Preview Newsletter
Opioid Daily Litigation Media Report
-
Opioid manufacturers seeks dismissal of Oklahoma, Missouri cases
Sep 26, 2017 | Reuters
By Nate Raymond
Drugmakers including Purdue Pharma LP and Johnson & Johnson have filed papers seeking to dismiss lawsuits by the attorneys general of Oklahoma and Missouri that claim the companies deceptively marketed opioid painkillers. -
Pharmaceutical companies seek dismissal or postponement of state's lawsuit
Sep 26, 2017 | NewsOK
By Randy Ellis
A group of drug companies filed court pleadings Friday asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter that accuses them of contributing to the state's opioid epidemic by fraudulently marketing the powerful painkillers. -
Drug companies ask court to dismiss state's lawsuit
Sep 26, 2017 | Tulsa World
By Barbara Hoberock
Drug companies are asking a Cleveland County judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against them by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter. -
No cost to taxpayers as county sues opioid manufacturers
Sep 25, 2017 | Pennsylvania Live
By Steve Marroni
Dauphin County commissioners today retained a law firm to take to court companies believed to be manufacturing and aggressively marketing addictive opioids. -
States expand investigation of opioid makers, distributors
Sep 26, 2017 | Associated Press
By Geoff Mulvihill
Attorneys general from most states are broadening their investigation into the opioid industry as a nationwide overdose crisis continues to claim thousands of lives. -
Legal woes grow for area opioid makers, distributor
Sep 25, 2017 | The Reporter
By Brian McCullough
The steady drip, drip, drip of litigation that has plagued area drug makers and distributors for the last year became a full flow of legal activity last week. -
Opioid Suits by Cities Begin to Catch On in New Jersey
Sep 25, 2017 | New Jersey Law Journal
By Charles Toutant
While state and local governments are filing a profusion of suits against drug companies to recoup costs of the opioid crisis, the trend has been slow to take hold in New Jersey. But opioid litigation is seen as having strong prospects if it can zero in on malfeasance by drug manufacturers and distributors, some observers said. -
Dauphin County commissioners consider suing pharmaceutical companies to combat opioid crisis
Sep 25, 2017 | Fox 43
By Mark Roper
Dauphin County commissioners have announced they might want to sue over the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania. -
Dauphin County to sue drug makers
Sep 25, 2017 | ABC 27
By Christina Butler
Dauphin County commissioners say they plan to take pharmaceutical companies who make and market addictive opioids to court. -
Lackawanna County files opioid lawsuit against drug companies
Sep 26, 2017 | The Times Tribune
By Jeff Horvath
Attorneys for Lackawanna County filed a civil lawsuit Monday against 14 drug companies over what county officials see as their role in spawning the opioid epidemic — less than a week after another county resident died from an opioid overdose. -
18 News at 11
Sep 25, 2017 | WETM (NBC)
By Elmira, NY
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29660158?token=70afc949-8506-4072-83f2-a3b605700606 -
ABC27 News at 11
Sep 25, 2017 | WHTM (ABC)
By Harrisburg, PA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29660176?token=70afc949-8506-4072-83f2-a3b605700606 -
44 News at 10
Sep 26, 2017 | WEVV (CBS)
By Evansville, IN
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29660170?token=70afc949-8506-4072-83f2-a3b605700606
Traditional Media Coverage
Broadcast Media Coverage
-
Opioid manufacturers seeks dismissal of Oklahoma, Missouri cases
Sep 26, 2017 | Reuters
By Nate Raymond
Drugmakers including Purdue Pharma LP and Johnson & Johnson have filed papers seeking to dismiss lawsuits by the attorneys general of Oklahoma and Missouri that claim the companies deceptively marketed opioid painkillers.
In separate motions to dismiss filed in state courts in Oklahoma and Missouri on Friday, the drugmakers argued both lawsuits improperly asserted undifferentiated allegations of wrongdoing against the group as if they were a single entity.
To read the full story on Westlaw Practitioner Insights, click here: bit.ly/2y4VXw0
-
Pharmaceutical companies seek dismissal or postponement of state's lawsuit
Sep 26, 2017 | NewsOK
By Randy Ellis
A group of drug companies filed court pleadings Friday asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter that accuses them of contributing to the state's opioid epidemic by fraudulently marketing the powerful painkillers.
Purdue Pharma L.P., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Allergan PLC were among about a dozen pharmaceutical companies that filed a legal brief Friday claiming opioid medications "serve a critical public-health role" in alleviating and managing pain.
The drug companies contend that they have complied with U.S. Food & Drug Administration requirements to warn the public about the "grave risks" that accompany use of the drugs.
Those risks — which include addiction, overdose and even death — are clearly described to patients in FDA-approved drug labels, the pharmaceutical companies contend.
"The state's claims alleging that ... (the drug companies) misleadingly promoted prescription opioid medications as safe and effective for long-term use in treating chronic non-cancer pain are pre-empted by federal law," the drug companies argued. "These claims ignore the FDA's long-standing approval of opioid medications for chronic pain and the extensive FDA-approved risk information that accompanies them."
The drug companies contend that the attorney general unfairly grouped the drug manufacturers together in the lawsuit, when different medications have different attributes.
They also argue the lawsuit is not specific enough in describing the fraud that is alleged.
The drug companies were responding to a lawsuit filed in June in Cleveland County District Court in which the attorney general accused drug manufacturers of "waging a fraudulent, decades-long marketing campaign" that has made them billions of dollars "while creating a generation of Oklahomans who have become addicts, convicts or have met their deaths from opioid overdoses."
Among the allegedly deceptive marketing practices cited by Hunter was a promotional video distributed by Purdue that claimed "the rate of addiction amongst pain patients who are treated by doctors is much less than 1 percent" and that the drugs "do not have serious medical side effects."
In their response filed Friday, the pharmaceutical companies claim they can't be blamed for all the state's opioid-related problems.
"Attributing all of Oklahoma's opioid-related problems to supposedly fraudulent marketing materials and other publications, many of which are over a decade old, the state misconstrues a complex public-health crisis involving a host of different actors and intervening causes," the pharmaceutical companies contend.
If the Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman refuses to dismiss the case, the drug companies said they would like him to delay proceedings until the FDA can complete an active investigation into the risks and benefits of opioids.
-
Drug companies ask court to dismiss state's lawsuit
Sep 26, 2017 | Tulsa World
By Barbara Hoberock
Drug companies are asking a Cleveland County judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against them by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter.
The lawsuit, filed in June, alleges that deceptive marketing practices by four opioid drug companies has contributed to the state’s deadly painkiller epidemic.
Listed as defendants are Purdue Pharma, Allergan, Cephalon and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
On Friday, the companies asked that the complaint be dismissed.
The states alleges the companies violated Oklahoma’s Medicaid False Claims Act and the Consumer Protection Act and created an ongoing public nuisance.
The state wants to hold the companies liable for promoting medications that have a purpose approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, according to the brief filed by the drug companies.
The state also is blaming the companies “for the entire spectrum of public and private costs associate with Oklahoma’s current opioid crisis, ranging from state reimbursements of allegedly ‘unnecessary and excessive’ opioid prescriptions to policing heroin addiction on the streets.”
But the companies say the state’s petition fails to allege the facts that constitute fraud as required by state law. Their brief also says the FDA-approved labeling discloses the risks.
“At its core, the petition seeks to challenge the FDA’s decision balancing the benefits and risks of certain opioid medications because the Oklahoma Attorney General disagrees with those decisions,” the companies’ brief states.
The court should reject efforts to hold defendants liable for promoting drugs for uses approved by the FDA, the brief says.
“Attributing all of Oklahoma’s opioid-related problems to supposedly fraudulent marketing materials and other publications, many of which are over a decade old, the state misconstrues a complex public-health crisis involving a host of different actors and intervening causes,” the companies state in their brief.
The state’s lawsuit says the companies deceived Oklahoma doctors but fails to identify a doctor who received supposed misrepresentations or relied on it in prescribing the drugs, the companies say.
In addition, the state’s petition doesn’t give the drug companies fair notice of the claims against them, the companies say.
“Although the state makes broad and conclusory allegations about defendants’ opioid marketing, it fails to connect any purported misrepresentation to any specific Oklahoma patient, prescription, physician, claim or reimbursement decision,” the companies state in their brief.
-
No cost to taxpayers as county sues opioid manufacturers
Sep 25, 2017 | Pennsylvania Live
By Steve Marroni
Dauphin County commissioners today retained a law firm to take to court companies believed to be manufacturing and aggressively marketing addictive opioids.
And it won't cost the taxpayers anything.
Commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries and George P. Hartwick, III first announced on Friday that they intended to sign on with Young, Ricchiuti, Caldwell & Heller, LLC to pursue civil action against these manufacturers to cover some of the costs for addiction prevention and treatment.
The county officially retained the firm today to pursue this lawsuit on a contingency basis, meaning taxpayers will not be responsible for legal costs and the county will share in any monrey that is recovered.
All recovered funds will go towards paying for drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, commissioners say.
"We see an addiction epidemic caused in large part by the aggressive marketing of opioids by big pharma,'' Commissioner Haste said. "It's time these drug companies take responsibility and pay to help undo some of the damage they caused."
The county provided these statistics: Through August, more than 60 people in Dauphin County died from overdoses, and last year, there were 85 deaths - surpassing the number killed in car accidents. From June 2016 to the end of July 2017, Dauphin County spent $19.6 million to help 2,859 people suffering from addiction. That marked an 860 percent increase in treatment dollars and more than 400 percent increase in those needing help from 2012 to 2013. In 2016, in 30 percent of the cases where Dauphin County had to remove children from their home for their own protection, parental drug use was the main reason. And throughout Pennsylvania, opioid overdoses killed 4,642 people, a 37 percent increase from 2015, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency data.
"The only way we are going to stop the damage opioids are doing to our families and communities is by committing enough resources for drug treatment and prevention,'' Commissioner Hartwick said. "We know treatment saves lives and this lawsuit against the drug manufacturers is about getting the money we can use to save more lives.
-
States expand investigation of opioid makers, distributors
Sep 26, 2017 | Associated Press
By Geoff Mulvihill
Attorneys general from most states are broadening their investigation into the opioid industry as a nationwide overdose crisis continues to claim thousands of lives.
They announced last week that they had served subpoenas requesting information from five companies that make powerful prescription painkiller and had demanded information from three distributors. Forty-one attorneys general are involved in various parts of the civil investigation.
The probe into marketing and sales practices seeks to find out whether the industry’s own actions worsened the epidemic.
If the industry co-operates, the investigation could lead to a national settlement. Connecticut Attorney George Jepsen said in an interview that there are early indications that drug makers and distributors will discuss the matter with the states.
“The advantage of the multi-state approach is that it’s not simply about providing a paycheck for damages to states,” Jepsen said. “It provides the opportunity to address broader policy concerns and industry practices.”
The Healthcare Distribution Alliance said in a statement that it’s not responsible for the volume of opioid prescribing but that it does want to work on solving the public health crisis.
“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,” John Gray, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Distributors have no ability to influence what prescriptions are written.”
PhRMA, which represents drug makers, declined to comment on the investigation but said it is trying to deter and prevent drug abuse.
The group and some of its members met last week with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who is the head of President Donald Trump’s task force on opioids, and pledged to try to develop technologies to reduce the risk of addiction and abuse.
The drug companies targeted in the requests for information are Endo, Janssen, Teva and Allergan. The attorneys general also asked for more information from Purdue Pharma since an investigation of that company was announced in June. The distributors involved are AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
Drug overdoses have become a crisis across the country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2015, they killed more than 52,000 Americans. Most of the deaths involved prescription opioids such as OxyContin or Vicodin or related illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. People with addictions often switch among the drugs.
Dozens of local and state governments have already filed, announced or publicly considered lawsuits against drug makers or distributors.
Lawyers for the city of Everett argued this week that their case against Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, should be allowed to move ahead after the company asked a judge to dismiss the case.
State and local governments have been taking other action as the epidemic has deepened, with steps ranging from increasing access to naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses, to restricting initial prescriptions.
Last week, a group of 37 attorneys general called on health insurance companies to offer incentives for other forms of pain treatment including non-opioid drugs and massage, saying that as it stands now, insurers cover opioids more than other approaches to pain treatment.
The industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans said in a statement that it’s already working on using education, prevention and other means in an effort to eradicate addiction.
-
Legal woes grow for area opioid makers, distributor
Sep 25, 2017 | The Reporter
By Brian McCullough
The steady drip, drip, drip of litigation that has plagued area drug makers and distributors for the last year became a full flow of legal activity last week.
Coming under the microscope for their alleged roles in the nation’s opioid crisis are Chester County-based drug makers Endo Pharmaceuticals and Cephalon (now part of Teva, which has North American headquarters in North Wales, Montgomery County), and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which has offices in Horsham, Montgomery County. Drug distributor AmerisourceBergen of Tredyffrin also has been named in a number of the legal actions, including a coordinated investigation of manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids announced Tuesday by 41 state attorneys general.
“To any parent, family or friend of someone lost to addiction, we hear you,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Shapiro said at a news conference at an Upper Dublin High School athletic field in Montgomery County. “I’m announcing today a major step forward in our investigation into the manufacturing, marketing, sale and distribution of opioids – a class of drugs so dangerous the Centers for Disease Control warns they are “just as addictive as heroin.”
Closer to home, Delaware County on Thursday joined Bensalem, Bucks County, in suing the companies seeking damages from the opioid manufacturers, claiming they downplayed the dangers of the addictive painkillers.
“Delaware County didn’t want to wait any longer. These brave leaders are tired of seeing their constituents whose loved ones have been killed,” said attorney Robert Mongeluzzi of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett and Bendesky of Philadelphia, who will represent the county in the case.
“They aren’t waiting. They are being proactive, and they are taking the first step.”
The suit alleges that four top pharmaceutical companies — Endo, Purdue, Cephalon and Janssen — systematically put doctors on the payroll who wrote medical opinions that called for doctors to prescribe opioids to treat their patients, the Delaware County Times reported.
“This was a finely orchestrated blitzkrieg by the opioid manufacturing industry to change public opinions and to convince doctors that opioids were safety and non-addictive when in fact they were deadly and deadly addictive,” Mongeluzzi said.
For their part, the drugmakers say they are working to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis.
“At Endo, our top priorities include patient safety and ensuring that patients with chronic pain have access to safe and effective therapeutic options,” read an emailed statement from Heather Zoumas Lubeski, senior director of corporate affairs. “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.
“It is Endo’s policy not to comment on current litigation or investigations,” Friday’s statement concluded.
In July, Endo, based in East Whiteland near Malvern, said it would voluntarily stop selling the opioid Opana ER, approved for use in patients with severe, constant pain, after consulting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It’s the first opioid drug the FDA has sought to remove from the market due to abuse.
The drugmaker said in a statement at the time and repeated last week that the extended-release opioid is safe and effective when used as intended, and that Endo still believes Opana ER’s benefits outweigh its risks. It no longer sells Opana ER and has no plans to resume sales of the drug, Zoumas Lubeski said. The company also eliminated its 375-member U.S. Branded pain sales force late last year and is focusing its efforts elsewhere now, the spokeswoman added.
Janssen spokesperson William Foster also said his company is cooperating.
“We recognize opioid abuse is a serious public health issue,” he said. “We have received and plan to address the request from the coalition of state attorneys general, and will continue to work with stakeholders to support solutions. 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.”
Cephalon, meanwhile, admitted in the past to wrongly marketing its opioid, Actiq. In 2008, it settled a case with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia for its off-label marketing practices of Actiq and two other drugs. It agreed to pay $425 million in criminal and civil fines to settle the case.
Denise Bradley, senior vice president of corporate reputation, issued a statement last week for Teva, which bought Cephalon in 2011 for $6.8 billion. The North Wales company continues to have former Cephalon operations in West Goshen and Frazer.
“Teva is committed to the appropriate promotion and use of opioids,” the company said. “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 health-care community, regulators and public officials to collaboratively find solutions.”
But the attorneys general in announcing their investigation indicated they would seek their own answers.
Nationwide and in Pennsylvania, opioids are the main driver of fatal drug overdoses, noted Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s attorney general, adding:
• Pennsylvania had 4,642 fatal drug overdoses in 2016 – a 37 percent increase over 2015.
• Thirteen Pennsylvanians die every day from overdoses.
• Eighty percent of persons suffering from heroin addiction began by abusing prescription drugs.
• A total of 7.3 million opioid prescription drugs were dispensed in Pennsylvania last year.
The attorneys general named the 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, based in Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. Administrative headquarters in Parsippany, N.J.;
• Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Conn., maker of OxyContin.
Shapiro said the attorneys general are seeking documents and information about business practices from companies responsible for distributing nearly 90 percent of the nation’s opioids, identifying the opioid distributors under investigation as:
• AmerisourceBergen, which is based in the Chesterbrook development in eastern Chester County;
• Cardinal Health of Dublin, Ohio;
• McKesson of San Francisco.
AmerisourceBergen on Friday said it will cooperate with the investigation.
“We welcome the opportunity to educate the attorney general coalition on our role in the health-care supply chain,” read a statement provided by Lauren Moyer, director of the company’s external communications. “AmerisourceBergen 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. Our goal has been, and continues to be, to do everything we can as a distributor with no visibility into patient information to mitigate the diversion of these drugs in ways that do not interfere with clinical decisions made by licensed health-care providers. Our hope is that the investigation will be a step forward in driving productive conversation about how we, along with all other parts of the health-care supply chain, can work with regulatory, enforcement and legislative leaders to find meaningful solutions to address the opioid epidemic.”
The AGs have served subpoenas for documents and information - known as Civil Investigative Demands - on the pharmaceutical manufacturers. The multi-state investigation has also sent information demand letters to the distributors under investigation, Shapiro’s office said in a statement.
“We have the resources, expertise and legal authority to take on this fight, and we aren’t letting up,” Shapiro said of the group of 41 attorneys general. “We’re following the evidence wherever it leads so we can change behavior and save lives. Make no mistake: if the law was broken, this team will find it, and we will take action to change the course of this epidemic.”
Shapiro was joined at Tuesday’s news conference by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, Hatboro Police Chief Jim Gardner, and Candy Decker, whose son John, a scholastic lacrosse star, became addicted to prescription painkillers following a sports injury, gravitated to heroin, and suffered a fatal overdose. Joe Lubowitz, an Upper Dublin graduate in long-term recovery from addiction who works as an advocate, also attended, along with a crowd of other advocates and persons in long-term recovery.
“As I promised the day I took office in January, we are confronting this epidemic on our street corners, in doctors’ offices and hospitals, and now – in the boardrooms of pharmaceutical companies,” Shapiro said. “We will follow the facts and the law, without fear or favor, and hold the responsible persons and companies accountable for the tragic loss of life and damage suffered by so many families across our Commonwealth.”
-
Opioid Suits by Cities Begin to Catch On in New Jersey
Sep 25, 2017 | New Jersey Law Journal
By Charles Toutant
While state and local governments are filing a profusion of suits against drug companies to recoup costs of the opioid crisis, the trend has been slow to take hold in New Jersey. But opioid litigation is seen as having strong prospects if it can zero in on malfeasance by drug manufacturers and distributors, some observers said.
A half-dozen states have filed suits against drugmakers over the opioid crisis, and New Jersey is part of a coalition of 41 states that is investigating the role of pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors in the growth in addiction to opioids. But even as Gov. Chris Christie has made fighting drug addiction a top priority for the remainder of his term, Attorney General Christopher Porrino indicated on Monday that the state is taking a cautious approach toward deciding whether to address the problem through litigation.
"We're taking a hard look at the advertising and marketing practices of opioid manufacturers in New Jersey. We'll decide what, if anything, to do based on the outcome of that investigation," Porrino said.
Meanwhile, a growing number of cities have sued opioid manufacturers and distributors, including Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky. In the northeastern United States, Waterbury, Connecticut, filed a suit in state court in August, accusing drug companies of conspiracy to misrepresent the safety and proper use of opioids. And in greater Philadelphia, Bensalem Township and Delaware County have each announced plans to bring such suits.
In New Jersey, Paterson announced Friday that it had retained Scott & Scott of Colchester, Connecticut, to file a suit against opioid manufacturers. And in August, Toms River said it hired Motley Rice of South Carolina to file an opioid suit on its behalf.
Domenick Stampone, Paterson's corporation counsel, says his city's first responders must cope with an influx of drug users from all over the region, and they administer Narcan, an opiate antidote, several times a day. Many people who obtain opioids by prescription later move on to use illegal drugs, he said.
Stampone said pursuing the suit enjoys widespread support in Paterson and Monday's resignation of Mayor Jose Torres would not prevent it from being filed. Torres pleaded guilty to charges that he instructed city employees to perform work on a property owned by members of his family.
Paterson's suit is to be filed "imminently" in state court and will demonstrate that drug companies did not fully disclose their products' highly addictive nature to physicians, Stampone said. The city was drawn to Scott & Scott because that firm's Judy Scolnick intends to work on the case along with Lee Goldsmith of Cohn Lifland, who participated in landmark litigation by cities against the tobacco industry in the 1980s, said Stampone.
More New Jersey opioid suits could be on the way. Stampone said a few other cities and counties got in touch with him to seek information after Paterson announced that it hired Scott & Scott.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals of Titusville, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is named as a defendant in many of the opioid suits. The company disputes the suits' allegations and said it is committed to the safe usage of its products.
"We recognize opioid abuse is a serious public health issue that must be addressed," company spokesman William Foster said. "At the same time, we firmly believe the allegations in these lawsuits are both legally and factually unfounded. 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. Janssen is committed to providing health care professionals with complete and accurate information on how to prescribe our opioid medications, which give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain, and we are continuing to work with stakeholders to support their safe and appropriate use."
The suits filed against makers and distributors of opioids by local and state governments have relied on a variety of legal theories, including fraud and public nuisance theory, said Carl Tobias, who teaches products liability law at the University of Richmond School of Law. He thinks some of the cases might find traction, although courts will likely reject some of the various causes of action being presented.
"I think they may be able to persuade some of the judges. I think the underlying behavior is problematic—the allegation that the companies understated the seriousness of the problems and promoted the sale [of drugs] vigorously all over the country and certainly in the states that have sued. It seems there has to be some way to get at that behavior," Tobias said.
The crop of opioid suits is "not dissimilar to" the tobacco suits that many cities and states filed in the 1980s, said John Jacobi, faculty director of the Center for Health and Pharmaceutical Law and Policy at Seton Hall University School of Law. Many cities and states saw significant recoveries from tobacco litigation, but the cases were largely settled, so no courts ever evaluated the plaintiffs' legal theories, Jacobi said. One difference in the latest suits is that they are more complex because pain medication, unlike cigarettes, has a worthwhile purpose, Jacobi said.
While state and local governments are filing a profusion of suits against drug companies to recoup costs of the opioid crisis, the trend has been slow to take hold in New Jersey. But opioid litigation is seen as having strong prospects if it can zero in on malfeasance by drug manufacturers and distributors, some observers said.
The remainder of the article is under paywall: http://www.njlawjournal.com/id=1202798834066/Opioid-Suits-by-Cities-Begin-to-Catch-On-in-New-Jersey?mcode=1202617207189&curindex=1&curpage=2
-
Dauphin County commissioners consider suing pharmaceutical companies to combat opioid crisis
Sep 25, 2017 | Fox 43
By Mark Roper
Dauphin County commissioners have announced they might want to sue over the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania.
Commissioners hired a law firm to look into suing drug companies in order to protect taxpayer dollars.
The county is considering a contingency lawsuit, so that any future settlement will pay for the cost of legal action.
A cross-section of Dauphin County leaders believe drug companies literally need to pay for the opioid epidemic.
Dauphin County commissioners chairman Jeff Haste said "this is done truly for the taxpayer, because they've already spent enough in this. The people not at the table are the opioid companies that started this, and we want to make sure that counties are at the table when the settlement occurs."
Dauphin County commissioners want pharmaceutical companies to pay up for what the opioid crisis costs the county.
Dauphin county commissioner George Hartwick III said "we've heard from parents who've lost children as a result of this epidemic. I don't know how you put a price to that, but when we talk about actual taxpayer dollars, and what's being done in treatment, we've seen those numbers increase dramatically."
"From June of 2016, to July of '17, Dauphin County spent $19.2 million for addiction, that's 2,859 individuals, in our own community," Haste said.
County officials hope a lawsuit will recoup those expenses, but the opioid epidemic costs more than money.
For parents like Wendy Loranzo, it costs her, her daughter's life.
"It's a little bittersweet for me, because my daughter is gone, and I can't help her anymore, but I can help other people. I can help other parents , and I just want to keep spreading the word, and keep people from having to go to the cemetery to visit their child ," Loranzo said.
The Pennsylvania attorney general already Ann that the state would take pharmaceutical comptroller court for their role in the opioid crisis.
Dauphin County commissioners believe it's important to take matters into their own hands, by considering their own lawsuit.
"To ensure that we're at the table to make sure that those resources are directly returned to our county systems and most importantly, that taxpayers in our county aren't the only ones that are footing the bill," Hartwick said.
"We're the ones that have to find the providers, we're the ones that are going out and talking to the families, we're the ones on the ground fighting this epidemic," Haste said.
Commissioners also said the way the Pennsylvania is handling the tobacco settlement fund as a way to potentially balance the state budget is another reason they want to sue.
Their concern is that if the Attorney General reaches a settlement with pharmaceutical companies, that there could be a chance they won't see much, if any money.
-
Dauphin County to sue drug makers
Sep 25, 2017 | ABC 27
By Christina Butler
Dauphin County commissioners say they plan to take pharmaceutical companies who make and market addictive opioids to court.
Commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries and George P. Hartwick are expected to announce their plans Monday alongside treatment providers and families who have lost loved ones to overdoses. Commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries and George P. Hartwick will file the civil
The three-member board says it will the civil lawsuit and wants drug makers to pay for part of the cost of treatment and prevention for opioid abuse.
Last year in Dauphin County, a record 85 people lost their lives to opioid abuse. The costs related to treatment and prevention jumped 860%.
-
Lackawanna County files opioid lawsuit against drug companies
Sep 26, 2017 | The Times Tribune
By Jeff Horvath
Attorneys for Lackawanna County filed a civil lawsuit Monday against 14 drug companies over what county officials see as their role in spawning the opioid epidemic — less than a week after another county resident died from an opioid overdose.
Holding the obituary of 24-year-old Scrantonian Samantha Victoria Mahoney, who died of an overdose last Tuesday and whose obituary appeared in Monday’s edition of The Times-Tribune, Commissioner Patrick O’Malley announced that the county’s war with the pharmaceutical companies has begun.
“This is a war for the hearts and souls of our community,” O’Malley said minutes after the suit was filed in the county Court of Common Pleas. “Today, we add one more person to the list of Lackawanna County citizens that lost their life to this scourge.”
Among the many allegations levied in the 81-page lawsuit — which names as defendants, drug manufacturing and distribution companies and several individual physicians — are charges that defendants knew opioids are too addictive and debilitating for long-term use, yet sought to create a false perception of their safety in the minds of medical professionals and the public.
They pushed that perception through a coordinated, sophisticated and highly deceptive marketing campaign that began in the late 1990s, and resulted in expanded opioid use and major profits for drug companies, according to the suit.
Moreover, the suit claims Lackawanna County spent millions of dollars each year combating the public nuisance caused by the drug companies’ deceptive marketing, and continues to incur costs related to opioid addiction and abuse — from health care, criminal justice and social costs to costs resulting from lost productivity.
A jury trial is demanded in the case, which will be decided in Lackawanna County, said attorney Marc J. Bern of Marc J. Bern & Partners LLP, the firm representing the county.
“We believe that the citizens of Lackawanna County should be the ones who decide this case,” Bern said, adding that he hopes to see the matter resolved within two years.
“Once we get on the path to having a trial, to bringing the parties who are responsible for this epidemic in front of a court, in front of the local citizens, then we’ll be on our way,” he said.
A forensic audit to determine the total costs the county will seek in damages could take several months, but Bern guaranteed it will be in the tens of millions of dollars. His firm will keep 25 percent of whatever the suit nets, but will represent the county at no cost.
“We’re going to push this,” Bern said. “We’re going to have a team of lawyers, paralegals, researchers (and) investigators going forward as quickly as possible.”
-
Sep 25, 2017 | WETM (NBC)
By Elmira, NY
Rough Transcript: the dauphin county commissioners... as they prepare a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.... who the commissioners say hid the addictive nature of their products.
-
Sep 25, 2017 | WHTM (ABC)
By Harrisburg, PA
Rough Transcript: dauphin county is close to filing a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that market addictive opioid painkillers. the prescription drugs can be deadly... the suit will say the companies tried to hide that fact. today, dauphin county parents joined the commissioners in announcing the lawsuit. middletown resident wendy loranzo lost her daughter this year to an illegal opioid... heroin that turned out to be laced with fentanyl.
-
Sep 26, 2017 | WEVV (CBS)
By Evansville, IN
Rough Transcript: kentucky attorney general andy beshear has hir four law firms to investigate and sue companies that contributed to the opioid epidemic. they are investigating drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers that they say may have illegally marketed and sold opioids. beshear's office says - no taxpayer money would be used up front in the litigation. instead, the lawyers would get a percentage of any money won through a settlement or verdict stemming from that litigation. in addition to hiring the legal team, kentucky is one of several states participating in a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general to address the cris. beshear and 36 other state attorneys general are reaching out to health insurance companies, asking them to adopt a financial incentive structure for the use of non-opioid pain management when possible. the heroin and opioid cris is an issue affecting our community -- impacting our neighbors.
Traditional Media Coverage
Broadcast Media Coverage
Add recipients
Suggested