing it of violating his state’s consumer protection laws by providing insurers with false and misleading information to obtain prior authorization for patient prescriptions.
The company has denied the allegations and criticized the investigations and legal challenges for lacking “context and factual accuracy.”
On Tuesday, Healey declined to say if her probe turned up any evidence to date or whether it will result in litigation.
Nationally, overdoses from opioids, including prescription painkillers, killed more than 33,000 people in 2015 — more than any year on record, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, the amount of opioids prescribed per person in 2015 was three times higher than in 1999, according to the federal agency.
Massachusetts has been particularly hit hard. In 2016, the state logged 2,107 fatal overdoses, the most ever counted and at least three times the number reported in 2013, according to the Department of Public Health.
Essex County recorded 285 opioid-related deaths last year. Middlesex County had 400, according to state data.
Still, public health officials say the number of opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts fell about 5 percent in the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period a year earlier. There were an estimated 978 confirmed deaths in the first half of 2017, compared to 1,031 estimated and confirmed deaths during the first half of 2016.
And deaths from the powerful synthetic drug fentanyl continue to increase even as the presence of heroin in opioid-related fatalities declines.
“We’ve lost people in every county, in big cities and small towns,” Healey said Tuesday. “And every day in this state, we lose five more.”
She said if drug makers and distributors have played a role in getting people hooked on opioids, they “need to be held accountable.”
“We need to figure out how this crisis happened,” she said, “so we can make sure it never happens again.”

Return to headline | Return to top
Nebraska, other states demand drug company documents in opioid investigation

Sep 20, 2017 | Lincoln Journal Star

By Staff

The attorneys general of Nebraska and 40 other states are demanding documents and information from eight pharmaceutical companies as part of a multistate investigation into the nation's opioid epidemic.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson and his colleagues announced the move Tuesday afternoon. Peterson's office joined the investigation in June.
The information will help determine whether the companies "engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids," the Nebraska Attorney General's Office said in a news release.
Opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths in Nebraska and nationwide. They were involved in 33,091 deaths across the U.S. in 2015, including 126 in Nebraska.
Peterson's office said investigative subpoenas, also known as civil investigative demands, were sent Monday to drugmakers Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals' Cephalon, Allergan and their related entities. They also served a supplemental subpoena to Purdue Pharma.
The states also sent "information demand letters" to distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
“The opioid crisis this nation faces today is, in part, due to the past actions of certain players in the pharmaceutical industry," Peterson said. "The goal of this investigation is to determine who in the industry should bear responsibility under our consumer protection laws."

Return to headline | Return to top
Schneiderman, bipartisan coalition of AGs expand multistate investigation into opioid crisis

Sep 20, 2017 | Madison County Courier

By Staff

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that a bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general from across the country has demanded information and documents from the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioid drugs, part of a multistate investigation into whether the companies engaged in any unlawful practices in the marketing and distribution of prescription opioids.
The investigative subpoenas and document requests, which were served yesterday, mark a major expansion of the investigations by the Attorneys General into the nationwide opioid epidemic. A large, bipartisan coalition of states’ chief legal officers are now pooling resources to address the most pressing public health crisis affecting the country, and doing so with a broad focus on multiple entities at both the manufacturer and distributor levels.
“Too often, prescription opioids are the on-ramp to addiction for millions of Americans,” said Schneiderman. “We’re committed to getting to the bottom of a broken system that has fueled the epidemic and taken far too many lives. New Yorkers whose families have been torn apart by the opioid crisis deserve to know if the industry put its bottom line ahead of patient safety. My office is committed to using every tool at our disposal to curb the epidemic and get those affected by it the help they need and the justice they deserve.”
The attorneys general served subpoenas on the following pharmaceutical manufacturers and their related entities:Endo International plcJanssen PharmaceuticalsTeva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc.Allergan Inc.
The attorneys general have also served a supplemental investigative subpoena on Purdue Pharma.
The attorneys general also demanded documents and information about distribution practices from the following opioid distribution companies, who together manage approximately 90 percent of the nation’s opioid distribution:AmerisourceBergenCardinal HealthMcKesson
Opioid distributors alone make nearly $500 billion a year in revenue.
Opioids – both prescription and illicit – are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide and in New York. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015 – including 2,754 in New York – and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999. Drug overdoses account for a large percentage of deaths among New Yorkers between 15 and 44 years of age – accounting for a stunning 41 percent of deaths in Sullivan County, 37 percent in Erie County, and 32 percent in Nassau County, according to an analysis conducted by the New York Times.
Since taking office, Attorney General Schneiderman has launched a multi-levered strategy to tackle New York’s evolving opioid epidemic, including:Obtaining settlements with major domestic and global health insurers including Cigna, Anthem, and Empire BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS), which insure over 4 million New Yorkers, to remove barriers to life-saving treatment for opioid use disorder. The agreements put an end to the insurers’ policy of requiring prior authorization for medication-assisted treatment (“MAT”), which can lead to significant delays for patients seeking relief from addiction.Creating the Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing Act (“I-STOP), a series of enhancements to New York’s prescription drug monitoring program that provide doctors with patient’s up-to-date controlled substance prescription history and established a safe disposal program providing a place for New Yorkers to get rid of expired and unneeded drugs—thus reducing the likelihood of stolen and forged prescriptions being used to obtain controlled substances from pharmacies. I-STOPreduced “doctor shopping,” a practice in which an individual attempts to obtain the same or similar prescriptions from multiple physicians, by 90% since 2014.Launching the Community Overdose Prevention (“COP”) program, a life-saving initiative that enabled state and local law-enforcement officers in the state of New York to carry naloxone, the extremely effective heroin antidote that can immediately reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Since the program’s implementation in April 2014, more than 100 overdoses were reversedusing kits provided by the COP program, which distributed over 27,000 kits across the state.Obtaining an agreement with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to cut and cap the price of naloxone for all agencies in New York State, reducing the price of naloxone by nearly 20 percent.Enforcing Mental Health Parity Laws to reach agreements with health insurance companies, requiring them to implement sweeping reforms in their administration of behavioral health benefits, in particular relating to medical management practices, coverage of residential treatment for substance abuse, and co-pays for outpatient treatment, and to submit regular compliance reports. The agreements ultimately provided over $2 million in restitution for members whose claims for were improperly denied.Successfully prosecuting more than ten licensed prescribers including operators of “pill mills” and other unlawful practices for crimes related to improper opioid prescriptions.Cracking down on drug trafficking networks that traffic opioids into communities around the state. The Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force has now taken down 25 large drug trafficking gangs, made more than 580 felony narcotics arrests, and seized more than $1.5 million and more than 2,000 pounds of illegal drugs since 2011. In the past several months alone, Attorney General Schneiderman’s Suburban and Upstate Response to the Growing Epidemic initiative has resulted in 260 alleged traffickers and dealers taken off the streets.Urging health insurance companies to review their coverage and payment policies that contribute to the opioid epidemic, as well as sending letters to the country’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers requesting documents, data, and other information regarding how they are addressing the opioid crisis.
The investigation is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Carol Hunt, Christopher Leung, and Sara Mark of the Health Care Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Lisa Landau, and Counsel to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Jay Speers and Special Assistant Attorneys General Kathryn Harris and Elizabeth Kappakas of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, under the supervision of Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney.

Return to headline | Return to top
Opioid Crisis: AGs Want Answers from Pharma Companies

Sep 20, 2017 | WWNYTV

By Staff

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is teaming up with 40 other AGs from across the nation to file subpoenas demanding information and documents from major opioid distributors and manufacturers.
During a press conference in New York, Schneiderman said opioid prescriptions have tripled, leading to a spike in opiate overdose deaths.
"To put it in perspective, more people are killed every year by drug overdoses than car accidents, more are killed by drug overdoses than by guns and HIV combined and the crisis is hitting young people especially hard," Schneiderman said.
The AGs office reports in Jefferson County, overdoses account for 15 percent of all deaths in people ages 15 to 44.
Now, attorney's general from 41 states are demanding documents and information from the largest opioid manufacturers. They are:
-Endo International plc
-Janssen Pharmaceuticals
-Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc.
-Allergan Inc.
-A supplemental investigative subpoena was served to Purdue Pharma
"Our subpoenas and letters seek to uncover whether or not there was deception involved, if manufacturers misled doctors and patients about the efficacy and addictive power of these drugs," Schneiderman said.
The AGs are also seeking documents from three opioid distribution companies.
The pharmaceutical companies which have been served subpoenas have released statements, saying they are cooperating in the investigation.

Return to headline | Return to top
Colorado attorney general joining national opioid probe

Sep 19, 2017 | The Pueblo Chieftan

By Ryan Severance

As part of a national investigation into the causes of the opioid epidemic, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman announced Tuesday that she and a coalition of other attorneys general are subpoenaing documents from leading U.S. opioid manufacturers and distributors to see if any illegal conduct contributed to the surge in opioid prescriptions.
In demanding the documents, Coffman and a bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general are seeking information about the opioid manufacturers' and distributors' business practices related to the marketing, distribution and sale of opioids.
The attorneys general served investigative subpoenas on opioid manufacturers Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals/Cephalon Inc., Allergan plc, and their related entities, as well as a supplemental subpoena on Purdue Pharma, according to information provided by the Colorado Attorney General's Office.
The attorneys general also sent letters requesting documents and other information from the nation's largest opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
Colorado is among the states leading the investigation of the manufacturers.
"The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact on millions of families across the country, and Colorado has certainly not been immune to this crisis," Coffman said in a statement. "The scourge of opioid addiction has impacted every corner of our state . . . There is no magic bullet to solve this crisis, but I am committed to working with partners throughout Colorado and the country to find a solution. This investigation is another step in a continuing effort by my office to help those impacted by opioid addiction and to hold accountable those who contributed to this epidemic in violation of Colorado law."
Opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide and in Colorado, the Colorado Attorney General's Office said.
Sales of prescription opioids in the United States nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2014.
It is estimated that as many as 200 million opioids prescriptions are written each year in the United States. Prior to the 1990s, opioids rarely were prescribed to treat pain, the Colorado Attorney General's Office said.

Return to headline | Return to top
AGs investigating opioid marketing (UPDATED)

Sep 20, 2017 | Boston Herald

By Matt Stout

She called it an “unprecedented effort” to dig into the sales and marketing of opioids.
The investigation had initially focused primarily on Purdue Pharma, but now includes seven other companies, including manufacturers Endo, Janssen, Teva and Allergan, as well as three distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
“What did they know and when did they know it?” Healey said at a press conference yesterday.
Healey’s office is working with 38 other attorneys general as part of the investigation.
A spokesman for Purdue Pharma said in a statement to the Herald: “We share the attorneys’ general concern about the opioid crisis and we are cooperating with their request.”
Cardinal Health said in a statement: “We look forward to working with the attorneys general on their multi-state inquiry as they seek to better understand the myriad causes involved in this major public health issue.”

Return to headline | Return to top
Tenn., Va. attorneys general seek information from opioid companies

Sep 20, 2017 | Bristol Herald Courier

By Robert Sorrell

A group of 41 attorneys general, including those in Tennessee and Virginia, are seeking information from opioid manufacturers and distributors as part of multistate investigations.
In separate news releases, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said they are participating in the bipartisan coalition. Both states recorded significant increases in opioid overdose deaths in 2016, and those numbers are expected to increase in 2017.
Last year, 1,186 opioid drug overdoses were reported in Tennessee and 1,133 overdoses were reported in Virginia, according to the two state departments of health. It should be noted that Virginia has about 2 million more residents than Tennessee but had about 50 fewer overdose deaths in 2016.
Opioids, both prescription and illicit, are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide, according to the attorneys general.
Tennessee is leading the states in the group of 41 attorneys general participating in the multistate investigations.
“The opioid crisis impacts all of us and is a threat to families in every community in Tennessee and across the country,” Slatery said. “We will use all resources available to identify and hold accountable those parties responsible. There is too much at stake not to attack this problem from all sides.”
The information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids.
Investigative subpoenas have been issued for documents and information, also known as civil investigative demands, on Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan and their related entities, as well as a supplemental civil investigative demand on Purdue Pharma.
Officials also sent information demand letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson requesting documents about their opioid distribution business.
“We lost over 1,100 Virginians to the opioid crisis just last year, and everyone has a responsibility to do what they can to ensure we don't lose another life to this devastating epidemic,” Herring said. “I’m proud to help lead this bipartisan investigation into the culpability of opioid manufacturers in creating, sustaining and extending the opioid epidemic, and I’m glad to see it move forward.”
Slatery and Herring said they’re using investigative tools to determine what role the opioid manufacturers and distributors may have played in creating or prolonging the epidemic and determine the appropriate course of action to help resolve the crisis.
The attorneys general in Tennessee and Virginia have already undertaken a number of efforts in their states to battle the opioid crisis. Naloxone has been made available on both sides of the state line. The drug is used to treat opioid overdoses. Both states also operate prescription drug monitoring programs, and prescription drug disposal programs are available in both states.
Sullivan County District Attorney General Barry Staubus, who has been vocal about the region’s opioid crisis, is following the efforts of the attorneys general.
“I support any efforts that provide more information about drug companies and how they operate,” Staubus said Tuesday.
Earlier this year, Staubus and two other district attorneys general in Northeast Tennessee filed a federal lawsuit against various entities involved with opioids, including Purdue Pharma, which was mentioned by the state attorneys general.
The local lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Greeneville, Tennessee.

Return to headline | Return to top
PA Attorney General investigating pharmaceutical companies

Sep 19, 2017 | PA Homepage

By Kelly Choate

Pennsylvania's Attorney General is hoping there's strength in numbers when it comes to combating the opioid epidemic.
Josh Shapiro said the Commonwealth is now one of 41 states investigating the role of pharmaceutical companies.
A series of subpoenas went out to some of the major manufacturers and distributors.
Pennsylvania had more than 4,600 fatal drug overdoses in 2016. That's a 37% increase over the previous year.
"We will change the very system of marketing, selling, and distributing these drugs, and most importantly, we will save lives as a result of this investigation," said Shapiro.
Shapiro said he and the other Attorneys General are looking into the business practices of companies responsible for distributing nearly 90% of the nation's opioids.
Opioid manufacturers under investigation:
Endo International, maker of drugs like Opana and Percocet
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, maker of opioids such as Duragesic, a fentanyl patch
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its US subsidiary Cephalon Inc., which manufactures many generic opioids and drugs such as Actiq, a fentanyl lollipop
Allergan Inc., maker of opioids like Kadian
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin
Opioid distributors under investigation:
AmerisourceBergen
Cardinal Health
McKesson

Return to headline | Return to top
Nebraska's Attorney General requests documents from opioid manufacturers; distributors

Sep 20, 2017 | KHGI

By Staff

Attorney General Doug Peterson announced a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multi-state investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic. He said this information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids. There are 41 attorneys general participating in the multi-state investigations.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015 including 126 in Nebraska, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.
“The opioid crisis this nation faces today is, in part, due to the past actions of certain players in the pharmaceutical industry. The goal of this investigation is to determine who in the industry should bear responsibility under our consumer protection laws,” said Attorney General Peterson.
According to a statement from the Attorney General's office, Peterson served investigative subpoenas for documents and information, also known as Civil Investigative Demands, on Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan, and their related entities, as well as a supplemental Civil Investigative Demand on Purdue Pharma.
The attorneys general sent letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson requesting documents about their opioid distribution business.
Peterson said that he will use these investigative tools to determine what role the opioid manufacturers and distributors may have played in creating or prolonging this epidemic and determine the appropriate course of action to help resolve this crisis.

Return to headline | Return to top
AL, 40 other states demand docs from opioid manufacturers, distributors

Sep 20, 2017 | WFSA 12 News

By Staff

Alabama's attorney general is among 41 AGs nationwide demanding documents from opioid manufacturers and distributors as they to stem a growing opioid abuse epidemic.
Tuesday, Attorney General Steve Marshall confirmed his office is among the bipartisan group of AGs looking for an explanation of why opioid deaths have become an epidemic, both in Alabama and nationally.
The AGs have served investigative subpoenas to manufacturers including Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan, and their related entities, as well as Purdue Pharma. Distributors served with subpoenas include AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.
"Opioid abuse has reached a crisis level in Alabama and in many portions of the country," Marshall said, "and earlier this year I joined with fellow attorneys general in investigating what role opioid manufacturers may have had in creating or prolonging the opioid abuse epidemic, and to establish the appropriate course of action to help solve this crisis.”
Opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999. In Alabama, there were over 700 deaths in 2015 and more than 33,000 nationwide that could be attributed to the epidemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Marshall was appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey to co-chair the newly-created Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council in August. The Council, which held its organizational meeting on Sept. 5, will examine the state’s opioid crisis and identify ways to reduce its harmful impact on Alabamians.

Return to headline | Return to top
Attorneys general turn opioid-fighting focus to medical industry

Sep 20, 2017 | Click Lancashire

By Elias Hubbard

The letter said opioid overdoses kill 91 Americans every day with more than half of those deaths involving prescription opioids.
A bipartisan coalition of 41 state attorneys general is pushing opioid manufacturers and distributors as part of a "multistate investigation into the nationwide opioid epidemic".
Attorneys general contend incentives promoting use of non-opioid techniques will increase practicality of medical providers considering treatments including physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care and non-opioid medications, the release said.
Some of the companies have already indicated a willingness to cooperate with the states, the Utah Attorney General's Office said.
It's a major expansion of existing investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic, said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
According to Slatery's office, state attorney generals representing four fifths of the nation served investigative subpoenas for documents and information, also known as Civil Investigative Demands, on four drug manufacturers - Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon and Allergan, along with their related entities.
In 2007, Purdue and three of the company's executives pled guilty to federal charges of misleading doctors, patients, and regulators regarding the risk of addiction associated with OxyContin, but attorneys claim that the legal battle did little in the way to curb Purdue's alleged wrongdoings.
Texas saw 1,186 opioid-related deaths in 2015, while the nation as a whole had 33,000 such deaths that year.
North Carolina's Attorney General says he is expanding an investigation into the role drug manufacturers may have played in the rising opioid crisis.
Now, the state prosecutors say they will examine whether the industry was complicit in creating the epidemic, and whether it should now be responsible for helping pay for the damage caused to many communities.
Earlier this month in Gloucester, six people overdosed, one fatally, on what police suspect was fentanyl. "This has gone completely out of control for many, many years". Separately, the coalition sent information demand letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.

Return to headline | Return to top
Herring seeks documents related to opioid crisis

Sep 19, 2017 | Augusta Free Press

By Staff

Attorney General Mark R. Herring today announced that a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multistate investigations into the opioid epidemic.
This information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids. Attorney General Herring and a bipartisan group of 40 other state attorneys general are participating in the multistate investigations.
Nationwide and in Virginia, opioids – prescription and illicit – are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths nationwide in 2015, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled nationally since 1999.
“We lost over 1,100 Virginians to the opioid crisis just last year, and everyone has a responsibility to do what they can to ensure we don’t lose another life to this devastating epidemic,” said Attorney General Mark Herring. “I’m proud to help lead this bipartisan investigation into the culpability of opioid manufacturers in creating, sustaining and extending the opioid epidemic, and I’m glad to see it move forward. I will continue my ongoing efforts to combat this crisis and help save lives in Virginia.”
The attorneys general served investigative subpoenas for documents and information, also known as Civil Investigative Demands, on Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan, and their related entities, as well as a supplemental Civil Investigative Demand on Purdue Pharma.
Likewise, the attorneys general sent information demand letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson requesting documents about their opioid distribution business.
Attorney General Herring and his fellow state attorneys general are using these investigative tools to determine what role the opioid manufacturers and distributors may have played in creating or prolonging this epidemic and determine the appropriate course of action to help resolve this crisis.

Return to headline | Return to top
Nearly 40 States Collaborating On Opioid Pharma Investigation

Sep 19, 2017 | The Hartford Courant

By Christine Schmidt

In the latest move in the battle against rampant opioid addiction, a group of nearly 40 states’ attorneys general have combined their strategies in the investigations against opioid manufacturers and distributors in an effort that aims to bring heftier strength to the government’s side of the lawsuit.
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen highlighted the “comprehensive and coordinated” approach of the attorneys general across both political parties.
“We want to have industry reform and help people with addiction issues and that would be very hard to do as a state suing on our own,” he said. “When a state sues on its own it’s about a paycheck for the state. This allows us to approach it, taking into account the full dimensions of a health crisis and the public policy aspects about it, not just the financial aspects.”
Over the summer a number of states and municipalities launched individual lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, citing them as contributors to the opioid epidemic for misleading marketing, taking advantage of black markets, and pushing doctors to write unnecessary prescriptions. (Not all states can openly disclose if they are part of the effort due to local legal restrictions.)
Jepsen announced in mid-June that Connecticut was joining the group of bipartisan attorneys general to examine if pharmaceutical companies broke the law in the marketing or sale of prescription opioids. Now, distributors have received demands for information related to the opioid epidemic from the investigators.
The states’ chief legal officers have divided into teams to investigate the manufacturers or the distributors of opioids. Stamford-based Purdue Pharma was one of the companies sued earlier this summer, and AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson were identified as distributors under scrutiny in the statement announcing today’s collaboration. Endo International, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and Allergan were named as manufacturers under investigation.
“Part of our job as attorneys general is to … ensure that where industry reform is possible is something we’re going to hold out for,” Jepsen said.
The number of deaths attributed to opioid overdoses has been on the rise in both Connecticut and across the country, with more than 1,000 people projected to die from opioids in the state in 2017, according to the office of the chief medical examiner. The rate of drug overdose deaths in the state has nearly tripled since 2012. Last month, Waterbury, Bristol and potentially two dozen other Connecticut communities unveiled their plans to sue opioid manufacturers for fueling the crisis through fraudulent manufacturing.
“We want to be, where possible, changing industry practices so that opiates are not marketed inappropriately and ... that anomalies in that distribution stream are spotted early on and corrected,” Jepsen said.
The investigation will continue as the companies respond to the attorneys’ requests for information, “so we find out exactly where things went wrong,” he said. “Parallel with that effort we expect the opening up of lines of communication both with manufacturing and distributing in Connecticut, with a special focus on distributors, to start to reach an understanding about the policy objectives.”
While scores of lawyers across the country are working to stem the flow of opioids at the manufacturing and prescription levels, paramedics, police officers, and firefighters are working to contain the number of deaths caused by opioid overdoses.
On Wednesday, health care experts and emergency medical services providers at UConn Health and the Department of Public Health are expected to release a free online training program for opioid prevention and addiction treatment to better equip first responders in confronting the epidemic. That training, structured for EMS providers, is available at www.train.org/connecticut/course/1072448 and is free for all users.

Return to headline | Return to top
Lafayette, Jeff Davis, Cenla sheriffs' suits against pharma companies allege fraud, deception in the name of profit (UPDATED)

Sep 19, 2017 | KATC

By Staff

LAFAYETTE -The makers of opioids like OxyContin, Percocet and fentanyl are the target of four Louisiana sheriffs' separate lawsuits that blame those companies for today's opioid epidemic, alleging the companies knew their products were addictive and ineffective but instead spread disinformation to protect — and grow — their profits.
The firm Laborde-Earles is representing Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber and the other sheriffs, who have each separately sued 12 major pharmaceutical companies. Also named as defendants are four doctors they claim were paid to help spread disinformation about opioid safety in order to increase those companies' bottom lines.
Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber and Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff Ivy Woods each filed suit on Monday in their respective parishes. In central Louisiana, Avoyelles Parish Sheriff Doug Anderson and Rapides Parish Sheriff Earl Hilton also filed suit on Monday and held a press conference announcing the litigation. (More on that here.)
The suit names the following companies as defendants, and it also lists the drugs in question:PurdueOxyContin (oxycodone hydrochlroide extended release), MS Contin (morphine sulfate extended release)Dilaudid and Dilaudid-HP (hydromorphone hydrochloride)Butrans (byprenorpine)Hysingla ER (hydrocodone bitrate)Targiniq ER (oxycodone hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride)CephalonActiq (fentanyl citrate)Fentora (fentanyl citrate)Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, which worked with Cephalon in the production, distribution and sales of opioids, including brand-name and generic forms of OxyContin, according to the lawsuitJohnson & Johnson, which owns more than 10 percent of Janssen Pharmaceuticals stock and controls the sale and development of the company's drugs, according to the lawsuitJanssen PharmaceuticalsDuragesic (fentanyl)Nucynta (tapentadol extended release)Nycynta ER (tapentadol)Endo Health Solutions and its subsidiary, Endo PharmaceuticalsOpana ER (oxymorphone hydrochloride extended release)Opana (oxymorphone hydrochloride)Percodan (oxymorphone hydrochloride and aspirin)Percocet (oxymorphone hydrochloride and acetaminophen)Lawsuit: Misinformation led to 'blockbuster profits'
Attorneys allege in the suit the companies have long known opioids are "too addictive and too debilitating for long-term use for chronic non-cancer pain lasting three months or longer," that their effectiveness wanes with prolonged use and that controlled studies only focused on short-term use and minimized the risk of addiction and other adverse outcomes — yet they spread information touting the drugs' safety.
Attorneys also allege that, "in order to expand the market for opioids and realize blockbuster profits," the companies "sought to create a false perception of the safety and efficacy of opioids" to encourage longer-term use and to treat more problems, like common aches and pains like lower back pain, arthritis and headaches.
"Defendants successfully created that false perception through a coordinated, sophisticated, and highly deceptive marketing campaign that began in the late 1990s, became more aggressive in or about 2006, and continues to the present," the suit claims.
According to the suit, these companies did this through initiatives like sponsoring certification courses for doctors, where they were taught inflated information about the benefits of opioid use. Those companies also made arrangements with "front groups" to distribute positive information about opioids, including "unbranded" marketing that escapes regulatory oversight, and they paid doctors on medical boards to help create guidelines touting the drugs' safety, the suit claims.
Doctors allegedly on these companies' payrolls in the misinformation campaign — including one from Louisiana — are also named as defendants in the suit:Perry Fine, M.D., of UtahScott Fishman, M.D., of CaliforniaRandall Brewer, M.D., of ShreveportLynn Webster, M.D., of UtahMore prescriptions than Louisiana residents
According to figures cited in the lawsuit, in 2012 alone, opioids generated $8 billion in revenue for drug companies, about $3.1 billion of which went to Purdue for OxyContin. Those figures are growing, yet since 1999, there has been no overall change in the amount of pain Americans report, the suit claims.
Meanwhile, opioid use and addiction has increased health care costs and social problems in Louisiana — where in 2015 there were more opioid prescriptions written than there were residents — and drug overdoses in the state "are now the leading cause of injury death in Louisiana, surpassing motor-vehicle related deaths," the suit claims.
Citing the Lafayette Parish Coroner’s Office, the suit claims 71 percent of accidental deaths in the parish in 2016 included opioids. And citing Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s stats, about 80 percent of inmates in the parish jail are substance abusers, including of opioid pain medications.
The suit alleges the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office has had to spend “significant sums that would not have otherwise been spent in its efforts to combat the public nuisance” created by the companies’ “deceptive marketing campaign.” The suit requests restitution, damages, “disgorgement,” civil penalties, attorney’s fees, costs and expenses, injunctive relief and any other relief to which they may be entitled.
The language mirrors the three other lawsuits filed on Monday.

Return to headline | Return to top
What role did pharmacy companies play in opioid crisis? NC’s attorney general is investigating

Sep 20, 2017 | The News & Observer

By Anne Blythe

At a news conference broadcast live on Facebook, Stein, a member of the executive committee leading the probe, announced that the state officials have subpoenaed records of the marketing and sales practices of five manufacturers and three distributors of powerful prescription painkillers.
The investigation builds on one started earlier this year into Purdue Pharma, a company that several states have sued and accused of using deceptive marketing practices related to OxyContin. Their allegations come nearly a decade after three Purdue Pharma executives pleaded guilty and paid a $634 million fine for an OxyContin branding strategy that overstated the benefits of opioids for treating chronic pain.
As part of the expanded investigation, the attorneys general have added Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan and their related entities to the list of opioid manufacturers from which they want more information.
The investigation also focuses on AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson for information about their opioid distribution practices.
“As millions of Americans were becoming addicted to prescription painkillers and communities were struggling to respond to this crisis, drug companies were reaping enormous profits,” said Stein, a Democrat and former state senator elected attorney general last year. “If these companies broke the law in any way, if they created the misery that the people in North Carolina are suffering, I will hold them accountable.”
The pharmaceutical industry faces dozens of lawsuits brought by states, cities and counties as opioid addiction and overdose deaths spike.
Nationwide and in North Carolina, opioids – prescription and illicit – are the main driver of drug overdose deaths, which now top car accidents as the No. 1 cause of accidental death. In North Carolina, it is estimated that nearly four people die each day from accidental drug overdoses.
Opioids are compounds that bind to the brain’s opioid receptors, blocking pain and slowing breathing. The drugs trigger the release of dopamine, and new users typically feel a calm, happy high while under the influence. Regular users develop a tolerance to the drugs, requiring more and more to achieve the same effect.
The widening epidemic can be traced to the 1990s, when doctors began to treat pain more aggressively.
Prescriptions for hydrocodone or oxycodone, which are also known by brand names Vicodin and OxyContin, have skyrocketed over the years, from 76 million in 1991 to nearly 259 million in 2012, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has said. As of 2013, hydrocodone, the generic version of Vicodin, was prescribed to more Medicare patients than any other drug, according to a ProPublica project.
At the news conference on Tuesday, Stein described his experience traveling the state and hearing from people who have suffered addiction and loss from the crisis.
Steve Shelton, in an emotional few minutes at the podium, shared his story of losing his youngest son Caleb, a former Guilford County high school and college baseball player.
“Addiction is a disease that knows no boundaries. It transcends age, race, gender,” Shelton said, adding that his son’s addiction was rooted in surgeries he had after athletic injuries and a motorcycle accident. “Caleb was caught up in a substance abuse disorder he neither wanted nor could control.”
Ashley Fabrizio, a former Nash County high school cheerleader who was given her first painkillers after an injury, talked about how easy it was to get refills of prescription painkillers from doctors who barely questioned her.
It all started when she came down wrong on her ankle after being thrown in the air. Her ankle popped and she was in severe pain, she said. While in the ambulance, Fabrizio said, the responders “ juiced” her up. She was given Vicodin. Four days later, she went back to see an orthopedic surgeon, complained of more pain and was prescribed Percocet. She returned to the doctor later with more pain complaints and was prescribed 50 more Vicodin, she said, with a refill option for 50 more.
“Now I was 16 and 100 pounds,” Fabrizio said – and at the time, “being in school and walking around, I was high as a kite.”
Fabrizio was able to break her habit and go on to college, but got into painkillers again several years later when her brother introduced her to a street dealer who was selling Oxycontin.
“It was like an old familiar friend,” Fabrizio said as she chronicled the push and pull between using the opioids and clearing her system of them.
Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said for Fabrizio and others, access to insurance and continued treatment and health care was important in the fight against opioids. Cohen and Stein were critical of state lawmakers who have blocked a Medicaid expansion that would have brought millions in federal spending to North Carolina, some of which would have been available to addicts in need of health care.
“This epidemic is affecting too many people,” Stein said as he outlined a multi-pronged effort to go after traffickers, dealers and the pharmaceutical industry.
The attorneys general plan to investigate whether the drug manufacturers overstated scientific backing for their opioid products,their sales strategies “and whether they misled doctors,” Stein said. He also plans to investigate whether distributors noticed a suspicious shift in distribution of the drugs that they failed to report, which would violate law.

Return to headline | Return to top
Attorney General Herring Seeks Documents Related to Opioid Crisis

Sep 20, 2017 | Pop Herald

By Alicia Cross

The attorneys general served subpoenas on four pharmaceutical manufacturers, Endo International plc, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc. and Allergan Inc. and their related entities.
Many doctors, in turn, said they were assured by the drug makers that the opioids were less addictive, or not addictive. Attorneys general from 35 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia are urging health insurers to review their policies for pain management treatment to spark higher use of alternatives to opioid prescriptions. According to the Attorney General's Office, South Carolina has spent $15.8 million on Purdue opioids through its Medicaid program since late 2007 and more than $28 million from the State Health Plan has gone to Purdue opioids since 2010. "The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I am saying, officially, right now, it is an emergency", President Trump said in August. None of these states is involved in the broader multistate investigation. He added, "Our investigation continues as we seek information from drug manufacturers and distributors to help determine whether they engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids". Opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999, the CDC said. In 2007, Purdue and three of the company's executives pled guilty to federal charges of misleading doctors, patients, and regulators regarding the risk of addiction associated with OxyContin, but attorneys claim that the legal battle did little in the way to curb Purdue's alleged wrongdoings. "We do not manufacture, promote or prescribe prescription medications to members of the public - and believe everyone in that chain, including us, must do their part to address the current crisis". Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said, "The opioid crisis has been a top priority since my first day in office". The pharmaceutical industry already faces dozens of lawsuits brought by cities, counties, and states - including Ohio, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Return to headline | Return to top
Attorneys general hit back at opioid-pumping big pharma firms (Updated)

Sep 20, 2017 | NY Daily News

By Laura Dimon

A bipartisan coalition of Attorney Generals from 41 states announced a new weapon Tuesday in the fight against America’s opioid crisis: a multistate investigation into drug makers and marketers.
Subpoenas and other document requests were served Monday to various manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
Through the bipartisan coalition, chief legal officers across the 41 states will pool resources to determine whether some the companies engaged in any unlawful practices in the marketing and distribution of prescription drugs.
It’s a major expansion of existing investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic, said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“For millions of Americans, their addiction did not begin in a back alley with a tourniquet and a syringe. They got hooked on medicine they were prescribed for pain or that they found in a medicine cabinet,” Schneiderman said.
“Some states have more opioid prescriptions than they have residents, which is really mid-boggling,” he said, calling the coalition “the most significant bi-partisan effort underway.”
The attorneys general served subpoenas on the following pharmaceutical manufacturers and subsidiaries:
Endo InternationalJanssen PharmaceuticalsTeva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc.Allergan Inc.
The attorneys general also served a supplemental investigative subpoena on Purdue Pharma, Schneiderman said.
hree companies that together manage approximately 90% of the nation's opioid distribution got hit with document requests and demands for information on distribution practices.
Those companies are:
AmerisourceBergenCardinal HealthMcKesson
Opioid distributors alone make nearly $500 billion a year in revenue, the attorney generals said.
Opioids — both prescription and illicit — are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide and in New York.
They were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015 — including 2,754 in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999, the CDC said.

Return to headline | Return to top
Alabama AG subpoenas opioid records from drug companies

Sep 19, 2017 | The Anniston Star

By Tim Lockette

Forty-one state attorneys general, including Alabama’s Steve Marshall, sent letters to several drug companies Tuesday demanding information on their role in the spread of opioid abuse.
The letters are part of an investigation to determine “whether they engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids,” Marshall is quoted as saying in a Tuesday news release.
The remainder of this article is under paywall: https://www.annistonstar.com/news/state/alabama-ag-subpoenas-opioid-records-from-drug-companies/article_9d774bac-9d80-11e7-8ffe-5771ace84116.html

Return to headline | Return to top
States To Investigate Pharmaceutical Companies Over Opioids

Sep 20, 2017 | The Village Sun Times

By Paul Elliott

As communities nationwide grapple with opioid addiction, Texas and a coalition of 40 other states has served investigative subpoenas and other requests to eight companies that manufacture or distribute prescription painkillers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday. According to the Attorney General's Office, South Carolina has spent $15.8 million on Purdue opioids through its Medicaid program since late 2007 and more than $28 million from the State Health Plan has gone to Purdue opioids since 2010.
Opioids - both prescription and illicit - are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide and in NY.
This information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, including 2,588 in Texas.
Healey said the expanded investigation is an "unprecedented effort" by law enforcement to dig into the sales and marketing of opioids, which officials say is often an addictive precursor into the deadly heroin and fentanyl trade.
It's a major expansion of existing investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic, said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, co-leader with Morrisey on the initiative, said attorneys general want to join others to find a solution to the opioid epidemic.
According to Slatery's office, state attorney generals representing four fifths of the nation served investigative subpoenas for documents and information, also known as Civil Investigative Demands, on four drug manufacturers - Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon and Allergan, along with their related entities. Separately, the coalition sent information demand letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.
In June, three Northeast Tennessee prosecutors filed suit against drug manufacturers, charging they helped cause the state's epidemic through deceptive advertising that downplayed risks of addiction to painkillers. Seventy-five people died of opiate overdoses in Vermont during 2015.

Return to headline | Return to top
Schneiderman announces results of national opioid investigation

Sep 20, 2017 | Solo News

By Loredana Fabrizo

Herring today announced that a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multistate investigations into the opioid epidemic.
According to Slatery's office, state attorney generals representing four fifths of the nation served investigative subpoenas for documents and information, also known as Civil Investigative Demands, on four drug manufacturers - Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon and Allergan, along with their related entities. In addition, the group is demanding documents from distribution companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. "We will examine their marketing practices both to the medical community and the public".
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc. In Vermont, there were 106 opioid related deaths a year ago, a record high.
The information they glean could be used in potential litigation similar to states' lawsuits over "Big Tobacco".
Nationwide and in Virginia, opioids - prescription and illicit - are the main driver of drug overdose deaths.
Attorneys general from 37 states are urging insurers to alter their coverage policies to prioritize non-opioid pain medications over opioids for the treatment of chronic pain not related to cancer.
In June, three Northeast Tennessee prosecutors filed suit against drug manufacturers, charging they helped cause the state's epidemic through deceptive advertising that downplayed risks of addiction to painkillers.
The number of opioid prescriptions has declined in recent years, after federal regulators placed new limits on the drugs. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths nationwide in 2015, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.
"The attorneys general seek to determine what role the opioid manufacturers and distributors may have played in creating or prolonging this epidemic and determine the appropriate course of action to help resolve this crisis", the Utah Attorney General's statement reads.
"For millions of Americans, their personal battle with opioid addiction did not start in a back alley with a tourniquet and syringe", Schneiderman said. "The status quo, in which there may be financial incentives to prescribe opioids for pain which they are ill-suited to treat, is unacceptable".

Return to headline | Return to top
Florida, 40 other states investigate opioid makers

Sep 20, 2017 | News 13 Florida

By Christine Zizo

The attorneys general of 41 states, including Florida, are investigating opioid makers for possible deceptive practices that may have contributed to the nation's opioid epidemic.41 states subpeonaing opioid makers for documentsLooking for deceptive practices contributing to the opioid epidemicIn Florida, 1,616 people died in the first six months of 2016
Attorney General Pam Bondi joined state attorneys across the country in issuing subpeonas from the following opioid manufacturers:Endo International -- Percocet, Opana ER Janssen Pharmaceuticals -- Duragesic, Ultracet, UltramTeva Pharmaceuticals -- manufactures generics like Hydromorphone, Morphine and OxycodoneAllergan -- Kadian, NorcoThe group also asked for additional documents from Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, among others.
The group also demanded documents from distribution companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
Over the last decade, the growth of opioids has contributed to drug overdoses across the country. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in the first six months of 2016, 1,616 people died with at least one prescription drug contributing to their death.
Bondi says prescription drugs are cited more often than illegal drugs as the cause of drug-related deaths in Florida.
“Florida citizens continue to become addicted to opioids and die daily -- meanwhile, prescription drug manufacturers, distributors and the medical profession all point fingers at each other as the cause of this national crisis,” said Bondi in Tuesday's announcement. “This far-reaching multi-state investigation is designed to get the answers we need as quickly as possible. The industry must do the right thing. If they do not, we are prepared to litigate.”
You can read the letters sent to the pharmaceutical companies by going to the attorney general's website.

Return to headline | Return to top
Oregon AG helps lead investigation of opioid makers

Sep 20, 2017 | KTVZ

By Staaff

SALEM, Ore. - Attorney General Rosenblum today announced Tuesday that Oregon is on the leadership team of a multi-state investigation of manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
As part of the investigations, a bi-partisan group of 41 attorneys general are seeking documents and information from various manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids. This information will enable them to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors have engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sales and distribution of opioids.
“Every day, more Oregon communities are struggling with opioid abuse and related deaths," Rosenblum said. "This makes me more determined than ever to hold these companies accountable for their role in this epidemic.
"The information we are gathering now will help us determine if these manufacturers or distributors have engaged in unlawful marketing or sales practices. Working together with 40 other AG offices will allow us to both conserve resources and get to the bottom of this national tragedy,” she added.
The attorneys general served investigative subpoenas for documents and information, or Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs), on Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan and their related entities, as well as a supplemental Civil Investigative Demand on Purdue Pharma.
The attorneys general also sent demand letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson requesting documents about their opioid distribution business.
In 2015, Oregon was the first state to reach a settlement with Insys, the company that manufactures the schedule II opioid called Subsys. Shortly afterward, several other states followed Oregon’s lead. Previously, Oregon DOJ had issued CIDs against Purdue Pharma in 2012, and Endo in 2016. These two separate ongoing investigations have now merged into the multistate investigation.
Rosenblum commended the work of Assistant Attorney General David Hart and his investigative team for their work investigations related to pharmaceutical fraud.

Return to headline | Return to top
Attorney General seeks documents from opioid manufacturers and distributors

Sep 20, 2017 | KLKNTV

By Staff

LINCOLN – Attorney General Doug Peterson announced a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multistate investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic. This information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids. There are 41 attorneys general participating in the multistate investigations.
Nationwide and in Nebraska, opioids—prescription and illicit—are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015 including 126 in Nebraska, and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.
“The opioid crisis this nation faces today is, in part, due to the past actions of certain players in the pharmaceutical industry. The goal of this investigation is to determine who in the industry should bear responsibility under our consumer protection laws,” said Attorney General Peterson.
The attorneys general served investigative subpoenas for documents and information, also known as Civil Investigative Demands, on Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan, and their related entities, as well as a supplemental Civil Investigative Demand on Purdue Pharma.
Likewise, the attorneys general sent information demand letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson requesting documents about their opioid distribution business.
The attorneys general are using these investigative tools to determine what role the opioid manufacturers and distributors may have played in creating or prolonging this epidemic and determine the appropriate course of action to help resolve this crisis.

Return to headline | Return to top
Florida joins other states seeking marketing information from opioid makers

Sep 19, 2017 | Tampa Bay Times

By Alex Leary

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that Florida has joined a number of other states seeking marketing information from opioid makers.
“The demands seek additional information about potentially unlawful practices in the distribution, marketing and sale of opioids. The demands are the result of an ongoing, coordinated multistate effort by 41 states. Florida is one of six states leading the widespread investigation,” reads a news release from Bondi‘s office.
“Florida citizens continue to become addicted to opioids and die daily—meanwhile, prescription drug manufacturers, distributors and the medical profession all point fingers at each other as the cause of this national crisis,” Bondi said. “This far-reaching multistate investigation is designed to get the answers we need as quickly as possible. The industry must do the right thing. If they do not, we are prepared to litigate.”
The other states are Connecticut, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Attorneys general from the states sent demands for documents and information, known as civil investigative demands or subpoenas, on pharmaceutical manufacturers Endo, Teva/Cephalon, Janssen, Allergan and their related entities.
They also served a supplemental civil investigative demand on Purdue Pharma. Additionally, the attorneys general sent letters to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, seeking documents pertaining to their opioid distribution business.

Return to headline | Return to top
Stein Widens Investigation of Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors

Sep 20, 2017 | NC Health News

By Taylor Knoph

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced Tuesday that his office is expanding its investigations into opioid manufacturers to include five pharmaceutical companies and three drug distributors.
Stein and 40 other attorneys general across the United States want to find out if the companies who have been profiting from the growing national opioid crisis broke the law while promoting their products.
“I cannot underscore the importance of this investigation enough,” Stein said during a press conference Tuesday at his office in Raleigh. “If these companies broke the law in any way, if they created the misery that the people of North Carolina are suffering, I will hold them accountable.”
Prescription drug overdose deaths in America quadrupled since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 183,000 people died in the U.S. from opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2015. And in 2014, the CDC estimated that about 2 million Americans abused prescription opioids.
Earlier this year, Stein’s office began investigating one of the largest drug manufacturers, Purdue Pharma.
The company is solely owned by the Sackler family, which made a fortune off OxyContin sales. In 2015, the Sacklers joined Forbes list of 25 richest families in America with a reported net worth of $13 billion, falling right behind the Hunt family (oil tycoons) and the Buschs of Anheuser-Busch beer fame.
On Tuesday, Stein expanded the investigation to include drug manufacturers Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon and Allergan.
Stein said he wants to know if these opioid manufacturers made deceptive statements while marketing prescription painkillers.
“We will investigate whether they overstated the scientific backing of their claims and whether they misled doctors and patients about the addictive nature of these drugs and the appropriateness of opioids for treating pain,” he said.
The investigation will also include three opioid distribution companies, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
“Drug distributors are the middle men who transport the drugs from the manufacturers to the pharmacists,” Stein said. “The law requires that these companies monitor and report suspicious shipments. We will determine whether or not they have followed this law. If they didn’t, we will find out how their actions have harmed the people of North Carolina.”
Stein said that it’s too early to say what the appropriate remedy would be if any of these companies are found guilty. In the past, North Carolina has received paybacks when similar cases were settled with other drug companies, including a $21.4 million August settlement against Epipen drugmaker Mylan over improper marketing and false statements. In 2012, the state received a $31 million payout from GlaxoSmithKline over false marketing of Paxil, Advair and other drugs.
“We first need to do the hard work of the investigation and that will take time and effort,” he said. “If we establish culpability and that they acted unlawfully, then we will hold them accountable. We will demand changes in the way they do business, and we will ensure that they help compensate for the harm that they’ve created.”
Notices of the investigation were sent to the drug companies on Monday.

Return to headline | Return to top
Michigan joins other states in opioid investigation

Sep 20, 2017 | Fox 47 News

By Staff

Michigan is joining dozens of other states demanding information from both the makers and distributors of prescription drugs.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and 40 other Attorneys General are pooling their resources to address the opioid epidemic. Their investigation involves at least five pharmaceutical manufacturers including Purdue Pharma, the maker of oxycontin.
Three distributors that manage nearly 90% of the nation's opioid distribution are also being investigated. Schuette says once the information they're seeking has been reviewed, legal action may follow. He says "highly addictive opioid drugs have destroyed families, robbed children of parents and robbed parents of children."
This is just the latest step in Schuette's ongoing work to address the opioid epidemic. In addition to the multi-state investigation, more than two dozen prescribers have also had their licenses suspended, as well as four dispensers. Two separate prescription forgery rings have also been successfully prosecuted.
Schuette's newly formed Opioid Trafficking and Interdiction Unit has also seen success. It has already taken on 48 cases, with six individuals already convicted and 17 others currently facing charges. The unit is also taking on felony murder cases where the delivered opioids caused death.
Opioids, both prescription and illicit, are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide and in Michigan. In 2015, Michigan saw its third consecutive year of increased drug overdose deaths with 1,981. Compare that to 1999 where just 455 deaths were reported.

Return to headline | Return to top
State jumping into opioid investigation

Sep 20, 2017 | The Kansan

By Chad Frey

It would seem that Kansas’ legal war on opioids is beginning, at least with Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
This week, he issued a letter in which he took on insurance companies, and a day later announced Kansas is part of multi-state investigations of companies that manufacture and distribute prescription opioid drugs.
Schmidt said his office is one of 41 state attorneys general participating in the joint investigations.
Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates opioid overdoses kill 91 Americans every day. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, pharmaceutical opioids are a leading cause of drug poisoning deaths in Kansas. The CDC says the number of opioid prescriptions has quadrupled since 1999, despite Americans reporting a steady amount of pain.
And in Newton, law enforcement has investigated deaths as the result of opioid use.
“We have seen several deaths here in Newton because of overdoses on the prescription meds, or heroin use,” said Eric Murphy, chief of police for Newton, during an August interview with The Kansan. “We responded to a hotel here in town, where the individual still had the needle in his arm when we got there.”
Opioid addiction in Harvey County is not the highest in the area, nor the state, but that is hardly a rallying cry. While the Centers for Disease Control called opioid use “stable” for Harvey County during a five-year statistical period, usage of the drugs has increased.
Recently the Centers for Disease Control released a county-by-county statistical analysis on opioid use, based on prescribed medications.
The CDC study counts how many opioid prescriptions are filled within a county and how concentrated those prescriptions are — to be clear, that is legal use of opioids. The CDC combines the two counts to describe how much opiate-based medicine is circulating in the county. It calls that number a “morphine milligram equivalent,” or MME, per person.
In 2015, the most recent year available, Harvey County scored a 694.8 MME per person, an increase over the previous number of 650 MME in 2010. That puts Harvey County 42nd in the state — in the top half of counties. However, six counties did not report opioid usage to the CDC.
Reno County is the hardest hit in the region, ranked 11th in the state by the CDC at 1185.7 MME, an increase from the 894 MME in 2010.
They are paced by Sedgwick County, at 903.9 MME and ranked 26th in the state.
Butler County is not far behind at 894 MME and ranked 28th. McPherson County comes in at 868.3 MME and ranked 31st. Marion was the only county in the area to be in the bottom third of counties, at 87.2 MME and ranked 77th.
“The overall public health harm caused by prescription opioid misuse requires far more than a law enforcement response,” Schmidt said. “But enforcement is an important component, and we are focused on doing our part.”
This week, the investigating offices escalated the investigations by subpoenaing or otherwise demanding information and documents from both manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioid drugs. The first of the investigations began last year.
It is unusual, Schmidt said, for the Kansas Attorney General’s office to publically announce an investigation.
“Because of the unique and multi-faceted nature of prescription opioid misuse, the heightened public scrutiny and policy discussions surrounding it, the decisions by several other state attorneys general to discuss publicly their separate individual enforcement actions, the decision by our multi-state working group to publicly confirm our investigation, and the reality that public awareness of this problem is an important component in addressing it, I have concluded it is in the public interest to confirm that Kansas has been and remains part of this broad-based, bipartisan, coordinated investigation,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said he would not discuss the specific companies that are targets of the multi-state investigations at this time nor would he characterize the status of the investigation or what they have found to date.
In a related action, Schmidt announced this week he is among the leaders of a bipartisan group of 37 attorneys general who are asking insurance companies to alter their payment practices to reduce the incentive for doctors to prescribe opioids for pain relief.
“Insurance companies can play an important role in reducing opioid prescriptions and making it easier for patients to access other forms of pain management treatment,” the AG’s letter said. “All else being equal, providers will often favor those treatment options that are most likely to be compensated, either by the government, an insurance provider, or a patient paying out-of-pocket.”
Previous efforts
For eight years, Kansas law enforcement has participated twice yearly in the Prescription Drug Take-Back initiative, which encourages people to clean out medicine cabinets and bring unwanted or unneeded prescriptions, including opioids, to drop-off sites for safe destruction. To date, that program alone has collected and safely destroyed nearly 59 tons of excess medications in Kansas, and some law enforcement agencies and pharmacies have begun offering secure drop-off sites year around.
Schmidt also said that Kansas last year filed suit against the manufacturer of the drug Suboxone, which is used to counteract the effects of opioid overdoses. In that lawsuit, which is ongoing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Kansas and the other plaintiffs allege that the defendants took anticompetitive action to keep generic competitors off the market.
About opioids
According to drugabuse.gov, opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), codeine, morphine and many others. These drugs are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain.
The addictive substances are called opiates because they are derived from chemicals found in the sap of the opium poppy.
Long-term effects from opioid use can include nausea and vomiting; abdominal distention and bloating; constipation; liver damage (especially prevalent in abuse of drugs that combine opiates with acetaminophen); brain damage due to hypoxia, resulting from respiratory depression; development of tolerance; and dependence.
In August, President Donald J. Trump declared the opioid crisis a national emergency.

Return to headline | Return to top
NC investigating opioid drug makers, distributors

Sep 20, 2017 | ABC 11 Eyewitness News

By Tim Pullman

Last year, 1200 people in North Carolina died from the disorder a 20 percent increase.
Caleb Shelton died from an opioid overdose in 2016.
The 27-year-old college baseball player and father became addicted after a doctor prescribed the drug for shoulder pain.
Shelton's father, Steve, says his son was trapped in an addiction he did not want or could control.
"Not a single day goes by that I don't look to the sky and tell my son how much I miss him," Steve Shelton said. "This can happen to any family, anytime, anywhere.
The addiction hit Ashley Fabrizio at age 16.
Fabrizio says after an injury during a cheerleading practice, her doctor increased her opioids dosage over an extended period.
In college, her addiction led to buying pills off the street. In 2015, the mother of two got treatment.
"We do get better. And anybody can get better if they just get help," Fabrizio said.
During a news conference Tuesday, Fabrizio and Shelton joined the Department of Justice's fight to stop opioid abuse.
Attorney General Josh Stein said his office will join 40 other state AG offices to investigate five opioid drug makers; and three opioid distributors.
The drug makers are: Endo, Jansen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergen, and Purdue Pharma.
The drug distributors are: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson
"Our investigation will determine whether the drug manufacturers and drug distributors unlawfully fueled and created this crisis, and if they did, I will hold them accountable," Stein said.
It's not clear what type of penalties these companies could face.
Stein said the opioid crisis is costing the state billions in treatment - costs that are being felt in hospital and emergency rooms as well as foster care and in the criminal justice system.
The AG office said its investigation will not add any additional costs to the state.
On Monday, the NC Department of Justice sent notices to the drug makers and distributors that they are now under investigation.
Stein said the public will be notified of what comes of the investigation and whether there will be any sanctions.
According to Wake County EMS, total call volume in opioid overdose calls increased by 12 percent during the period from 2013-15, while suspected opioid overdose increased by 20 percent..
Durham EMS said that overdose calls increased from 361 in 2015 to 479 in 2016.

Return to headline | Return to top
D.C. attorney general leads multi-state investigation into opioid manufacturers

Sep 20, 2017 | The Washington Times

By Laura Kelly

The D.C. Attorney General announced on Monday that a multi-state coalition of attorneys has asked for documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of an effort to hold companies accountable for the opioid epidemic.
“State attorneys general almost never announce the existence of investigations before they are completed, but the opioid crisis is a uniquely dire situation,” Attorney General Karl Racine said in a press release Monday.
“Deaths from opioid overdoses are skyrocketing across our country, and the District is no stranger to that trend. We are looking into what role, if any, marketing and related practices might have played in the increasing prescription and use of these powerful and addictive drugs.”
The bi-partisan coalition of attorneys general was first announced in June, shortly after Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit against five drug companies for fraudulent practices in selling opioids and contributing to the staggering amount of deaths in that state.
While the District hasn’t seen some of the more shocking numbers of other states like Ohio and West Virginia, overdose deaths from opioids are increasing in the District, with 216 overdose deaths in 2016 compared to 114 in 2015 and 83 in 2014.
Across the U.S., over 64,000 people have died from an opioid drug overdose in 2016.
For the bipartisan investigation, D.C. has joined Tennessee as lead investigators into whether pharmaceutical companies engaged in unlawful practice in marketing opioids to consumers.
It’s unclear how many states and which ones are involved in the effort, although Hawaii, New York and Pennsylvania have also announced they joined the initiative.
“Although we are not identifying any specific targets of our investigation at this time, if we turn up evidence that marketing practices played an unlawful role in the exponential growth of opioid prescriptions, rest assured: We will take action,” Attorney General Racine said.

Return to headline | Return to top
Coalition of attorneys general investigate drug manufacturers, distributors

Sep 19, 2017 | The Salt Lake Tribune

By Tiffany Frandsen

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, along with attorneys general from 40 other states, is investigating whether unlawful business practices contributed to the nation’s escalating opioid abuse.
A coalition launched a multistate investigation into whether opioid distributors and manufacturers played a role in “creating or prolonging this [opioid] epidemic,” Reyes announced Tuesday.
AmerisourceBergen, a drug distributor headquartered in Salt Lake City, is among eight companies that have been served investigative subpoenas this week, according to a news release from the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
The documents the attorneys general requested will be used to determine whether any of the companies engaged in “unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids,” the news release stated.
Utah’s involvement in the investigation is part of the state’s three-pronged approach to combatting opioid addiction; in May, Reyes announced a task force of lawmakers and medical professionals to address opioid abuse in Utah.
Reyes co-authored a letter on Monday, asking health insurance companies to examine their policies and incentives to ensure they aren’t contributing or encouraging opioid addiction.
“Solving the current opioid crisis is incredibly challenging because there are so many layers of contributing factors involved. This letter is significant but only a part of one area of concern,” Reyes wrote in the letter to health insurance companies. “To be clear, this letter is not an accusation of wrongdoing aimed at the recipients but rather an attempt to ask partners in the private sector to be part of the multi-faceted solution to the crisis.”

Return to headline | Return to top
States Expand Probe Into Big Pharma Opioid Marketing

Sep 19, 2017 | New York Law Journal

By Kristen Rasmussen

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is expanding its investigation into Big Pharma's alleged role in the prescription painkiller and heroin addiction epidemic gripping the nation.
The group of 41 state AGs announced Tuesday that it is issuing subpoenas to several pharmaceutical drug manufacturers for information about how the companies market their opioids. The original investigation, launched in June, applied only to OxyContin and Dilaudid maker Purdue Pharma Inc. Now the investigation has grown to include Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., maker of Opana and Percocet; Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., which makes Duragesic and Nucynta; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., maker of Actiq and Fentora; and Kadian manufacturer Allergan. The probe also extends to drug distributing giants AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health and McKesson Corp.
An email seeking comment from the trade group representing the pharmaceutical industry, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, declined to comment.
These companies also are facing a spate of lawsuits in federal, state and county courts across the United States brought by plaintiffs lawyers who have teamed with government officials to sue Big Pharma through contingency fee agreements. The suits generally contend prescription opioid drugmakers intentionally engaged in a targeted marketing campaign claiming that their painkillers could be prescribed nonaddictively. Instead, according to the suits and many AGs' comments issued Tuesday, the marketing techniques led to patients becoming addicted to the prescription opioid painkillers.
"Too often, prescription opioids are the on-ramp to addiction for millions of Americans," said New York AG Eric Schneiderman in a news release. "We're committed to getting to the bottom of a broken system that has fueled the epidemic and taken far too many lives."
Illegal and prescription opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, including 2,754 in the state of New York, the New York Attorney General's Office said, citing statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also said opioid overdoses quadrupled since 1999.
"We deserve to hear from these drugmakers what they knew about the addictive and deadly nature of opioid painkillers, and whether they misrepresented those risks in order to increase corporate profits," said Massachusetts AG Maura Healey in a statement. "We are expanding our investigation into opioid manufacturers and distributors to help uncover the roots of this deadly epidemic and protect American families and communities ravaged by this public health crisis," Healey said.
Opioid distributors alone make nearly $500 billion a year in revenue, according to Schneiderman's office.
The drug distributors that now are the target of the expanded investigation are likewise facing battles in the courtroom. The Cherokee Nation in June named those distributors in its complaint alleging that the companies illegally inundated the Nation with the dangerous drugs.
In addition to Healey, Connecticut AG George Jepsen, Georgia GC Chris Carr and Vermont AG TJ Donovan are among the 41 AGs in the coalition.
New York's investigation is being conducted by Assistant Attorneys General Carol Hunt, Christopher Leung and Sara Mark of the health care bureau, under the supervision of bureau chief Lisa Landau, counsel to the Medicaid fraud control unit Jay Speers and Special Assistant Attorneys General Kathryn Harris and Elizabeth Kappakas of the Medicaid fraud control unit, under the supervision of director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney, the AG's office said.

Return to headline | Return to top
Hawaii joins coalition of states seeking information from opioid manufacturers, distributors

Sep 20, 2017 | Pacific Business News

By HJ Mai

Hawaii has joined a coalition of states in seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributor of prescription opioids.
The bipartisan coalition is part of a multistate investigation into the nationwide opioid epidemic, according to a statement.
Drug overdoses killed roughly 64,000 people across the country in 2016, according to provisional data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It's an increase of more than 21 percent from the 52,898 who lost their lives during the previous year.
CDC data also showed that in Hawaii, 169 people died from drug overdoses in 2015. The Atlanta-based center said that opioids – prescription and illicit – are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. It added that opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.
“Under Governor David Ige's leadership, my office and the state health department are determined to educate the public here and enforce laws to prevent the spread of opioid abuse in Hawaii," Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 41 state attorneys general who are participating in the investigation will use the information to evaluate whether drug manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful behavior in the areas of marketing, sale and distribution of opioids.
The coalition served investigative subpoenas and sent informant demand letters to numerous opioid manufacturers and distributors. They include: Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.

Return to headline | Return to top
County may sue pill makers in Asheville area opioid epidemic

Sep 19, 2017 | Asheville Citizen Times

By Joel Burgess

Buncombe County is now eyeing a lawsuit against makers of prescription painkillers, companies officials say may be liable in the addiction epidemic estimated to have cost more than $19 million locally.
The county's Board of Commissioners passed a resolution unanimously Tuesday saying they wanted to look into joining other government lawsuits against the makers of prescription opioids.
"This is a very grave issue facing our community right now," said Board Chairman Brownie Newman. "It is certainly an issue which is beyond the scope of any one organization or government."
Commissioners, who took the vote at a regularly scheduled meeting, also said they would look into suing the companies on their own, regardless of other lawsuits.
"Buncombe County strongly believes that it may be entitled to recovery against painkiller manufacturers and wishes to pursue recovery in the most efficient way possible," the resolution said. "The County is willing to proceed on its own if any action or inaction by the state does not appropriately address its concerns."
A bi-partisan group of attorneys general from most states, including North Carolina's Josh Stein, are broadening their investigation into the opioid industry.
Tuesday the 41 attorneys general announced they had served subpoenas requesting information from five companies that make powerful prescription painkiller and three distributors.
The investigation into marketing and sales practices seeks to find out whether the industry's own actions worsened the epidemic.
If the industry cooperates, the investigation could lead to a national settlement.
Statewide, there were 1,110 opioid deaths in 2015, a 73 percent increase since 2005, according to numbers released this year by Gov. Roy Cooper.
The county-by-county report said 29 deaths in Buncombe in 2015 were attributed to opioids
The more than $19 million locally is attributed to health care costs, jail administration and incarceration, emergency management services, child welfare and public assistance. The money comes from federal, state, and county taxpayers, the resolution said.
Addiction is causing a surge in social services surrounding children whose parents are unable to care for them, said Tammy Shook, the county's social work services director.
Shook said there aren't enough foster families to take in children.
"It's tearing the fabric of our families and communities apart," she told commissioners.
She said she knew of a case where a teenager after having wisdom teeth removed was prescribed 30 tablets of Percoset, the name brand mix of acetaminophen and oxycodone.
Frank Castelblanco, a nurse and director of regional services for the nonprofit Mountain Area Health Education Center, said his group is helping retrain doctors about prescriptions.
"This crisis has definitely made us look at it completely differently," Castelblanco said.
MAHEC is passing out one option he said can be better for pain management. It's a blister pack with acetaminophen on one side and ibuprofen on the other. They're to be taken in alternating fashion over a wide time period.
One member of the public, Jerry Rice, said commissioners should make sure they take a look at cost of a lawsuit. Some commissioners bristled at that, saying costs should be minimal because of the way attorney payments are tied to positive outcomes.
"The one thing that really really disturbs me is when someone thinks about cost over saving a life," said Commissioner Robert Pressley, a Republican from the Bent Creek area.
Commissioner Al Whitesides said "it is only fair" that drug companies after making "billions" be asked to help pay for some of the epidemic's cost.
Hillary Brown with the free needle exchange group the Steady Collective, said the number of deaths would be much higher except for the use of overdose reversal medication Naloxone. Her group distributes the medication to those picking up clean needles, and an estimate from the nonprofit North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition said there had been 810 overdose reversals since March 2017.
Brown supported looking at legal action, but urged commissioners to pay for more of the medication.
"We’re going to need a lot of funding on the other end for harm reduction and for on-demand treatment."
The county is pursuing a three-prong approach, said Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, an Asheville Democrat. Those are enforcement, prevention and treatment.
The county's latest move, "adds a fourth prong of accountability," Beach-Ferrara said.

Return to headline | Return to top
Elyria to file lawsuit against drug companies over opioid crisis

Sep 20, 2017 | News 5 Cleveland

By Joe Pagonakis

Elyria is expected to soon join Lorain and other Ohio cities in filing a lawsuit against the major drug companies, seeking damages for costs incurred in fighting the on-going opioid crisis.
Elyria Mayor Holly Brinda, and the Elyria city council have given the green light to hiring an attorney to prepare the lawsuit, which will likely be filed later this year.
Brinda said her city has experienced more than a million dollars in unanticipated expenses over the past year, due to growing calls on safety forces responding to opiate related emergency runs.
Brinda said her fire department was hit with $800,000 in losses in 2016 alone, and she believes Big Pharma should be held responsible for the lost tax dollars.
"We have seen the exponential negative affects of the opiate epidemic," said Brinda. "We had 2,230 medical responses, and a large part of those were responses to drug abuse."
"It largely does go back, at least in part, to the drug companies," Brinda continues. "Back in the 90s, opioids were, I believe, in my opinion, over prescribed."
Brinda said the loss of life due to opiate related overdoses is expected to grow, and she's hoping lawsuits filed by Ohio cities will promote permanent change.
Safety officials confirmed Lorain County is on pace for some 250 fatal heroin overdose cases in 2017.

Return to headline | Return to top
County names attorneys in opioid lawsuit

Sep 19, 2017 | Columbia Greene Media

By Daniel Zuckerman

The Greene County Legislature’s Government Operations Committee passed a resolution Monday to retain the law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy to begin a lawsuit on behalf of the county against prescription opioid manufacturers.
The retainer agreement calls for a thorough search of the issues, to determine the liability of the lawsuit and if it has merit, Greene County Attorney Edward Kaplan said during the meeting. Another law firm sent Kaplan materials, but he chose the Alton, Illinois-based law firm for the retainer because of its low fee.
“I chose this firm based on their ability to give us boots on the ground, meaning help with discovery, assemblies of materials, printing, copying,” Kaplan said. “No matter what, it’s at no cost to the county.”
Thirteen counties in New York state have joined the lawsuit, which names several pharmaceutical 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.
The goal of the lawsuit for Legislator Aidan O’Connor, D-Durham, is that it will shed light on long-term solutions to the opioid epidemic, and Kaplan agreed.
“I think it’s going to illuminate a lot of issues that we were never aware of that led to the epidemic that we see today,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan hopes the feasibility study will be done soon and said the attorneys on the case have been looking to sign up counties for the lawsuit. Suffolk County, in Long Island, was the first county to sign up.
“I can’t take credit for finding the lawsuit, the lawsuit found us,” Kaplan said.
One facet of the case is how much the opioid epidemic has cost the county because law enforcement, county public defenders and county departments such as Social Services and Mental Health have been affected in some way by it, Kaplan said.
“We don’t know what the total cost to the county has been for the epidemic we’re experiencing,” Kaplan said. “It hits about every department in the county.”
If the county is among the plaintiffs and gets money from it, Kaplan said he hopes the money would go back into the county. The county will not represent individuals who have been affected by the opioid epidemic.
“This is not a private rite of action,” Kaplan said. “Individuals may follow.”
When Columbia County lawmakers entertained the idea of joining the lawsuit in June, Greene County lawmakers wanted to research the matter, Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said.
“Last night was the result of the research,” Groden said Tuesday. “The research was interviewing the two law firms that seemed to be the most involved with this attempt to litigate against pharmaceutical companies.”
The firm was chosen for its expertise on the matter and has many attorneys to do research, Groden said. It took time to find the right law firm because of the complications of the case.
“Our attorney is basically a one-man band,” Groden said. “The complexity of this case is going to be huge.”
Groden compared this case to the class-action lawsuit filed against tobacco companies for misrepresenting the effects cigarette smoking had on health.
“The issue around trying to pin a corporate decision that led to abuse or further abuse is something of a new phenomenon,” Groden said. “The issues are related but then again I think they are different — substance abuse has always been around.”
Some of the prominent issues could include doctors overprescribing opioid medication, whether certain medications should not be so easily accessible and whether companies sought to deceive the public, Groden said.
“It may go nowhere in the legal world,” Groden said. “We want to jump on the story here before it’s too late and then we’re on the outside looking in.”

Return to headline | Return to top
Lewiston joins national opioid lawsuit

Sep 20, 2017 | Lewistown - Auburn Sun Journal

By Andrew Rice

Lewiston is the latest municipality to join a national lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.
Coming just one day after the City Council in Portland voted unanimously to join, Lewiston voted 4-3 to add its name to the lawsuit, meaning the city would be a partial recipient of any financial settlements.
The lawsuit is aimed at holding the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids accountable for the unprecedented rise in opioid abuse and overdose deaths.
Prescription opioid manufacturers have been blamed for misrepresenting the safety and addictiveness of the drugs. As doctors across the country began prescribing the pain drugs more regularly, abuse and overdoses began to rise.
According to the Lewiston City Council memo, a four-fold increase in prescriptions between 1999 and 2013 was paralleled by a more than four-fold increase in opioid deaths.
When it becomes more difficult to obtain prescription opioids, many people suffering with substance use disorder turn to heroin. In Lewiston, there were 23 opioid-related deaths in 2016, and 15 the prior year. Maine saw 376 overdose deaths in 2016.
The order passed Tuesday allows City Administrator Ed Barrett to contract the services of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, of New York, and Trafton, Matzen, Belleau & Frenette LLP, of Auburn. The firms will represent Lewiston "with respect to prosecution of any legal claims against manufacturers and distributors of opioids arising out of their fraudulent and negligent marketing and distribution of opioids."
Barrett said joining the lawsuit will not cost the city any funds.
Councilors Tim Lajoie, Shane Bouchard and Mike Lachance voted against the measure.
Lachance said the lawsuit would only increase the price of drugs for those who badly need them, making the issue worse.
"This is a moneygrab," he said.
Lajoie agreed. He said the fact that the law firms on the suit were taking 25 percent of any settlements was proof that it was to "line the pockets of lawyers."
On Monday, a group of community members, led by mayoral candidate Ben Chin, laid 38 roses on the steps of City Hall to recognize the lives lost in the past two years. Chin also laid out his plan for combating the issue locally if elected.
"It's affecting pretty much everyone in the community," said Councilor Jim Lysen, who was also involved in Monday's event.
"The actions of companies who market and distribute opioid drugs have contributed significantly to these issues through activities including: knowingly claiming that prescription opioids are less addictive and less subject to abuse than other opioid forms; failing to report suspicious orders of drugs; misleading marketing practices; negligence; and generally creating a false perception of the safety and efficacy of opioids in the medical community, much as the actions of tobacco companies contributed to health issues arising from tobacco use," the council memo states.
It goes on to say that the lawsuit is intended to "recover the city's costs relating to the opioid crisis and to change the practices of those engaged in opioid marketing and distribution," and that any financial damages awarded to Lewiston through the proceedings "should be used to support law enforcement, education, and treatment efforts aimed at combating this epidemic."
The only public comment came from Robert Reed, who said that city should not be punishing local doctors, hospitals and pharmacies or dictating how they can operate.
"I'm amazed that it got this far," he said. "This is wrong."

Return to headline | Return to top

Broadcast Media Coverage

News 13 This Morning

Sep 20, 2017 | WLOS (ABC) Greenville, SC

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480178?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Rough transcript: north carolina is joining 40 other states to investigate five opioid drugmakers and distributors. the attorney general is investigating if drugmakers and distributors unlawfully fueled and created the opioid crisis. they include endo, janssen, teva and purdue pharma. last year 1200 people died from the disorder in our state, thats a 20% increase.

Return to headline | Return to top
Channel 2 News

Sep 19, 2017 | WGRZ (NBC) Buffalo, NY

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480036?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Rough transcript: there's a new fight in the war against the opioid crisis. law enforcement going after the drug companies and certain distributors. today -- new york state attorney general eric schneiderman laid out his battle plan. channel 2's michael wooten is in the information center. michael, is this a new tactic? yea, it appears to be, maryalice. new york now joins other states -- part of what is becoming a growing nationwide investigation into the opioid industry. schneiderman announced today that his attorneys served subpoenas to five different drug companies that manufacture powerful narcotics. they are endo jansse teva allergan and previously purdue pharma. "our subpoenas an letters seek to uncover whether or not there was deception involved if manufacturers misled doctors and patients about the efficacy and addictive power of these drugs we'll examine their marketing practices both to the medical community and the public." the a-g's office also served subpoenas to three drug distributors... to see if they failed their legal obligation to tell the d-e-a if their employees were essentially over- selling the medications by giving out illegal bonuses or incentives to buy these powerful narcotics. there are many different prongs to this joint effort by attorneys general across the country. they are also calling on insurance companies to give incentives for people to use non-opioid treatments for pain. the overall message here is that the drug companies have made a ton of money selling these powerful medications -- and it's time to hold them accountable if they did anything illegal in pushing the pills.

Return to headline | Return to top
NewsChannel 5 at 6

Sep 19, 2017 | KALB (NBC) Alexandra, LA

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480248?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Rough transcript: continuing coverage is rapides parish sheri william earl hilton and avoyelles parish sheriff announcing yesterday that they're filing lawsuits pharmaceutical companies and some doctors around the country. the sheriffs say it's due to the defendants quote role in the opioid addiction epidemic around the nation and even here in central louisiana. they accused the companies of misinterpreting the truth about how opioids lead to addiction and for misleading the american people through aggressive advertising. they accused the doctors of over-prescribing to patients. we reached out to every defendant in the suit but only a few got back to us today. well purdue pharma says quote while we vigorously deny the allegations we share concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. the company also added the oxycontin accounts for less than two percent of the opioid prescription market nationally. and janssen global services says quote we recognize opioid abuse is a serious public health issue that must be addressed. at the same time we firmly believe the allegations in these lawsuits are both legally and factually unfounded. for a look at the full statements -- go to our website kalb dot com.

Return to headline | Return to top
Fast Money Halftime Report

Sep 20, 2017 | CNBC

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480265?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Rough transcript: welcome back, everyone i'm sue herera with a developing story for you. you may recall there's been an ongoing investigation by 41 attorneys general across the united states into the opioid industry as the nationwide overdose crisis continues. today the new development is the attorneys general have basically moved to subpoena the companies and the manufacturers requesting documents. the companies involved are endo international, janssen pharmaceuticals, teva pharmaceuticals and allergen. in terms of the distribution practices, these distribution companies will also be subpoenaed. amerisource burgen, cardinal health and mckesson. you are up to date, scotty.

Return to headline | Return to top
Morning Express With Robin Meade

Sep 20, 2017 | CNN

View clip here: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29480263?token=d4dd96da-c199-466a-b697-3ebe589fe189
Rough transcript: 41 states are joining forces to investigate companies make and sell prescription opiates wanting to know if the companies misled the doctors and patients in anyway about how addictive the drugs are. well five manufacturers were hit with subpoena this week. new york's attorney general is also requesting documents from three companies that distribute 90% of the nation's opioid supply. >> prescription opioids are the onramp to addiction for millions of americans. it is vital that we understand exactly how opioid manufacturers and distributors are marketing and selling their products and what steps we can take to better protect people. >> so the opioid epidemic is so bad that it's shaving collectively 2.5 months off of our life expectancy, in the united states says a new study. that's the first time that the american life expectancy has dropped in like a quarter century. the cdc says when the figures come out for 2016, it feels that the overdose deaths from prescription painkillers may top 64,000 and you're taking in one year.

Return to headline | Return to top

Add recipients

Suggested