Preview Newsletter

Opioid Daily Litigation Media Report 9/22/17

Traditional Media Coverage

Painkiller Sales Take Off as Japan’s Baby Boomers Demand Relief
Sep 22, 2017 | Bloomberg
By Kanoko Matsuyama

Selling painkillers in Japan used to be like pulling teeth. That was until baby boomers discovered how analgesics could take the sting from arthritis, diabetic nerve damage and the ravages of cancer.
CVS Health Moves to Limit Access to Opioid Painkillers
Sep 21, 2017 | The Wall Street Journal
By Jeanne Whalen

One of the largest managers of pharmaceutical benefits in the U.S. says it will start limiting the duration and dose of some prescriptions for opioid painkillers, in an effort to combat widespread addiction.
Oklahoma senator defends drug companies against lawsuit filed by state
Sep 22, 2017 | NewsOk
By Randy Ellis

Oklahoma Senate Minority Leader John Sparks is providing legal representation to several pharmaceutical companies that the state is suing for alleged fraudulent marketing practices — prompting some to question whether Sparks has a conflict of interest.
Morrisey puts blame on federal government for WV opioid epidemic
Sep 22, 2017 | Charleston Gazette Main
By Jake Zuckerman

The West Virginia Attorney General placed some of the blame for the opioid epidemic on the federal government Thursday, not mentioning his lobbying ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
1st Pa. County Sues Opioid Makers Over Addiction Epidemic
Sep 22, 2017 | Law 360
By Dan Packel

Pennsylvania’s fifth largest county on Thursday became the first one in the state to sue opioid manufacturers for damages stemming from their allegedly deceitful marketing of pain medications.
Utah among 40 other states investigating pharmaceutical companies amid opioid crisis
Sep 22, 2017 | St. George News
By Kimberly Scott

As a nationwide overdose crisis continues to claim thousands of lives, a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general are broadening their investigation into the opioid industry and seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
Coalition of Attorneys General Expand Multistate Investigation into Opioid Crisis
Sep 22, 2017 | The Forum Newsgroup (NY)
By Michael V. Cusenva

A bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general from across the country has demanded information and documents from the manufacturers and distributors of prescription painkillers, part of a multistate investigation into whether the companies engaged in any unlawful practices in the marketing and distribution of opioids, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Tuesday.
Delaware County sues opiod drugmakers; any awards will go to drug treatment
Sep 22, 2017 | Philadelphia Inquirer
By Erin McCarthy

Delaware County has become the first county in Pennsylvania to sue some of the largest manufacturers of addictive painkillers, joining a growing number of municipalities nationwide that have taken that step with the hope of stemming the deadly opioid epidemic.
Pennsylvania county sues drug companies amid opioid crisis
Sep 22, 2017 | Associated Press

Delaware County in southeastern Pennsylvania is suing 11 pharmaceutical companies and their consulting physicians for what county officials call the deceitful promotion of opioids.
Delco files suit against drug makers, docs in opioid war
Sep 22, 2017 | Delco Times

Delaware County yesterday declared war on drug manufacturers and their doctors, filing suit against 11 suppliers of pain killers for what they claimed is their role in the opioid epidemic in the county.
Delaware County Files Lawsuit Against Manufacturers Of Pain Killers
Sep 22, 2017 | CBS Philadelphia

Delaware County has filed a civil suit against more than half-dozen pharmaceutical companies, along with doctors, who advised those companies.
DelCo: Declares war on opioid addiction .. sues manufacturers
Sep 21, 2017 | YC News

Delaware County announced that it has filed suit against opioid manufacturers Thursday.
Pennsylvania county sues drug companies amid opioid crisis
Sep 22, 2017 | Associated Press

A southeastern Pennsylvania county sued 11 pharmaceutical companies Thursday for marketing tactics that county officials say misrepresent the dangers of long-term opioid usage while a national overdose crisis continues to kill tens of thousands of people annually.
Delaware County in Pennsylvania sues drug companies amid opioid crisis
Sep 22, 2017 | Delaware Online
By Staff

Delaware County in southeastern Pennsylvania is suing 11 pharmaceutical companies and their consulting physicians for what county officials call the deceitful promotion of opioids.
Delco files suit against drug makers, docs in opioid war
Sep 22, 2017 | The Mercury News
By Rick Kauffman

Delaware County on Thursday declared war on drug manufacturers and their doctors, filing suit against 11 suppliers of pain killers for what officials claim is their role in the growing opioid epidemic.
CO Attorney General joins investigation into opioid manufacturers and distributors
Sep 22, 2017 | News Channel 13
By Collen Sikora

More than 600 people in Colorado died last year because of prescription opioid or heroin overdoses according to the Colorado Department of Health.
Bipartisan group of AGs expand opioid investigation
Sep 22, 2017 | AliveForFootball
By Kristina Tyler

Did they mislead patients into thinking these drugs were safe?
Healey expands investigation of opioid makers
Sep 22, 2017 | Hi-Tech Facts
By Rachel Hardy

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has announced that he has joined a coalition of 40 other state attorneys general seeking information from manufacturers of prescription opioids. "Did they mislead patients into thinking drugs were safe?.Did they ignore information that could have saved lives?" Madigan and the coalition served subpoenas requesting information from opioid manufacturers and distributors to evaluate whether these companies engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids. Healey said at a press briefing in Boston.
Attorneys General seeking answers in opioid epidemic
Sep 22, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette
By Jacquelyn Byrd

Healey, a Democrat, said Tuesday she is asking eight companies for information related to their marketing practices and involvement with industry organizations that market opioids.
TRUMP’S FAILURE TO TACKLE OPIOID CRISIS IS COSTING LIVES, HOUSE DEMOCRATS SAY
Sep 22, 2017 | The Intercept
By David Dayen

IT’S BEEN NEARLY six months since President Donald Trump issued an executive order forming a commission to combat the nation’s opioid crisis — which he described on August 10 as “a national emergency” — and almost two months since the White House panel issued interim recommendations for dealing with the epidemic. But Trump has made a habit of failing to follow-up on his executive orders, and his administration has yet to officially declare the crisis a national emergency. In fact, there’s no evidence that his administration has moved on nearly any of the of the commission’s recommendations.

Broadcast Media Coverage

Fox 43 Morning News at 8:00am
Sep 22, 2017 | WPMT (FOX)
By Harrisburg, PA

VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29568290?token=e37a3669-6fc0-4749-8698-470e6ce4d3c5
Good Morning Colorado: Early Edition
Sep 22, 2017 | KRDO (ABC)
By Colorado Springs, Colorado

VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29568301?token=e37a3669-6fc0-4749-8698-470e6ce4d3c5
KIMT News 3 DayBreak
Sep 22, 2017 | KIMT (CBS)
By Rochester, MN

VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29568620?token=e37a3669-6fc0-4749-8698-470e6ce4d3c5
Eyewitness News at 5am
Sep 22, 2017 | KYW (CBS)
By Philadelphia, PA

VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29568624?token=e37a3669-6fc0-4749-8698-470e6ce4d3c5
NBC 10 News Today at 4:00am
Sep 22, 2017 | WCAU (NBC)
By Philadelphia, PA

VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29568638?token=e37a3669-6fc0-4749-8698-470e6ce4d3c5
Fox 29 News at 10
Sep 22, 2017 | WTXF (FOX)
By Philadelphia, PA

VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29568656?token=e37a3669-6fc0-4749-8698-470e6ce4d3c5

Traditional Media Coverage

Painkiller Sales Take Off as Japan’s Baby Boomers Demand Relief

Sep 22, 2017 | Bloomberg

By Kanoko Matsuyama

Selling painkillers in Japan used to be like pulling teeth. That was until baby boomers discovered how analgesics could take the sting from arthritis, diabetic nerve damage and the ravages of cancer.
Now demand is taking off and drugmakers are introducing new products to a market where per-capita opioid consumption is the fourth-lowest in the developed world. Sales of drugs prescribed for chronic pain in Japan will jump 62 percent to 188 billion yen ($1.7 billion) in the seven years through 2024, Fuji Keizai Co., Tokyo-based market research firm, said in a report in November.
Unlike the U.S., where President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency, Japan has had an aversion to narcotics because of restrictive laws and the stigma of addiction. But chronic-pain sufferers are demanding relief, and authorities are doing more to help them, especially since workers aren’t economically productive when they are agonized by aches. A 2015 study estimated chronic pain costs Japan about 1.95 trillion yen annually.
“People suffering from pain these days are less tolerant of it compared with the older generation,” said Tsutomu Suzuki, emeritus professor of addiction research at Hoshi University in Tokyo. “Some of the newer products are opioids, but they aren’t categorized as narcotics, which makes people feel more relaxed about using them.”
The U.S. opioid crisis -- a QuickTake explainer
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe committed to improving chronic-pain treatment as a part of his economic growth plan announced in June last year. That led the health ministry this year to fund specially designated clinics and hospitals focused on managing patients in chronic pain.OxyContin, Cymbalta
Shionogi & Co., which sells OxyContin in Japan, filed an application for the drug to be used for chronic pain in November following a request from a health ministry panel, and antidepressant Cymbalta was approved as a treatment for chronic back pain in March last year. The Osaka-based company bought rights to sell Methapain, or methadone, from Teikoku Seiyaku Co. in February and won approval for Symproic to treat opioid-induced constipation in March.
“Most doctors in Japan feel strongly about keeping opioid usage to a minimum because they believe patients may not be able to quit taking them once they have been on them long term,’’ said Masashi Katsumata, senior director Shionogi’s pain management business. “That’s why the risk of abuse and addiction is much lower than in the U.S., and that’s an ideal situation.’’
Daiichi Sankyo Co. began selling a generic version of OxyContin in March and won approval to sell the cancer painkillers Narurapid and Narusus in Japan in June following a government-funded program to support patients. Daiichi Sankyo, which also sells fentanyl, has a potential treatment for diabetic nerve damage, mirogabalin, in late-stage patient studies, the Tokyo-based company said in July.Nerve Pain
Pfizer Inc.’s Lyrica won approval as a treatment for pain after shingles and peripheral neuropathic, or nerve damage, pain in 2010. In 2012, regulators allowed it to be sold as a treatment for pain associated with disorder called fibromyalgia, and as a treatment for neuropathic pain the following year. That helped it become the fifth-bestselling medicine in Japan in the year ended March, according to QuintilesIMS, a marketing research firm.
Endo International Plc’s local partner Nihon Shinyaku Co. began selling Tramal, or tramadol, for cancer-related pain in 2010. It was approved for chronic pain in 2013, the same year that Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit was given approval to sell Tramset, tramadol combined with acetaminophen, for non-cancer pain and post-surgical tooth ache.
It’s all adding up to less anguish for sufferers of chronic pain, more than half of whom receive no treatment, according to a 2015 study funded by New York-based Pfizer.
Part of the problem is that pain isn’t well understood by doctors, according to Kazuro Wakazono, who runs a patient group called Goodbye Pain.Shirking Rehab?
“Medical professionals tell them their pain is imagined or is being used as an excuse to get out of doing rehabilitation,” said Wakazono, whose wife suffered from paralysis and pain after a car accident injured her spinal cord 15 years ago, leaving her to search for 18 months for appropriate care. “They are told to put up with it, which leaves them in despair.’’
Still, newer treatments such as Lyrica and tramadol are giving doctors and patients greater confidence about using painkillers that aren’t subject to strict narcotic controls, said Hoshi University’s Suzuki, who is also a member of World Health Organization’s expert committee on drug dependence.
While opioid drugs have been widely used for non-cancer pain in the U.S. since at least the mid 1990s, in Japan drugs like OxyContin were made available in 2003 and only for cancer-related pain. Japan approved tramadol in 2010, 15 years after it was introduced in the U.S., and hasn’t allowed combination opioid drugs like Percocet and Vicodin.
When Japan’s health ministry asked drugmakers to develop modern versions of morphine in response to WHO cancer-care guidelines in 1984, none of the country’s pharmaceutical companies authorized to manufacture narcotics accepted the request.Public Awareness
Kotaro Shiono, Shionogi’s former chairman, saw a pressing social problem, and agreed to obtain rights to develop Mundipharma’s MS Contin, which was introduced in Japan in 1989, followed by OxyContin in 2003.
Shionogi had to educate doctors and nurses about MS Contin to resolve misunderstandings, and it took the company 14 years to achieve peak sales of about $100 million, said Katsumata. The company is part of a group of health-care companies in Japan promoting public awareness about palliative care, he said.
Sales of OxyContin fell 3 percent to 9.7 billion yen in the year ended March, and Katsumata is cautious about it sales prospects because of doctors’ concerns that long-term use may lead to dependence problems.
Still, he points to a large, unmet need for pain relief, with many cancer patients reporting dissatisfaction with current levels of palliative care.

Return to headline | Return to top
CVS Health Moves to Limit Access to Opioid Painkillers

Sep 21, 2017 | The Wall Street Journal

By Jeanne Whalen

One of the largest managers of pharmaceutical benefits in the U.S. says it will start limiting the duration and dose of some prescriptions for opioid painkillers, in an effort to combat widespread addiction.
CVS Health Corp. CVS -0.98% , which administers drug benefits for employers, insurers and some state Medicaid programs, said it would limit opioid prescriptions to seven days or less for certain patients with acute pain who haven’t previously taken an opioid painkiller. That will be a big change, given that many CVS-covered patients with acute pain receive opioid prescriptions for 20 days or more, Troyen Brennan, CVS’s chief medical officer, said in an interview.
CVS will also limit patients with chronic pain to a maximum daily dose of 90 morphine milligram equivalents, or MMEs, a standard unit of measure in pain medicine, Dr. Brennan said.
Starting in February, if CVS-covered patients arrive at the pharmacy with a prescription above the new limits, the pharmacy will kick it back to the doctor for review, Dr. Brennan said.
There will be ways around the rules—doctors will be able to appeal the limits through the prior-authorization process, and employers and insurers will be able to opt out of the limits if they don’t want them to apply to their patients, though CVS said it didn’t anticipate many would opt out.
The restrictions, which CVS said it based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations published last year, could cause some debate. One addiction expert said even stricter limits would better reflect CDC advice, while a physician and associate professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh said the restrictions for chronic pain in particular could cause cumbersome paperwork and delays.
“The guidelines that CDC put out were for prescribers to try to avoid those doses. They were not meant for payers to say we’re not going to fill something if it’s above that limit,” said Walid Gellad, the University of Pittsburgh physician.
CVS manages medications for nearly 90 million people, or about 28% of the U.S. population, through its Caremark unit. It also runs 9,700 retail pharmacies nationwide.
The “overarching reason” for the limits “is to reduce the amount of human suffering that results from people being addicted to these medications,” Dr. Brennan said. The new rules could also bring cost savings for employers and insurers if they prevent some patients from becoming addicted, he said.
CVS will send doctors and patients information about the new limits before they come into effect, he said. It won’t “make sense” to apply the restrictions to some patients, Dr. Brennan added. “Doctors can write prior authorization [requests] for those patients,” he said.
Widespread opioid addiction has pushed U.S. overdose death rates to new highs. Many Americans became addicted by taking prescription painkillers, and often progressed to heroin and other street drugs.
CVS and other health-care companies have faced accusations of helping fuel the crisis through their handling of opioid painkillers. Last year, CVS paid $3.5 million to settle federal allegations that 50 of its pharmacies in Massachusetts and New Hampshire filled forged prescriptions for painkillers and other controlled substances.
The company said it has “implemented enhanced policies” to help its pharmacists determine whether prescriptions are legitimate.
Earlier this year, the Cherokee Nation sued drug distributors and pharmacy chains including CVS in a tribal court in Tahlequah, Okla., alleging they “utterly failed” to control a flood of painkillers that caused widespread addiction in the tribal community. CVS officials Wednesday called the lawsuit groundless.
Gary Mendell, founder of a nonprofit called Shatterproof that seeks to combat addiction, welcomed CVS’s efforts to restrict prescriptions but said the firm should set even stricter limits if it wants to follow CDC guidance.
The CDC recommendations advise doctors that prescriptions of “three days or less” are often sufficient for patients with acute pain, and that more than seven days “will rarely be needed.” For chronic pain patients, they advise doctors to “carefully reassess” the need for doses of 50 MMEs or more a day, and to “avoid” doses of 90 MME or more a day.
The CVS limits are “at the upper range of the CDC guidelines,” Mr. Mendell said.
A dose of 50 MME is equal to 33 milligrams of oxycodone, a common opioid painkiller, according to the CDC. Ninety MME equals 60 milligrams of oxycodone.

Return to headline | Return to top
Oklahoma senator defends drug companies against lawsuit filed by state

Sep 22, 2017 | NewsOk

By Randy Ellis

Oklahoma Senate Minority Leader John Sparks is providing legal representation to several pharmaceutical companies that the state is suing for alleged fraudulent marketing practices — prompting some to question whether Sparks has a conflict of interest.
"I'm hesitant to give so quick of an opinion, but I certainly think that it raises a question, yes," said Dan Murdock, former longtime general counsel for the Oklahoma Bar Association.
"Him being ... an employee, basically, of the state and then defending a company that is being sued by the state certainly could create that conflict of interest," Murdock said. "They say a man can't serve two masters."
Speaking on behalf of Sparks, law partner Ben Odom said he doesn't believe Sparks has a conflict.
"I think the thing that would be prohibited would be if he was on the other side," Odom said, adding that Sparks could not draw a check from the state for legal services at the same time he was being paid to serve as a state Senator.
Odom said it is quite common for lawmakers to represent criminal defendants in cases filed against them by the "State of Oklahoma." He sees this as similar.
"John's a very ethical person," Odom said of the Norman Democrat. Sparks can always abstain from voting if he sees a potential conflict on an issue, he said.
Attorney Mike Burrage, who is one of the attorneys assisting Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter in the lawsuit against opioid prescription drug companies, views the situation differently.
"Their position is detrimental to the State of Oklahoma," Burrage said. "I don't know what the obligations of a state senator are, but I would think that he would have to look out after the interests of the state before his private personal interests."
Burrage continued, "Their position is directly adverse to the state. Is it a true legal conflict? I don't know the answer to that. I plan on trying to do some research on it."
Oklahoma has had nearly 3,000 drug overdose deaths in the last three years and has spent a huge amount of money combating drug addiction, Hunter noted when he filed the lawsuit.
"We believe these companies are culpable for the tragic, heartbreaking number of Oklahomans who have become addicted or who have died as a result of the opioid epidemic in our state," Hunter said in June.
Burrage said the costs to the state could be in the billions of dollars.
"The attorney general is trying to recover that money in behalf of the state and here you've got a state senator representing the companies that allegedly caused the damages," Burrage said. "The appearance of it doesn't seem right to me."
The Oklahoma Bar Association has the responsibility of investigating ethical and misconduct complaints whenever they are filed against Oklahoma attorneys.
Gina Hendryx, the current general counsel, said she couldn't give an opinion on whether Sparks has a conflict without a complaint and investigation.
"I wouldn't prejudge that without a complaint," Hendryx said.
Attorney General Hunter also declined to comment.
"We're not going to comment on pending litigation," said Terri Watkins, spokeswoman for Hunter's office.
Some Oklahomans may wonder whether Oklahoma Ethics Commission rules would apply in this case.
Ashley Kemp, executive director of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, said it wouldn't be appropriate for her to comment on whether a specific situation constitutes a conflict of interest. "That is for the commission to provide an opinion on, and ultimately for the courts to determine," she said.
However, Kemp noted that the practice of law in Oklahoma courts is generally excluded from the commission's ethics rules, unless it involves a misuse of office or authority.
Without that exclusion, it would be difficult for a legislator to practice law in Oklahoma, since the state often is involved as an opposing or interested party in cases involving criminal law, family law, tax law, estate law and other legal matters, she said.
Sparks joined former Oklahoma City U.S. Attorneys Robert McCampbell and Sanford Coats on Friday in filing a motion in behalf of more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies. Sparks is representing Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc., which is now known as Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is now known as Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The drug companies are asking Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman to issue a protective order to prevent the attorney general's office from gathering information from their companies through the discovery process until after the court rules on a request to dismiss the lawsuit.
Hunter is among dozens of state attorneys general who have sued opioid manufacturers and distributors for allegedly misrepresenting the addictive and dangerous properties of the drugs.
Some states have sued the companies on their own, while other states have banded together.
Just this week, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro issued a news release announcing that 41 attorneys general were working together to solve the problem.
"We have the resources, expertise and legal authority to take on this fight, and we aren't letting up," Shapiro said. "We're following the evidence wherever it leads so we can change behavior and save lives."

Return to headline | Return to top
Morrisey puts blame on federal government for WV opioid epidemic

Sep 22, 2017 | Charleston Gazette Main

By Jake Zuckerman

The West Virginia Attorney General placed some of the blame for the opioid epidemic on the federal government Thursday, not mentioning his lobbying ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Speaking at an event hosted by the American Conservative Union Foundation and the Cardinal Institute, Patrick Morrisey spoke about ongoing efforts from his office focusing on drug enforcement, treatment and preventative education.
He said he and his staff are working with physicians, pharmacies and drug manufacturers to change the culture of how pills are prescribed, dispensed and supplied in the state.
“If you go back over the last 15 years, you’re going to see an ever-increasing number of pills that were approved for manufacturing and distribution here in the United States,” he said. “That was actually a decision made by the federal government, the DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency]. Many people don’t realize that. When you look at all the root causes of substance abuse, you actually have to include the government as part of the problem as well, because it has unintentionally put policies in place to drive too many pills into the market place.”
Denise Morrisey, who is married to the attorney general, has lobbied for Cardinal Health, a major drug wholesaler, in the past, according to a lobbying disclosure filed with the U.S. House of Representatives. Patrick Morrisey also has lobbied for a national trade group, Healthcare Distribution Management Association, that represents Cardinal Health and other drug wholesalers, as has been reported by Gazette-Mail.
An investigation by a Lawyer’s Disciplinary Board also concluded Morrisey played a limited — though not “substantive” — role in the state’s lawsuit against Cardinal Health, despite repeated public statements to the contrary, as has also been reported by this newspaper.
When asked about he and his wife’s lobbying work in light of his comments made in his speech, Morrisey repeated assertions he made in his speech.
“The federal government is a significant part of the problem and we need to solve the problem,” he said in a follow-up interview. “This is a very complex issue, and I’ve been very clear that blame resides in many, many different issues. But why shouldn’t we call out the federal government when they screw up? The federal government approved an ever-increasing number of pills, for a long long period of time. That needs to be a part of the discussion.”
A 2016 Gazette-Mail investigation found drug wholesalers shipped 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills into the state over six years.
During his speech, Morrisey also pointed to some of his office’s efforts to curb the worsening opioid epidemic. He said he is working on changing broken incentive systems, like requirements that patients fill out satisfaction surveys after seeing doctors, which could lead to damaging reviews of physicians who decline to prescribe painkillers to patients who request them. Those results tie in to how much reimbursement money they receive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“These plans are working because they’re getting to the root cause of the problem,” he said. “We know that the opiate epidemic continues, but if we know that the financial incentives are not untoward, then we’re not going to have to come back to this problem 15 years from now.”
He also touted his faith-based initiative to help those with substance abuse issues seek and find treatment. He said thus far, he has 100 ministers interested in partaking in a hot-line addicts can call to find help and to host community events centered on addiction.
The ACUF has its ties to the pharmaceutical industry as well. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America gave $100,000 to the foundation in December 2012.
Speaking after Morrisey, Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va. spoke about addiction in the Mountain State as well.
“We also need three things that were discussed earlier,” Mooney said. “Early prevention, enforcement, and then the treatment afterward.
“That’s the three-step approach. And government can’t do it all. Federal government isn’t the solution to everybody’s problems. The community has to step up here.”
Mooney also railed against patient satisfaction surveys, and cited a bill he sponsored to end the patient satisfaction survey system. He said while the bill didn’t go anywhere, it acquired 44 co-sponsors and the Department of Health and Human Services adopted provisions of his legislation.
“You actually have a financial disincentive, a financial punishment to a doctor for doing the right thing and not giving prescription drugs to someone who needs it,” he said.
According to a CBS report on the matter, Medicare and Medicaid will stop paying hospitals based on their pain scores beginning Oct. 1.
Mooney said while his plan solves only a small piece of the problem, it will take a few hundred more just like it to really make progress.
“I think if every member of Congress finds one small way to help, it’s going to make a big difference,” he said.

Return to headline | Return to top
1st Pa. County Sues Opioid Makers Over Addiction Epidemic

Sep 22, 2017 | Law 360

By Dan Packel

Pennsylvania’s fifth largest county on Thursday became the first one in the state to sue opioid manufacturers for damages stemming from their allegedly deceitful marketing of pain medications.
Delaware County, located just outside of Philadelphia, tagged 11 drug companies — namely, entities associated with Purdue Pharma Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. — as well as three consulting physicians in the lawsuit.

"We are honored to represent Delaware County as it undertakes this courageous litigation to hold the suppliers of deadly opioids responsible for their conduct, and hold them accountable in the monetary terms they completely understand,” lead attorney Robert Mongeluzzi of Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC said in a statement.

“Money motivates their every deceitful action and we plan to demonstrate at trial that their actions have been cold and calculated, and we will hold them accountable to appropriately compensate Delaware County — on behalf of its citizens — for the harm they've inflicted and continue to inflict through their business practices.”

The county, with over 560,000 residents, has had over 167 drug-related deaths so far in 2017, with 145 being opioid-related.

Thursday’s suit comes out of the work of the county’s heroin task force, which was established in 2012 to confront the growing public health crisis.

"We will fight this national epidemic of senseless death and destruction with civil litigation, and that is why the top makers of prescription pain-killer opioids are named as defendants, along with the doctors who helped them unleash their outrageous, illegal business practices that put profits — calculated in the billions — over public safety,” County District Attorney Jack Whelan, who co-chairs the task force, said in a statement.

The county named three physicians described as “known opinion leaders” as defendants: Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman and Dr. Lynn Webster. The trio has been tagged in a number of other municipalities’ opioid lawsuits.

The 74-page complaint emphasizes the profitability of all the defendants’ marketing campaigns aimed at expanding the sale of prescription opioids, noting that in 2012 alone, drug companies took in $8 billion in revenues for the products, led by $3.1 billion to Purdue for its sales of OxyContin.

And it said the opinion leaders were critical in boosting these sales by speaking out in favor of the aggressive treatment of chronic pain with opioids and by their distortion of existing scientific literature to advance their aims.

In late August, Bensalem Township, just north of Philadelphia, announced plans to sue the same corporate targets over the impact of the opioid crisis, saying that it had cost the municipality in the ballpark of $200 million. It was unclear whether a complaint had been filed in that case, and an attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Endo declined to comment on the lawsuit, but noted that the company’s top priorities include “patient safety and ensuring that patients with chronic pain have access to safe and effective therapeutic options.

“We share in the FDA’s goal of appropriately supporting the needs of patients with chronic pain while preventing misuse and diversion of opioid products,” Heather Zoumas Lubeski added.

J&J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. also defended its conduct.

“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,” said spokesman William Foster. “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.”

Purdue said that it denied the allegations but shared officials’ concerns about the crisis and was working to find solutions.

“OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis,” the company said in a statement.

A Teva spokeswoman said the company is "committed to the appropriate promotion and use of opioids. We have programs in place that educate prescribers, pharmacists, and patients on the responsible and safe use of these products. We are committed to working with the healthcare community, regulators and public officials to collaboratively find solutions."

Delaware County is represented by Robert Mongeluzzi, Michael Barrett and Carmen Belefonte of Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC, Harris Pogust of Pogust Braslow & Millrood LLC, Paul Hanly, Jayne Conroy, Amy Garrett, Trent Miracle and Sarah Burns of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC and Patrick Timoney of Schwarz Mongeluzzi LLC.

Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available.

The case is Delaware County, Pennsylvania v. Purdue Pharma LP et al., case number 17-8095, in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.

Return to headline | Return to top
Utah among 40 other states investigating pharmaceutical companies amid opioid crisis

Sep 22, 2017 | St. George News

By Kimberly Scott

As a nationwide overdose crisis continues to claim thousands of lives, a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general are broadening their investigation into the opioid industry and seeking documents and information from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
“Far too many of our friends, family and neighbors have fallen victims to the devastating plague of opioid addiction,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a statement Tuesday. “These drugs have taken many lives and ruined countless more. We will win this fight but need everyone’s help to do it. We will do everything possible to protect the ones we love.”
As opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999 across the nation, 41 attorneys general from U.S. states and territories are participating and involved in various parts of the civil investigation.
Reyes announced Tuesday that they had served subpoenas requesting information from five companies that make powerful prescription painkillers and demanded information from three distributors.
“This information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether these businesses engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids,” Reyes said, adding:
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.
Investigative subpoenas – known as civil investigative demands – were served for documents and information on Endo, Janssen, Teva/Cephalon, Allergan and their related entities, as well as a supplemental civil investigative demand on Purdue Pharma, Reyes said in his statement.
Likewise, information demand letters were sent to opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson requesting documents about their opioid distribution business.
Opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, including 646 in Utah.
Opioids – prescription and illicit – are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, including 646 in Utah.
Mark Steinagel, director of Utah’s Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing at the Department of Commerce, said the United States drug system was designed to test, manufacture, distribute, prescribe and dispense drugs along multiple checkpoints established to protect the public.
“As a state agency tasked with licensing professionals who prescribe and dispense opioid prescriptions, we are very concerned if any of those checkpoints have failed,” Steinagel said in a statement. “DOPL appreciates the partnership with Utah Attorney General’s Office in investigating this serious matter.”
The state of Utah is actively addressing the opioid epidemic on multiple fronts, Reyes said. This action is the latest in Utah’s multifaceted effort to end the current opioid addiction crisis.

Return to headline | Return to top
Coalition of Attorneys General Expand Multistate Investigation into Opioid Crisis

Sep 22, 2017 | The Forum Newsgroup (NY)

By Michael V. Cusenva

A bipartisan coalition of 41 attorneys general from across the country has demanded information and documents from the manufacturers and distributors of prescription painkillers, part of a multistate investigation into whether the companies engaged in any unlawful practices in the marketing and distribution of opioids, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Tuesday.
“Too often, prescription opioids are the on-ramp to addiction for millions of Americans,” Schneiderman noted. “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.”
According to the NY AG’s Office, the investigative subpoenas and document requests were served on Monday. Schneiderman said the coalition’s chief legal officers are now pooling resources to address the public health crisis, and are doing so with a broad focus on multiple entities at both the manufacturer and distributor levels.
Opioid distributors alone make nearly $500 billion a year in revenue, Schniederman noted. Opioids – both prescription and illicit – are the main driver of drug overdose deaths nationwide and in the Empire State. According to the U.S. 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 an incredible 41 percent of deaths in upstate Sullivan County, 37 percent in Erie County, and 32 percent in Nassau County on Long Island, according to an analysis conducted by The New York Times.
The attorneys general served subpoenas on the following pharmaceutical manufacturers and their related entities:
• Endo International plc
• Janssen Pharmaceuticals
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd./Cephalon Inc.
• Allergan Inc.
Schneiderman said that the AG’s have also served a supplemental investigative subpoena on Purdue Pharma, and have 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:
• AmerisourceBergen
• Cardinal Health
• McKesson
Additionally, on Monday, a bipartisan coalition of 37 attorneys general urged health insurance companies to examine financial incentives in their payment and coverage policies that contribute to the opioid epidemic.
“Insurers must take a hard look at the systemic problems in our healthcare system that result in the over-prescription of opioids and fuel the cycle of addiction,” Schneiderman said.

Return to headline | Return to top
Delaware County sues opiod drugmakers; any awards will go to drug treatment

Sep 22, 2017 | Philadelphia Inquirer

By Erin McCarthy

Delaware County has become the first county in Pennsylvania to sue some of the largest manufacturers of addictive painkillers, joining a growing number of municipalities nationwide that have taken that step with the hope of stemming the deadly opioid epidemic.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan announced the lawsuit Thursday afternoon against 11 drug suppliers and their consulting doctors at a press conference at the Delaware County Courthouse. The suit was filed Thursday morning.
“Today we are fighting for those who can longer fight for themselves,” said Dave White, co-chair of the county’s Heroin Task Force. “We want our money back. We want our lives accounted for.”
“We’re firing the first shot,” said attorney Bob Mongeluzzi, who will lead the county’s legal team. “Opioid manufacturers, the battle is on.”
So far in 2017, Delaware County had logged 145 opioid-related drug deaths as of Thursday, authorities said. And police officers in the county had saved more than 877 lives using Narcan, Whelan said.
Across the country, more than two dozen states, counties, and towns have sued Big Pharma in the last year for the cost the overdose crisis has imposed on their areas.
Last month, Bensalem Township became the first Philadelphia-area municipality to announce its intent to sue opioid suppliers; it was unclear Thursday whether the Bucks County township had filed suit yet.
And on Tuesday, the attorneys general in 41 states, including New Jersey, announced they were broadening their investigation into the companies that make and distribute the highly addictive painkillers that officials say fueled the epidemic.
Back in 2001, years before opioid addiction became a nationally recognized crisis, Richard G. Paolino, a Bensalem doctor, was charged with distributing hundreds of thousands of OxyContin tablets, often to patients with minor ailments or none at all. Paolino, now 74, was sentenced to 30 years in prison and remains imprisoned at the Houtzdale Correctional Institution, about an hour west of State College. OxyContin is manufactured by Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn.
Four of the biggest manufacturers and distributors of these powerful prescription drugs are based in the Philadelphia area: Endo Pharmaceuticals of Malvern; Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals of Titusville, N.J.; Teva Pharmaceuticals of North Wales, Montgomery County; and national distributor AmerisourceBergen of Chesterbrook, Chester County.
The defendants named in Delaware County’s suit include Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Endo Pharmaceuticals.
If Delaware County were to win, officials said they would put any award money toward recovery programs for those battling opioid addiction

Return to headline | Return to top
Pennsylvania county sues drug companies amid opioid crisis

Sep 22, 2017 | Associated Press

Delaware County in southeastern Pennsylvania is suing 11 pharmaceutical companies and their consulting physicians for what county officials call the deceitful promotion of opioids.
Officials said Thursday in announcing the lawsuit that the companies have misrepresented the dangers of long-term use of the prescription painkillers, leading many unsuspecting consumers down a path of addiction and death.
The lawsuit comes amid a national opioid crisis that continues to kill tens of thousands of people each year.
Forty-one attorneys general, including Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro, say they've served subpoenas requesting information from companies that make prescription painkillers and demanded information from three distributors.
Many state and local governments have taken legal action against drugmakers in efforts to stem the crisis. Delaware County says its lawsuit is the first filed by a Pennsylvania county.

Return to headline | Return to top
Delco files suit against drug makers, docs in opioid war

Sep 22, 2017 | Delco Times

Delaware County yesterday declared war on drug manufacturers and their doctors, filing suit against 11 suppliers of pain killers for what they claimed is their role in the opioid epidemic in the county.
Delaware County officials held a press conference to announce the unprecedented legal filing against 11 major drug suppliers of opioids and their consulting physicians, who they claim have for decades “conspired to deceitfully promote and market the benefits of using opioids to treat chronic pain.”
“Today we are sending a message to the big pharma companies named in this lawsuit that Delaware County will not tolerate their well-documented, abusive opioid sales and marketing tactics that are systematically turning patients – including our fellow citizens – into addicts and then fatalities,” said Dave White, County Councilman and co-chair of the county’s Heroin Task Force. He was joined by District Attorney Jack Whelan, Sheriff Mary McFall Hopper and other members of County Council.
The lawsuit names the following defendants (including the three physicians that are referred to as Known Opinion Leaders (KOLs): Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman and Dr. Lynn Webster.
Whelan, who co-chairs the Heroin Task Force, added, “We will fight this national epidemic of senseless death and destruction with civil litigation, and that is why the top makers of prescription pain-killer opioids are named as defendants, along with the doctors who helped them unleash their outrageous, illegal business practices that put profits – calculated in the billions – over public safety.”
Handling the county’s case will be trial attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky.
“We are honored to represent Delaware County as it undertakes this courageous litigation to hold the suppliers of deadly opioids responsible for their conduct, and hold them accountable in the monetary terms they completely understand,,” Mongeluzzi said. “ Money motivates their every deceitful action and we plan to demonstrate at trial that their actions have been cold and calculated, and we will hold them accountable to appropriately compensate Delaware County – on behalf of its citizens – for the harm they’ve inflicted and continue to inflict through their business practices.”
Delaware County is the fifth largest county in Pennsylvania. It was the first in the state to set up a specific Heroin Task Force and was integral in getting the overdose-reversing drug Narcan into the hands of first responders.
So far 2017, Delaware County has had 167 drug-related deaths, with 145 of those deaths being opioid-related. The CDC estimates that 89 people die every day from an opioid-related overdose in the U.S., and Pennsylvania is among the highest incidence areas for opioid-related abuse and overdose.
White, noting that Delaware County is the third largest employer (with nearly 3,000 employees) in the county, stated, “We were the first county to recognize the need to equip police and first responders with Narcan and that action saved and is saving lives. But this lawsuit demonstrates that we have to get to the source, and that doesn’t just mean the street dealer, but the big pharma suppliers of opioids that have either skirted the law or thumbed their noses at multi-million-dollar fines. Enough is enough. Unlike those companies, the county does not have deep pockets, and we recognize that our costs – including rehabilitation services – is skyrocketing.”
Harris L. Pogust, of Pogust Braslow & Millrood, LLC, who will serve as co-counsel in the litigation, also commended the county for taking the lead among the state’s 67 counties in filing the complaint. “Officials here are acutely aware that the opioid crisis every year is costing the county lives – more than 100 so far just this year – and millions of dollars in economic impact in virtually every area of the government. None of its 49 municipalities is immune from this catastrophe that has become synonymous with the defendants’ conduct in this action.”
Mongeluzzi said his team will include Michael F. Barrett, and Carmen Belefonte, who nearly 12 years ago established – and still directs - SMBB’s Delaware County office.
Co-counsel in the litigation includes the highly acclaimed national firm of Simmons Hadly Conroy, which has frequently collaborated with SMBB and PBM on major mass tort litigation.

Return to headline | Return to top
Delaware County Files Lawsuit Against Manufacturers Of Pain Killers

Sep 22, 2017 | CBS Philadelphia

Delaware County has filed a civil suit against more than half-dozen pharmaceutical companies, along with doctors, who advised those companies.
“Those pharmaceutical companies have made billions of dollars off the deaths of our children and our loved ones,” said Delaware County Councilman David White.
Attorney Bob Mongeluzzi says this suit will show pharmaceuticalcompanies funded false companies like the American Pain Foundation, which…
“Created disinformation to hoodwink and convince doctors that opioids weren’t addictive,” he said.
Mongeluzzi says the result of that campaign: in 2014, 20-percent of every doctor visit resulted in a prescription of opioids.
Delaware County is the first in Pennsylvania to file suit against the drugmakers, though other states, municipalities, or counties across the country have filed.
Mongeluzzi says there is potential for class-action with a potential ending similar to the tobacco settlement.
Purdue Pharmaceuticals released the following statement in response to the lawsuit.
“While we vigorously deny the allegations, we share public officials’ concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”
Teva Pharmaceuticals says they have no comment.

Return to headline | Return to top
DelCo: Declares war on opioid addiction .. sues manufacturers

Sep 21, 2017 | YC News

Delaware County, Pennsylvania’s fifth largest county, declared war on opioid addiction by becoming the first county in the state to sue for damages against 11 major drug suppliers of opioids and their consulting physicians, who have for decades conspired to deceitfully promote and market “the benefits of using opioids to treat chronic pain”.
(Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, Docket No. 17-8095)
“Today we are sending a message to the big pharma companies named in this lawsuit that Delaware County will not tolerate their well-documented, abusive opioid sales and marketing tactics that are systematically turning patients – including our fellow citizens – into addicts and then fatalities,” said Dave White, County Councilman and co-chair of the county’s Heroin Task Force.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan, who co-chairs the Heroin Task Force, added, “We will fight this national epidemic of senseless death and destruction with civil litigation, and that is why the top makers of prescription pain-killer opioids are named as defendants, along with the doctors who helped them unleash their outrageous, illegal business practices that put profits – calculated in the billions – over public safety.”
Trial attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, whose firm will lead the plaintiff’s legal team, stated, “We are honored to represent Delaware County as it undertakes this courageous litigation to hold the suppliers of deadly opioids responsible for their conduct, and hold them accountable in the monetary terms they completely understand. Money motivates their every deceitful action and we plan to demonstrate at trial that their actions have been cold and calculated, and we will hold them accountable to appropriately compensate Delaware County – on behalf of its citizens – for the harm they’ve inflicted and continue to inflict through their business practices.”
Councilman White stated, “We were the first county to recognize the need to equip police and first responders with Narcan and that action saved and is saving lives. But this lawsuit demonstrates that we have to get to the source, and that doesn’t just mean the street dealer, but the big suppliers of opioids that have either skirted the law or thumbed their noses at multi-million-dollar fines. Enough is enough. Unlike those companies, the county does not have deep pockets, and we recognize that our costs – including rehabilitation services – is skyrocketing.”
So far 2017, Delaware County has had 167 drug-related deaths, with 145 of those deaths being opioid-related. The CDC estimates that 89 people die every day from an opioid-related overdose in the U.S., and Pennsylvania is among the highest incidence areas for opioid-related abuse and overdose.
The defendants (including the three physicians that are referred to as Known Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in the lawsuit, are: Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman and Dr. Lynn Webster.

Return to headline | Return to top
Pennsylvania county sues drug companies amid opioid crisis

Sep 22, 2017 | Associated Press

A southeastern Pennsylvania county sued 11 pharmaceutical companies Thursday for marketing tactics that county officials say misrepresent the dangers of long-term opioid usage while a national overdose crisis continues to kill tens of thousands of people annually.
Delaware County alleged in its complaint that the companies and three consulting physicians engaged in promotional campaigns that encouraged prolonged and widespread use of their powerful painkillers, despite knowing that in doing so consumers risked damaging health effects and addiction.
The effort has been extremely profitable for drugmakers, the suit alleged, noting that in 2015 opioid sales earned the industry almost $10 billion. In that same year, more than 33,000 people died from opioid overdoses, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says that nearly half of those deaths involved prescription drugs such as OxyContin or Vicodin.
"We will fight this national epidemic of senseless death and destruction with civil litigation," District Attorney Jack Whelan said in a statement that calculated that almost 90 percent of the county's 167 drug deaths this year were linked to opioids.
Some of the companies named as defendants have previously said that they are already taking steps to stem the opioid crisis. Phone messages or emailed requests for comment were not immediately returned by company representatives from Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Attempts to reach the consulting physicians were also unsuccessful.
A statement from Endo said the pharmaceutical company said they share regulators' goal of preventing misuse of opioid products but added that they do not comment on pending litigation. A statement from Janssen spokesman William Foster said "the allegations in these lawsuits are both legally and factually unfounded."
The lawsuit is one of the latest in a string of legal cases that have pitted state and local governments against the pharmaceutical industry. Delaware County said its lawsuit is the first filed by a Pennsylvania county.
Earlier this week, 41 attorneys general, including Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro, announced that they served subpoenas requesting information from companies that make prescription painkillers and demanded information from three distributors.

Return to headline | Return to top
Delaware County in Pennsylvania sues drug companies amid opioid crisis

Sep 22, 2017 | Delaware Online

By Staff

Delaware County in southeastern Pennsylvania is suing 11 pharmaceutical companies and their consulting physicians for what county officials call the deceitful promotion of opioids.
Officials said Thursday in announcing the lawsuit that the companies have misrepresented the dangers of long-term use of the prescription painkillers, leading many unsuspecting consumers down a path of addiction and death.
The lawsuit comes amid a national opioid crisis that continues to kill tens of thousands of people each year.
Forty-one attorneys general, including Delaware's Matt Denn and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, say they’ve served subpoenas requesting information from companies that make prescription painkillers and demanded information from three distributors.
Many state and local governments have taken legal action against drugmakers in efforts to stem the crisis. Delaware County says its lawsuit is the first filed by a Pennsylvania county.

Return to headline | Return to top
Delco files suit against drug makers, docs in opioid war

Sep 22, 2017 | The Mercury News

By Rick Kauffman

Delaware County on Thursday declared war on drug manufacturers and their doctors, filing suit against 11 suppliers of pain killers for what officials claim is their role in the growing opioid epidemic.
Delaware County officials held a press conference to announce the unprecedented legal filing against drug suppliers of opioids and their consulting physicians, who they claim have for decades “conspired to deceitfully promote and market the benefits of using opioids to treat chronic pain.”
The drug companies continue to push sales of powerful painkillers, despite knowing that in doing so consumers risked damaging health effects and addiction, according to the lawsuit.
The effort has been extremely profitable for drugmakers, the suit alleges, noting that in 2015 opioid sales earned the industry almost $10 billion. In that same year, more than 33,000 people died from opioid overdoses, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says that nearly half of those deaths involved prescription drugs such as OxyContin or Vicodin.
“Today we are sending a message to the big pharma companies named in this lawsuit that Delaware County will not tolerate their well-documented, abusive opioid sales and marketing tactics that are systematically turning patients — including our fellow citizens — into addicts and then fatalities,” said Delaware County Council member Dave White, who is also co-chairman of the county’s Heroin Task Force.
He was joined by District Attorney Jack Whelan, Sheriff Mary McFall Hopper and other members of the governing County Council.
D.A. Whelan, who co-chairs the Heroin Task Force, said, “We will fight this national epidemic of senseless death and destruction with civil litigation, and that is why the top makers of prescription pain-killer opioids are named as defendants, along with the doctors who helped them unleash their outrageous, illegal business practices that put profits — calculated in the billions — over public safety.”
Whelan noted that almost 90 percent of Delaware County’s 167 drug deaths this year were linked to opioids.
The lawsuit names the following defendants (including the three physicians that are referred to as Known Opinion Leaders (KOLs): Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman and Dr. Lynn Webster.
Handling the county’s case will be trial attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky.
“We are honored to represent Delaware County as it undertakes this courageous litigation to hold the suppliers of deadly opioids responsible for their conduct, and hold them accountable in the monetary terms they completely understand,,” Mongeluzzi said. “Money motivates their every deceitful action and we plan to demonstrate at trial that their actions have been cold and calculated, and we will hold them accountable to appropriately compensate Delaware County — on behalf of its citizens — for the harm they’ve inflicted and continue to inflict through their business practices.”
Delaware County is the fifth largest county in Pennsylvania. It was the first in the state to set up a specific Heroin Task Force and was integral in getting the overdose-reversing drug Narcan into the hands of first responders.
So far 2017, Delaware County has had 167 drug-related deaths, with 145 of those deaths being opioid-related. The CDC estimates that 89 people die every day from an opioid-related overdose in the U.S., and Pennsylvania is among the highest incidence areas for opioid-related abuse and overdose.
White, noting that Delaware County is the third largest employer (with nearly 3,000 employees) in the county, stated, “We were the first county to recognize the need to equip police and first responders with Narcan and that action saved and is saving lives. But this lawsuit demonstrates that we have to get to the source, and that doesn’t just mean the street dealer, but the big pharma suppliers of opioids that have either skirted the law or thumbed their noses at multi-million-dollar fines. Enough is enough. Unlike those companies, the county does not have deep pockets, and we recognize that our costs – including rehabilitation services — is skyrocketing.”
Harris L. Pogust, of Pogust Braslow & Millrood, LLC, who will serve as co-counsel in the litigation, also commended the county for taking the lead among the state’s 67 counties in filing the complaint. “Officials here are acutely aware that the opioid crisis every year is costing the county lives – more than 100 so far just this year – and millions of dollars in economic impact in virtually every area of the government. None of its 49 municipalities is immune from this catastrophe that has become synonymous with the defendants’ conduct in this action.”
Mongeluzzi said his team will include Michael F. Barrett, and Carmen Belefonte, who nearly 12 years ago established — and still directs — SMBB’s Delaware County office.
Co-counsel in the litigation includes the highly acclaimed national firm of Simmons Hadly Conroy, which has frequently collaborated with SMBB and PBM on major mass tort litigation.
Some of the companies named as defendants have previously said that they are already taking steps to stem the opioid crisis. Phone messages or emailed requests for comment were not immediately returned by company representatives from Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Attempts to reach the consulting physicians were also unsuccessful.
A statement from Endo said the pharmaceutical company said they share regulators’ goal of preventing misuse of opioid products but added that they do not comment on pending litigation. A statement from Janssen spokesman William Foster said “the allegations in these lawsuits are both legally and factually unfounded.”
The lawsuit is one of the latest in a string of legal cases that have pitted state and local governments against the pharmaceutical industry. Delaware County said its lawsuit is the first filed by a Pennsylvania county.
Earlier this week, 41 attorneys general, including Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, announced that they served subpoenas requesting information from companies that make prescription painkillers and demanded information from three distributors.

Return to headline | Return to top
CO Attorney General joins investigation into opioid manufacturers and distributors

Sep 22, 2017 | News Channel 13

By Collen Sikora

More than 600 people in Colorado died last year because of prescription opioid or heroin overdoses according to the Colorado Department of Health.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and 41 of her counterparts in other states want to tackle the opioid epidemic by investigating eight manufacturers and distributors of opioids in the U.S.
Investigative subpoenas to opioid manufacturers Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals/Cephalon, Inc., Allergan plc, and their related entities. A supplemental subpoena was served to Purdue Pharma.
Documents were also requested from the nation's largest opioid distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.
The Attorneys General want to know what information the manufacturers and distributors had regarding the addictive properties of the drugs, as the Attorneys General believe they had more information than they let on.
"We have to know because so many people are being negatively impacted and lives are being lost, we have to understand what happened at the inception," Coffman said.
Coffman said the investigation won't solve the opioid problem, but it could provide the funding for prevention, treatment and recovery programs here in Colorado.

Return to headline | Return to top
Bipartisan group of AGs expand opioid investigation

Sep 22, 2017 | AliveForFootball

By Kristina Tyler

"While some states have taken individual legal actions, the overwhelming majority of attorneys general, from both parties and all parts of the country, have now agreed to work together to investigate the marketing, distribution and sale of opioids, and to take further coordinated legal action as appropriate", Jepsen said. In particular, Endo International PLC, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Allergan Inc. and Purdue Pharma are all being actively questioned.
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". Three drug distributors named in the investigation - AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson - are responsible for distributing almost 90 percent of the nation's opioids, Shapiro said.
"We deserve to hear from these drug-makers what they knew about the addictive and deadly nature of opioid painkillers, and whether they misrepresented those risks in order to increase corporate profits", she said while flanked by law enforcement officials and people who've lost family members to opioid addiction. "How did an injury, some prescriptions lead us to this day?"
On Tuesday, Healey declined to say if her probe had turned up any evidence to date, or whether it will result in litigation. Teva's US subsidiary, Cephalon, manufactures many generic opioids. In 2016, there were 2,107 suspected fatal overdoses in the state, the most ever counted and at least three times the number reported in 2013, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Dozens of local and state governments have already filed, announced, or publicly considered lawsuits against drugmakers or distributors, according to the Associated Press.
Still, public health officials say the number of opioid-related deaths in MA fell about 5 percent in the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period a year earlier.
The attorneys general are subpoenaing documents to determine what role the opioid manufacturers and distributors may have played in the opioid epidemic - for example, through misleading marketing or downplaying the addictive quality of the drugs. Among the more than 64,000 drug overdose deaths estimated in 2016, the sharpest increase occurred among deaths related to fentanyl and synthetic opioids with over 20,000 overdose deaths.
"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
Healey expands investigation of opioid makers

Sep 22, 2017 | Hi-Tech Facts

By Rachel Hardy

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has announced that he has joined a coalition of 40 other state attorneys general seeking information from manufacturers of prescription opioids. "Did they mislead patients into thinking drugs were safe?.Did they ignore information that could have saved lives?" Madigan and the coalition served subpoenas requesting information from opioid manufacturers and distributors to evaluate whether these companies engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids. Healey said at a press briefing in Boston.
Healey, as part of a 39-member bipartisan coalition of attorneys general, said she is investigating manufacturers Purdue Pharma, Endo, Janssen, Teva and Allergan and distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
he earlier investigation focused exclusively on Purdue Pharma, a company that several states - including New Hampshire have already sued - accusing them of deceptive marketing practices related to OxyContin. Did they know how addictive these drugs were when they sold them? "We have the resources, expertise and legal authority to take on this fight, and we aren't letting up", Shapiro said in a statement. The investigation will also look into the distribution practices of AmerisourceBergan, CardinalHealth, and McKesson, which handle almost 90 percent of the nation's opioid distribution. "This is a multifaceted public health challenge, and we look forward to working collaboratively with government entities to be part of the solution". Asked if there was any evidence of wrongdoing by the drug companies, Healey said the matter is still under investigation, so she is limited in what she can say. "Some days I feel like we're at the bottom of a mountain of sand with a lone shovel and each swipe brings another avalanche of victims", said Joanne Peterson, founder of the group, Learn to Cope, which works with families of those battling addiction. According to state figures, 1,981 MI residents died from drug overdoses in 2015, with opioid-related deaths quadrupling since 1999. Teva's USA subsidiary, Cephalon, manufactures many generic opioids. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported 1,888 opioid deaths in 2016. It held its first organizational meeting on September 5. Deaths from the powerful synthetic drug fentanyl continue to increase, even as the presence of heroin in opioid-related fatalities has declined. "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
Attorneys General seeking answers in opioid epidemic

Sep 22, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette

By Jacquelyn Byrd

Healey, a Democrat, said Tuesday she is asking eight companies for information related to their marketing practices and involvement with industry organizations that market opioids.
Healey, as part of a 39-member bipartisan coalition of attorneys general, said she is investigating manufacturers Purdue Pharma, Endo, Janssen, Teva and Allergan and distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
On Sunday, ProPublica and The New York Times reported that many insurance companies limit access to pain medications that carry a lower risk of addiction or dependence, even as they provide comparatively easy access to generic opioid medications.
"Highly addictive opioid drugs have destroyed families, robbed children of parents and robbed parents of children", Schuette said. PurduePharma was the exclusive focus of a previously announced investigation.
"This gives hope to families and friends who have lost loved ones", said Joanne Peterson, executive director of Learn to Cope, a support network for families dealing with addiction.
The attorneys general are subpoenaing documents to determine what role the opioid manufacturers and distributors may have played in the opioid epidemic - for example, through misleading marketing or downplaying the addictive quality of the drugs. Two weeks ago, a congressional committee issued a report alleging that Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics Inc.
The company has denied the allegations and criticized the investigations and legal challenges for lacking "context and factual accuracy".
Healey's office is working with 38 other attorneys general as part of the investigation, though she declined to say if they've found any evidence of wrong-doing to this point. According to state figures, 1,981 MI residents died from drug overdoses in 2015, with opioid-related deaths quadrupling since 1999. MA has been particularly hit hard.
Essex County reported 285 opioid-related deaths past year, according to state data.
Dozens of local and state governments have already filed, announced, or publicly considered lawsuits against drugmakers or distributors, according to the Associated Press.
Still, public health officials say the number of opioid-related deaths in MA fell about 5 percent in the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period a year earlier. "And every day, in this state, we lose five more". The FDA is one of them, manufacturers and distributors are heavily regulated.
"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
TRUMP’S FAILURE TO TACKLE OPIOID CRISIS IS COSTING LIVES, HOUSE DEMOCRATS SAY

Sep 22, 2017 | The Intercept

By David Dayen

IT’S BEEN NEARLY six months since President Donald Trump issued an executive order forming a commission to combat the nation’s opioid crisis — which he described on August 10 as “a national emergency” — and almost two months since the White House panel issued interim recommendations for dealing with the epidemic. But Trump has made a habit of failing to follow-up on his executive orders, and his administration has yet to officially declare the crisis a national emergency. In fact, there’s no evidence that his administration has moved on nearly any of the of the commission’s recommendations.
Now, members of Congress are saying the inaction is costing lives.
In a letter to the president, 51 House Democrats led by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., urged the administration to declare a national emergency and act on one critical recommendation: ensuring that naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, gets into the hands of every law enforcement officer in the United States.
The opioid crisis killed over 33,000 Americans in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control, enough to reduce U.S. life expectancy by two and a half months. And as the need for naloxone has grown, so, too, has its price. The cost of Evzio, an naloxone auto-injector similar to the EpiPen, rose from $690 in 2014 to $4,500 today. Other formulations have seen increases, as well. This has led to critical shortages of the drug across the country.
If Trump acts on the naloxone recommendation, he would not only be addressing the opioid crisis but also fulfill a campaign promise to reduce the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. As the House Democrats point out in their letter, formally declaring a national emergency would allow the secretary of Health and Human Services to “negotiate reduced pricing for all governmental units.” These discounts would enable the government to stockpile naloxone and distribute it nationwide. “You have the ability to take immediate action … and make good on your promise to help save the lives of many Americans affected by this national emergency,” they wrote. The White House has yet to comment on the letter.
While running for office, Trump savaged the pharmaceutical industry for “getting away with murder.” But as president, he has been far cozier with industry leaders (at least until the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck resigned from the president’s now-defunct manufacturing council). The White House has for months promised an executive order on drug prices that has never materialized, and a leaked draft consisted of little more than deregulation of the Food and Drug Administration and other industry favors. The draft’s author, Joe Grogan, was a lobbyist for Gilead Sciences, maker of the $84,000 hepatitis drug Sovaldi.
In Trump’s official response to the opioid commission’s recommendations, he said only that he “instructed his Administration to use all appropriate emergency and other authorities to respond to the crisis caused by the opioid epidemic.” Federal agencies have largely not followed through on that request.
About the only progress on opioid policy in the last month has been the announcement of an already existing partnership between the federal government and the pharmaceutical industry to research and generate non-opioid pain medication and additional medication-assisted treatment options. Among the participants in the public-private partnership is perhaps the most culpable drug manufacturer in the opioid crisis: Purdue Pharma, one of several companies sued by multiple states over marketing opioids to doctors and patients without identifying the addictive possibilities.
The White House’s opioid commission itself is fraught with problems. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who chairs the commission, has backed up the president’s “commitment” to declare an emergency, but Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would only call the declaration an “involved process.” Meanwhile, Christie, facing an October 1 deadline for a final commission report, has asked for a month-long extension. Also serving on the commission is Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, the beneficiary of an illegal 2013 campaign contribution from Trump.
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S delay in meeting executive order deadlines is no anomaly. As The Intercept has documented, the White House has not kept up with the numerous actions the president has mandated in executive orders and memoranda. Our deadline tracker finds that officials have met deadlines on only 28 of the 69 actions that have been due so far, and several of those tasks were completed behind schedule.
The administration has made even fewer of the actions, most of which comprise reports to the president, public, although some have been leaked to the media. This week, newspapers released a leaked report to the president from the Interior Department recommending to cut back or change the land-use activities on 10 national monuments. Previously the Interior Department had only released an executive summary with no details.
Other news items have alleged political interference with executive order reports. The Department of Health and Human Services constructed a report on the long-term government costs of refugee resettlement to the United States, initially finding that refugees brought in more government revenue than they took out. But internal emails stated that “senior leadership is questioning the assumptions” in the report, and HHS’s calculations never made it into the final version, which has not been formally released, even though the executive order ordering the report said it would be created “to further ensure transparency for the American people.”
A State Department official told The Intercept that the two refugee cost studies, one on long-term costs and another on relative costs of refugees in their countries of first asylum, “will be submitted in the coming weeks.” They were due September 2. “We are not able to characterize the reports before they are finished,” the official said.
Another immigration-related report on legal immigration status, also due September 2, was confirmed “not yet finalized” by the Department of Homeland Security’s Joanne Talbot.
The administration has grown less responsive over time to requests to confirm delivery of presidential reports. The Commerce Department has yet to show evidence that it has met seven separate Trump deadlines, including actions that were supposed to be reported in the Federal Register. A report on manufacturing regulations, termed imminent in June, has not been confirmed, nor has a planned report on American pipelines.
The information that the White House has made public has not told us a whole lot. For example, the Council on Environmental Quality published its initial list of actions on “modernizing” the environmental review process. But the report, mandated by executive order, includes only five bullet points, three of which say the council will coordinate with other agencies on next steps.
Even White House advisers have grown tired of the lack of follow-up. Several of Trump’s top advisers resigned in late August, citing insufficient attention to cybersecurity threats, which the president had promised to tackle in an executive order that included 17 separate deadlines.
In the case of the opioid epidemic, however, as the House Democrats pointed out, lives are hanging in the balance, and that’s all the more reason for the president to act.
You can see the results of all of Trump’s executive order deadlines at our deadline tracker.

Return to headline | Return to top

Broadcast Media Coverage

Fox 43 Morning News at 8:00am

Sep 22, 2017 | WPMT (FOX)

By Harrisburg, PA

Rough Transcript" happening today - u-s atorney general jeff sessions will be in our area. sessions is expected to come to harrisburg to give remarks to local law enforcement about the opioid epidemic. fox 43s jenifer ready is live in harisburg this morning with the details, god morning jen. boxes good morning matt—the nationwide opioid epidemic is something u-s attorney general jeff sessions has been focusing a lot of his efforts on since joining the trump adminsitration and in just a few hours, around eight forty-five, he is expected to talk about the crisis with law enforcement here at the federal building in harisburg. this comes a little more than a month after president trump declared the opioid crisis a national emergency&mdas h;this stop in harrisburg today, is one of many stops, sessions has made across the nation in the last few weeks, speaking to the public and law enforcement about the on- going battle against drugs. just yesterday, he was in west virginia, where he said that our nation is fighting the worst opioid epidemic in its history. here in pa- atorney general josh shapiro, is one of many attorney generals across the nation also trying to fight the opioid epidemic—h e recently joined a number of attorney generals investigating the role opioid manufacturers play in the opioid epidemic.

Return to headline | Return to top
Good Morning Colorado: Early Edition

Sep 22, 2017 | KRDO (ABC)

By Colorado Springs, Colorado

Rough Transcript: colorado attorney general is joing the fight... to tackle the opioid cris. last year more than 600 people in colorado died because of prescription opioidor heroin overdoses. colorado attorney general cynthia coffman and 41 of her counterparts in other states... are now investigating manufacturers and distributors of the prescriptions... the attorneys general want to know if those companies knew how addictive the drugs were... and what they told doctors about it. 2:32 "we have to know because s many people are being negatively impacted and lives are being lost, we have to understand what happened at the inception." coffman says the investigation won't solve the opioid problem... but it could provide the funding for prevention... treatment and recovery programs.

Return to headline | Return to top
KIMT News 3 DayBreak

Sep 22, 2017 | KIMT (CBS)

By Rochester, MN

Rough Transcript: attorneys general ..including iowa and minnesota....ann ounced they're working together to investigate drug manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioid medications. sessions & opioids-vo-4 sessions & opioids-vo-2 it's a widespread multi-state investigation looking into the nation's opioid epidemic. specifically the states want to know whether drug makers took part in illegal practices to market, sell and distribute opioids. u-s attorney general jeff sessions weighed-in on the health cris.xxx sessions & opioids-sot-3 sessions & opioids-sot-2 it puts a strain on health care programs like medicare. it's filling our emergency rooms, our foster homes, our cemeteries. every limited government pro-growth conservative needs to think about these things as we work to establish good policy." nationwide opioids are the main reason for drug overdose related deaths. contact lens dangers-vo-2 contact lens dangers-vo-4 do you ever forget to take out your contact lenses when you sleep? you're not alone....accordi ng to a c-d-c report.

Return to headline | Return to top
Eyewitness News at 5am

Sep 22, 2017 | KYW (CBS)

By Philadelphia, PA

Rough Transcript: thank you. now for look at newspaper headlines from across the region. delaware county times, delaware county officials yesterday declared war on drug manufacturers and their doctors, they filed suit against 11 major drug suppliers and their consulting physician what is they claimed is their roll in the opioid epidemic.

Return to headline | Return to top
NBC 10 News Today at 4:00am

Sep 22, 2017 | WCAU (NBC)

By Philadelphia, PA

Rough Transcript: attorney general jeff sessions will address the opioid cris when he speaks in harrisburg later this morning. he'll be talking to law enforcement officers and administrators in the state about how to handle the cris. >>> in delaware county, authorities are declaring a war on drug manufacturers in the opioid cris. yesterday the county said it's filed suit against nearly a dozen major opioid suppliers and their consulting physicians. officials claim the companies misrepresented the dangers of long-term use of prescription painkillers. they claim that's led many unsuspecting consumers to addiction and, in some cases, overdose deaths. >> we have had enough. it has cost us tens of millions of dollars. it's cost us thousands of lives. >> the county wants to be reimbursed tens of millions for treatment costs. at least one drug manufacturer denied the allegations while sharing concerns about the opioid epidemic.

Return to headline | Return to top
Fox 29 News at 10

Sep 22, 2017 | WTXF (FOX)

By Philadelphia, PA

Rough Transcript: tonight, a new target in the fight against opioid abuse, the drug companies. delaware county leaders gathered in media today to announce the county is filing a lawsuit against 11 pharmaceutical companies and their consulting doctors. the county says, drug companies haven't been honest with consumers when it comes to the dangers of using prescription painkillers on a long-term basis basis. >> we are all tired of looking into the eyes of parents that have lost children to this scourge so the pharmaceuticals could make a buck. >> so far this year there have been 167 drug related deaths in delaware county. 145 of them are opioid related. delaware county says it's the first lawsuit of its kind filed by a pennsylvania county.

Return to headline | Return to top

Add recipients

Suggested