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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report 10/18/17
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PhRMA response to Washington Post and 60 Minutes stories
Oct 16, 2017 | PhRMA
By Robert Zirkelbach
The opioid epidemic confronting America is a growing public health crisis from which none of us are immune. Its impact is felt by families across the country, in small towns and large cities, coast to coast and everywhere in-between. Addressing this crisis requires a multifaceted solution involving everyone—parents and teachers, prescribers, biopharmaceutical companies, mental health professionals, those involved in distributing controlled substances and federal and state agencies. -
PhRMA calls for repeal of law detailed in opioid report
Oct 17, 2017 | The Hill
By Josh Delk
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) on Tuesday called for the repeal of a controversial law detailed in a recent report that critics say allows for the free flow of lethal opioid drugs. -
Trump drug czar nominee is withdrawing; administration ‘very concerned’ about law he championed
Oct 18, 2017 | The Washington Post
By John Wagner, Lenny Bernstein and Scott Higham
President Trump announced Tuesday that Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), his nominee for drug czar, was withdrawing in the wake of an investigative report detailing how he helped pass legislation weakening the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continue to rise. -
Tom Marino, Drug Czar Nominee, Withdraws in Latest Setback for Trump’s Opioid Fight
Oct 17, 2017 | The New York Times
By Peter Baker
President Trump’s nominee for drug czar withdrew on Tuesday in the wake of reports that as a congressman he did the bidding of the pharmaceutical industry, leaving the White House without a leader for its fight against opioid abuse just days before the president was planning to roll out a new strategy. -
Dems call for action following report on drug lobby's influence on opioid distribution
Oct 17, 2017 | CNN
By Maegan Vazquez
Several Hill Democrats are calling for action in the wake of a bombshell report that found the pharmaceutical industry successfully lobbied Congress to make it easier to distribute opioids across American communities and thwart the Drug Enforcement Administration's efforts to halt the addiction crisis. -
Pennsylvania county files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Oct 17, 2017 | Jurist
By Staff
Pennsylvania's Beaver County [official website] filed a lawsuit [text, PDF] on Monday against opioid manufacturers. -
Taking on opioids: Beaver County is right to fight pharma firms (OPINION)
Oct 18, 2017 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
By Editorial Board
Beaver County has joined the ranks of cities, counties and states that have sued pharmaceutical companies, alleging they distributed highly addictive opioids like candies from a PEZ dispenser. The county has limited financial resources, so this is a big step. And a worthy one. The people there have a right to learn the origin of the opioid epidemic and bring those responsible to account. -
Washington, Greene counties could pursue lawsuits over opioid epidemic
Oct 17, 2017 | Observer Reporter (PA)
By Gideon Bradshaw
Officials in Washington and Greene counties are considering whether to follow nearby Beaver County in filing suit against pharmaceutical companies that allegedly had a hand in creating the opioid abuse epidemic ravaging Southwestern Pennsylvania. -
Marion County joins opioid lawsuit
Oct 17, 2017 | Longview News Journal (TX)
By Staff
Marion County has joined litigation against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid painkiller crisis. -
Eau Claire Co. to be part of lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Oct 17, 2017 | WEAU 13 News (WI)
By Danielle Wagner
The Eau Claire County Board agrees to be part of a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids -
Marathon Co. Joins Opioid Lawsuit
Oct 17, 2017 | WSAU (WI)
By Staff
The Marathon County Board voted to join other Wisconsin counties in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies to try and recover money lost by the county because of the opioid epidemic. -
County hires law firms to sue drug companies over opioid epidemic
Oct 18, 2017 | Go Erie (PA)
By Matthew Rink
County Council voted 6-0 on a resolution to hire three law firms to investigate, litigate or negotiate for settlement claims “related to the marketing, prescribing, distribution or sale of opioids” against drugmakers and distributors. -
Saratoga County to sue drug companies over opioids
Oct 17, 2017 | The Daily Gazette (NY)
By Kassie Parisi
In an effort to curb the opioid crisis in local municipalities, the county will pursue a lawsuit "against companies and potentially physicians responsible for careless practices related to the manufacturing, distribution and prescriptions of opioid pharmaceuticals." -
Bowie County joins opioid lawsuit
Oct 17, 2017 | KTBS News 3
By Staff
Bowie County is joining the fight against opioid abuse -
Oneida County weighs joining lawsuit against drug companies
Oct 18, 2017 | Rome Sentinel (NY)
By Dan Guzewich
Oneida County is weighing whether to sue to recover costs incurred as a result of the surge in the prescribing of narcotic painkillers. -
County Board Considers Lawsuit Against Opioid Drug Makers
Oct 18, 2017 | Urban Milwaukee
By Theodore Lipscomb, Sr.
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider a proposal that would empower the county’s lawyers to select outside legal counsel and prepare for possible lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers whose practices contribute to the ongoing opioid epidemic within Milwaukee County. -
US Prosecutors Announce First-ever Indictments Against Chinese Opioid Manufacturers
Oct 18, 2017 | New Delhi Times
By Staff
U.S. law enforcement officials announced Tuesday the indictments of two Chinese nationals and their North American associates charged with manufacturing and distributing fentanyl and other opioids in the United States, highlighting China’s role as a global supplier of illicit opiate substances. -
Trump says he'll declare opioid crisis a national emergency. Here's what that could mean (OPINION)
Oct 18, 2017 | USA Today
By Gregory Korte
President Trump first promised to declare a national emergency to confront the epidemic 68 days ago. Since then, statistics show more than 6,000 Americans have died of opioid overdoses waiting for federal action. -
Erie County to hire legal firm to sue drug companies over opioid epidemic
Oct 17, 2017 | Erie News Now
By Matt Knoedler
After a record number of overdose deaths in Erie County this year, county leaders are expected to now join a lawsuit against some of the most powerful companies in medicine: the makers of opiate prescription drugs. -
NE Texas county joins legal fray resulting from opioid epidemic
Oct 17, 2017 | SE Texas Record
By John Suayan
A Northeast Texas county has pursued legal action in response to the ongoing opioid epidemic, according to recent Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas records. -
Erie News Now Sunrise at 5
Oct 18, 2017 | WICU (NBC)
By Erie, PA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30160010?token=d1d5bd0e-77d7-4ba3-a677-5cf99d89dcf7 -
Eyewitness News at 8AM
Oct 18, 2017 | WNAC (FOX)
By Providence, RI
Video Link: Unavailable
CBS 60 Minutes Follow -on / Rep. Marino
Beaver County, PA Suit
Other Coverage
Broadcast Media Coverage
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PhRMA response to Washington Post and 60 Minutes stories
Oct 16, 2017 | PhRMA
By Robert Zirkelbach
The opioid epidemic confronting America is a growing public health crisis from which none of us are immune. Its impact is felt by families across the country, in small towns and large cities, coast to coast and everywhere in-between. Addressing this crisis requires a multifaceted solution involving everyone—parents and teachers, prescribers, biopharmaceutical companies, mental health professionals, those involved in distributing controlled substances and federal and state agencies.
Recently, we announced our support for a number of more aggressive policies to combat opioid abuse, including a 7-day script limit for acute pain, and our companies are working closely with NIH and FDA on a public-private partnership to bring new non-opioid therapies to market for patients who are in need of appropriate pain medication. These are in addition to our pursuit of policies that mandate prescriber education and training, expand treatment capacity and treatment options for those facing addiction, enhance the effectiveness of electronic databases that track prescribing of controlled substances, and provide greater access to overdose reversal agents and medication assisted therapies, among other policies.
With regards to the recent Washington Post & 60 Minutes stories, we want to be clear that PhRMA did not support or lobby in favor of the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act and reports that PhRMA spent $40 million lobbying this bill are unequivocally false.
Had we been contacted by these news outlets in advance of their stories running, we would have explained our longstanding support for enhanced law enforcement efforts to fight the opioid epidemic (as evidenced here and here). We also urge Congress to demand an independent assessment of whether the DEA has sufficient controls and authorities in place to prevent illicit diversion of controlled substances. And we believe that Congress should consider whether existing criminal and civil penalties are sufficient for repeated failures of DEA registrants to ensure that they report suspicious orders for controlled substances in a timely manner.
We will continue our efforts to fight this terrible epidemic, and we stand ready to work across the entire system to find ways to work together to do so.
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PhRMA calls for repeal of law detailed in opioid report
Oct 17, 2017 | The Hill
By Josh Delk
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) on Tuesday called for the repeal of a controversial law detailed in a recent report that critics say allows for the free flow of lethal opioid drugs.
The Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016 has come under renewed scrutiny after a new joint report from the Washington Post and "60 Minutes" that pointed to the law as undercutting the Drug Enforcement Administration's ability to crackdown on the flow of the drugs into the market.
In addition to new legislation that would repeal the law, PhRMA, one of the largest prescription drug lobbying groups, urged Congress to reconsider the penalties for DEA-registered drug distributors who fail to ensure the safety of opioid distribution by reporting suspicious purchases of the drugs.
“We will continue our efforts to fight this terrible epidemic, and we stand ready to work across the entire system to find ways to work together to do so," said PhRMA president Stephen J. Ubl in a statement.
The U.S. is currently in the midst of an opioid crisis, which experts predict could kill more than half a million Americans over the next decade if the issue worsens.
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Trump drug czar nominee is withdrawing; administration ‘very concerned’ about law he championed
Oct 18, 2017 | The Washington Post
By John Wagner, Lenny Bernstein and Scott Higham
President Trump announced Tuesday that Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), his nominee for drug czar, was withdrawing in the wake of an investigative report detailing how he helped pass legislation weakening the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continue to rise.
With Marino’s withdrawal — announced by the president in a morning tweet — the administration’s scrutiny of the law intensified. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said he was “very concerned about it” and planned to review whether the DEA needs “more tools” to carry out its mission.
But it was unclear how aggressively Congress will reassess a bill that was passed last year with no opposition. A spokesman for Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the panel was exploring “the idea of holding an oversight hearing” to learn what had changed since President Barack Obama signed the bill.
Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, sought to increase pressure for action and cheered Marino’s exit. They argued that his nomination demonstrated a lack of commitment from Trump to addressing the opioid crisis that has gripped the nation.
A Washington Post/“60 Minutes” investigation published Sunday explained how a targeted lobbying effort helped bolster legislation, known as the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, that made it harder for the DEA to act against giant drug distributors, some of which were fined for repeatedly ignoring warnings from the agency to shut down suspicious sales of hundreds of millions of pills.
The law makes it virtually impossible for the DEA to freeze such questionable shipments from the companies, according to internal agency and Justice Department documents and an independent assessment by the agency’s chief administrative law judge in a soon-to-be-published law review article. That powerful tool had allowed the DEA to immediately prevent narcotic painkillers from spilling into the black market.
“As a former prosecutor who has dedicated my life to aggressive and faithful enforcement of our laws, I have reached the difficult decision that the best course of action is to remove the distraction my nomination has created to the utterly vital mission of this premier agency,” Marino said in a statement Tuesday.
But he defended his legislation, saying it was “a balanced solution for ensuring those who genuinely needed access to certain medications were able to do.”
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), an original co-sponsor of the bill, called Tuesday for an investigation into whether the law is harming enforcement and for hearings to examine whether she was misled about its impact.
Chu, one of only a few Democrats to put her name on the bill, said then-acting DEA administrator Chuck Rosenberg — who has declined repeated interview requests — told her in a meeting last year after the measure became law that it “did not interfere with the DEA’s ability to successfully stop bad actors.”
A letter sent by Chu on Tuesday to two House committee chairmen is the first account of Rosenberg’s position on the law.
Chu said in her letter that she had thought the law “would help independent and community pharmacists, most of whom are small business owners who provide vital services for their communities.”
In another development Tuesday, the nation’s largest drug manufacturing lobby broke ranks with the distributors and urged the law’s repeal.
“We need to ensure the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has sufficient controls and authorities in place to prevent illicit diversion of controlled substances,” Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement.
He also said Congress should consider whether existing criminal and civil penalties are sufficient to ensure reporting of suspicious orders of controlled substances in a timely fashion.
Trump declined Monday to express support for Marino, nominated in September to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, when asked about him during a news conference.
On Tuesday, the president took to Twitter to inform the nation of Marino’s withdrawal, while adding: “Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!”
Trump has pledged to declare a national emergency next week to address the opioid crisis — a move he first promised in August, when he said the epidemic exceeded anything he had seen involving drugs in his lifetime.
Marino, 65, represents Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, a solid-red, mostly rural area that voted overwhelmingly for Trump last year.
In his statement, Marino said he looks forward “to remaining in service to the people of Pennsylvania’s Tenth Congressional District and continuing my long record of championing solutions to better equip law enforcement to combat drugs.”
Marino’s staff called the Capitol Police when The Post and “60 Minutes” tried to interview the congressman at his office last month. In the past, Marino has said the DEA was too aggressive and needed to work more collaboratively with drug companies.
After reports of Marino’s withdrawal Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Trump’s announcement “the right decision” but said the nomination “is further evidence that when it comes to the opioid crisis, the Trump administration talks the talk, but refuses to walk the walk.”
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), whose state has been hard hit by the opioid epidemic, and who was among the first to call for Marino’s nomination to be withdrawn, said he welcomed the news.
“We need a drug czar who has seen these devastating effects and who is passionate about ending this opioid epidemic,” Manchin said in a statement. “I look forward to working with President Trump to find a drug czar that will serve West Virginians and our entire country.”
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who plans to introduce a measure that would repeal the law weakening the DEA’s authority, said Tuesday that she is trying to find a larger piece of legislation that could serve as a vehicle for the repeal effort.
“There certainly will be a vehicle by the end of the year,” McCaskill said. “We’re going to have several must-pass things at the end of the year, if we can’t do it before.”
A senior aide to Schumer said that Democratic leaders were “still determining the best possible path” for a repeal effort.
Several Republicans who worked on the legislation have pushed back against critics of the law, arguing that it was vetted with the proper agencies and there was plenty of time for any objections to be heard.
“The Obama administration’s Justice Department and the DEA both were consulted on and approved of the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act before it was unanimously approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama,” the Grassley spokesman said.
He added, “The committee is exploring the idea of holding an oversight hearing to determine whether the agencies’ positions have changed and whether changes are needed to the law.”
Marino spent years trying to move such legislation through Congress.
The Post and “60 Minutes” reported Sunday that DEA and Justice Department representatives signed off on the final wording of the bill that became law after lengthy negotiations with the staff of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) — a point Hatch made in a speech on the Senate floor Monday.
But the DEA officials said the agency was forced to accept a compromise it did not want to avoid language that would have crippled enforcement even more. Emails cited in the report supported that position.
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Tom Marino, Drug Czar Nominee, Withdraws in Latest Setback for Trump’s Opioid Fight
Oct 17, 2017 | The New York Times
By Peter Baker
President Trump’s nominee for drug czar withdrew on Tuesday in the wake of reports that as a congressman he did the bidding of the pharmaceutical industry, leaving the White House without a leader for its fight against opioid abuse just days before the president was planning to roll out a new strategy.
Representative Tom Marino, a Republican from Pennsylvania who had been tapped to lead the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, pulled out after news stories about his efforts to pass an industry-supported law aimed at undercutting enforcement efforts at the same time opioid abuse has mushroomed into a national epidemic.
The collapse of Mr. Marino’s nomination highlighted the Trump administration’s troubles formulating a response to a crisis that the president has called unlike any in the nation’s history. Nine months after taking office vowing to make the opioid epidemic one of his top priorities, Mr. Trump has yet to unveil his promised campaign.
Mr. Marino’s withdrawal also threw a spotlight on the multibillion-dollar drug industry’s influence in Washington and President Barack Obama’s own response to opioid abuse.
“As a former prosecutor who has dedicated my life to aggressive and faithful enforcement of our laws, I have reached the difficult decision that the best course of action is to remove the distraction my nomination has created to the utterly vital mission of this premier agency,” Mr. Marino said in a statement.Continue reading the main storyRELATED COVERAGETrump Plans to Declare Opioid Epidemic a National Emergency AUG. 10, 2017A Month Has Passed Since Trump Declared an Opioid Emergency. What Next?SEPT. 10, 2017Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic: A Look at America’s Opioid Crisis JAN. 6, 2017
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Mr. Trump said he spoke with Mr. Marino and praised him as “a fine man” who “feels very strongly about the opioid problem.” Speaking on Fox News Radio, the president said, “If there’s even a perception that he has a conflict of interest, he doesn’t want anything to do with it.”
Mr. Trump has said he will formally declare the opioid crisis a national emergency next week in an effort to draw more attention to the problem and free up resources to fight it. He has not disclosed other elements of his plan. And critics said that Mr. Trump would have made the problem worse had Congress passed his proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, under which lower-income Americans get treatment.
“The fact that he was nominated in the first place is further evidence that when it comes to the opioid crisis, the Trump administration talks the talk, but refuses to walk the walk,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor after Mr. Marino’s withdrawal. “The bottom line is, this congressman supported President Trump, but is the wrong person for the job.”
But the congressman’s fall also presented tough questions for Democrats, who supported without dissent the same industry-friendly legislation that Mr. Marino championed. The bill passed both houses of Congress last year with unanimous consent and then was signed into law by Mr. Obama.
“Lest we forget, President Obama signed the bill into law on the advice of his own D.E.A. administrator,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah who pushed the legislation with Mr. Marino.
The legislation and Mr. Marino’s role were featured in a joint investigation by CBS News’s “60 Minutes” and The Washington Post on drug industry influence in Washington. The law changed the standard required before the Drug Enforcement Administration could freeze suspicious sales of painkillers to cut the flow of opioids into the black market.
Instead of requiring a finding that shipments posed an “imminent danger” to the community, the D.E.A. now has to conclude that they represent “a substantial likelihood of an immediate threat,” according to the Post.
The drug and medical industries complained that D.E.A. enforcement efforts were curbing the availability of legal painkillers for patients who legitimately need them. In his statement on Tuesday, Mr. Marino called the legislation “a balanced solution for ensuring those who genuinely needed access to certain medications were able to do while also empowering” law enforcement efforts.
The D.E.A. and the Justice Department accepted the change after beating back what they considered more problematic versions. Law enforcement officials were worried about a proposal to require the D.E.A. to find evidence of intent before it could freeze suspicious shipments, a provision that would have made it much harder to take action. That was kept out of the final version.
Once the D.E.A. and the Justice Department signaled they could live with the legislation, lawmakers from both parties went along. When it was sent to Mr. Obama, the White House drug policy office conferred with the Justice Department and D.E.A. “They indicated that they did not see this bill as substantially diminishing any legal authority to pursue investigations,” said Michael Botticelli, the drug czar at the time. “As a result, we deferred to D.E.A. as is common practice.”
Mr. Obama’s office referred questions to Mr. Botticelli on Tuesday, but there was a division among former officials of the last administration. Some argued the change was not especially meaningful and that they were not aware of any instances when it prevented the D.E.A. from taking action that it would have taken before the law.
But a draft article by the D.E.A. chief administrative law judge concluded otherwise and some Obama administration veterans expressed chagrin that the legislation had not been flagged. In hindsight, they said the D.E.A.’s acceptance of the legislation underscored concerns that the agency was not aggressive enough in tackling the spread of opioids.
Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said she was introducing legislation to overturn the law. Mr. Trump did not say whether he would support such a move.
The law was a priority of the drug industry, which spent more than $100 million lobbying Congress between 2014 and 2016, according to The Post. Mr. Marino received $100,000 in campaign contributions from political action committees affiliated with the industry. But the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in a statement that it “did not support or lobby in favor” of the bill and later on Tuesday evening called for it to be repealed.
Fueling the dispute was a personality clash involving Mr. Marino and a former top D.E.A. official, Joseph T. Rannazzisi. Known as a hard charger who pushed for tougher enforcement against drug distributors, Mr. Rannazzisi was admired by some for his zeal but criticized by others for being unwilling even to meet with drug companies before taking enforcement action.
During consideration of an earlier version of the legislation, Mr. Rannazzisi told congressional aides that lawmakers who supported it would have “blood on their hands,” according to former officials briefed on the conversation. Mr. Marino heard about that and grew furious. During a hearing, he complained that Mr. Rannazzisi had accused bill sponsors of “supporting criminals,” adding, “This offends me immensely.”
Mr. Rannazzisi, who left the agency in 2015 and could not be reached on Tuesday, denied to The Post that he said that. “I said that this bill is going to protect defendants that we have under investigation,” he told The Post. “And if they don’t like the truth, well, I don’t know what to tell ‘em.”
The former officials said the episode spurred Mr. Marino’s efforts to pass at least some version of the bill. In his statement on Tuesday, Mr. Marino lashed out at Mr. Rannazzisi. “Specifically, I cannot allow false allegations made by a former D.E.A. employee, who resigned from the agency,” Mr. Marino said, suggesting that “his assertions may be motivated by financial self interest.”
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Dems call for action following report on drug lobby's influence on opioid distribution
Oct 17, 2017 | CNN
By Maegan Vazquez
Several Hill Democrats are calling for action in the wake of a bombshell report that found the pharmaceutical industry successfully lobbied Congress to make it easier to distribute opioids across American communities and thwart the Drug Enforcement Administration's efforts to halt the addiction crisis.
Drug companies -- including Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, CVS Health, and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores -- lobbied for a new bill that made it "virtually impossible for the DEA to freeze suspicious narcotics shipments" from drug distributors, according to an upcoming law review article cited in the report by CBS's "60 Minutes" and The Washington Post.
In a statement issued on Monday, PhRMA, which represents biopharmaceutical research companies, said it had not been contacted by the news organizations regarding the story.
"With regards to the recent Washington Post & 60 Minutes stories, we want to be clear that PhRMA did not support or lobby in favor of the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act and reports that PhRMA spent $40 million lobbying this bill are unequivocally false," a statement read. "Had we been contacted by these news outlets in advance of their stories running, we would have explained our longstanding support for enhanced law enforcement efforts to fight the opioid epidemic."
A DEA whistleblower told "60 Minutes" the US government slowed down enforcement against large pharmaceutical companies just as the opioid epidemic was taking hold. He said the companies turned a blind eye as the pills flooded US communities while lawmakers passed a law to help the industry at the same time.
The sponsor of the bill was Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pennsylvania, the man President Donald Trump has named to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The bill was signed into law by then-President Barack Obama in April 2016.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who serves a state heavily impacted by the opioid epidemic, called for the White House to remove Marino from consideration for the position Monday morning.
"His advocacy for this legislation demonstrates that Congressman Marino either does not fully understand the scope and devastation of this epidemic or ties to industry overrode those concerns," Manchin said in a statement. "Either option leaves him unfit to serve as the head of the ONDCP."
After the report was published on Sunday, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, called for the 2016 bill to be repealed.
"Media reports indicate that this law has significantly affected the government's ability to crack down on opioid distributors that are failing to meet their obligations and endangering our communities," McCaskill said in a statement released by her office. "I'll be introducing legislation that repeals this law and continue my work investigating the role pharmaceutical distributors played in fueling this public health crisis."
Both Manchin and McCaskill, however, were among the senators who allowed the bill to pass by unanimous consent in the Senate without even a vote. McCaskill's office initially told CNN later Monday that the senator had taken a leave of absence at the time to undergo breast cancer treatment, though it later clarified that the Missouri Democrat had returned to Congress at the time of the vote.
At a Rose Garden news conference on Monday, Trump said he was going to look into the report and spoke warmly of Marino.
"He was a very early supporter of mine, the great state of Pennsylvania," Trump said. "He is a great guy. I did see the report. We are going to look into the report. We are going to take it very seriously."
Trump added that he will speak to Marino and "if I think it is 1% negative to doing what we want to do, I will make a change."
A spokesman for Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said Marino's questionnaire has not been received yet and, therefore, a confirmation hearing hasn't been scheduled.
The bill Marino pushed called the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, gained supporters from the left and right. Some of the bill's sponsors -- including Marino, Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, and Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn -- all work for constituencies heavily affected by the opioid epidemic, the report said. The investigation said each raised at least six figures in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry: Marino got nearly $100,000, Blackburn got $120,000, and Hatch got $177,000.
CNN has not verified the details of the investigation, which was based on interviews with former DEA agents and lawyers suing the opioid industry, Federal Election Committee filings, a review of a yet-to-be-published Marquette Law Review article, and Department of Justice documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. "60 Minutes" and The Washington Post are suing for more documents, some of which have been pending for 18 months.
Asked by CNN to comment on the article, the DEA said it was working on "preventing reckless doctors and rogue businesses from making an already troubling problem worse. Increasingly, more and more individuals are facing criminal charges. During the same timeframe, our investigators initiated more than 10,000 cases and averaged more than 2,000 arrests per year. We will continue fighting the opioid crisis and continue to use all the tools at our disposal to combat this epidemic."
In a statement to CNN, Matt Whitlock, a spokesperson for Hatch, said that while the investigation "seeks to establish a narrative that, while perhaps fitting for a Netflix original series, simply does not reflect the actual events surrounding the drafting, negotiation, and passage" of the law. Whitlock argued that DEA and DOJ "allowed the bill to pass by unanimous consent," suggesting that the organizations agreed with the legislation. However, as the Post reported, then-Attorney General Eric Holder publicly opposed the bill.
CNN has reached out to the offices of Marino and Blackburn for comment.
Aside from campaign contributions, the Post report suggests that Marino's staff reaped benefits of a cozy relationship with the drug industry, too. Seven months after the bill's passage, his chief of staff left Capitol Hill to work for National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
Opioid Crisis Fast Facts
The law, which was supposed to further define "imminent danger," raised the bar for evidence on the suspension orders on drug shipments.
Former DEA lawyer Jonathan Novak said the result of the bill was fewer busts, and more DEA staff "auditioning" for the pharmaceutical industry as opioid deaths and overdoses continued to climb.
"There's no denying the numbers. At the height of the opioid epidemic, inexplicably, [suspensions] slowed down. ... Some of the best and brightest, DEA attorneys, are on the other side and know all the weak points," he told "60 Minutes." "Their fingerprints are all on the memos, and the policy and emails going out where you see this concoction of what they might argue in the future."
Trump to nominate Rep. Tom Marino as 'drug czar'
According to internal emails obtained by "60 Minutes" and the Post under the Freedom of Information Act, Justice ,Department officials said the bill was written by Liden Barber, a former DEA associate chief counsel who left to work for the drug industry in 2011. Barber declined requests to be interviewed for the article.
The whistleblower, former DEA agent Joe Rannazzisi, said he was forced out of the agency in 2015 after being outspoken about the threat of the pharmaceutical industry during his tenure heading the office of diversion control. Marino and Blackburn demanded an investigation into Rannazzisi after he allegedly said the bill's sponsors were aiding criminals, a claim Rannazzisi denied in the report.
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Pennsylvania county files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Oct 17, 2017 | Jurist
By Staff
Pennsylvania's Beaver County [official website] filed a lawsuit [text, PDF] on Monday against opioid manufacturers.
The lawsuit, filed in the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas [official website], accuses manufacturers and doctors of deceptive acts, fraud, unjust enrichment, negligence, misrepresentation and public nuisance, seeking in return compensatory damages, punitive damages and the county's legal costs.
The complaint describes the state of the opioid epidemic in Beaver County, noting it spends millions annually in response to the opioid crisis, including expenses for emergency responses, police overtime, and increased incarceration and treatment. The first 10 pages of the 83-page complaint set forth support for the county's claim, citing to national and county-wide opioid-related statistics. According to the complaint, deaths associated with opioid use have tripled in Beaver County from 1999 to 2015, causing it to incur the highest rate of fatal overdoses in Pennsylvania in 2017 at 59.9 per 100,000 people.
The majority of the text concentrates on manufacturers' alleged strategy and tactics which caused and continue to cause addiction, illness, and death to users. As described in other similar lawsuits, these plaintiffs accuse manufacturers of promoting the sale and use of opioids through third-parties, many of whom are doctors:
Recognizing that doctors are gatekeepers for controlling access to prescription drugs, not surprisingly, manufacturers focused the bulk of their marketing efforts ... on the professional medical community. As a controlled substance with significant regulatory barriers limiting access, Defendants knew doctors would not prescribe opioids to patients with common chronic pain complaints unless doctors were convinced that opioids had real benefits and minimal risks. Accordingly, Defendants concealed from prescribers, patients, and the public that evidence in support of their promotional claims was inconclusive, non-existent and unavailable. Instead, each Defendant disseminated misleading and unsupported messages that caused the target audience to believe those messages were corroborated by scientific evidence. As a result, Beaver County doctors began prescribing opioids long-term to treat chronic pain—a treatment choice that most if not all never would have considered prioir to Defendants' campaign.
Named defendants in the lawsuit include four allied physicians, and manufacturers and some subsidiaries of Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, Allergan, Actavis, Watson Pharmaceuticals, McKesson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen.
Beaver County is the third county in the state and first in Western Pennsylvania to sue major manufacturers for effects of the opioid epidemic. The two other lawsuits were filed in counties of Lackawanna and Delaware. Pittsburgh attorney Robert Pierce of Robert Peirce & Associates is representing the county, along with New York firm Marc J. Bern and Partners.
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Taking on opioids: Beaver County is right to fight pharma firms (OPINION)
Oct 18, 2017 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
By Editorial Board
Beaver County has joined the ranks of cities, counties and states that have sued pharmaceutical companies, alleging they distributed highly addictive opioids like candies from a PEZ dispenser. The county has limited financial resources, so this is a big step. And a worthy one. The people there have a right to learn the origin of the opioid epidemic and bring those responsible to account.
The suit alleges that 23 defendants — drug companies, their affiliates and a handful of physicians — flooded the county with drugs even though they realized the tinder of addiction. The county’s attorney, Robert Peirce, is speaking to neighboring counties about filing their own suits. Bringing more parties on board would be an excellent step, partly because the sharing of costs and pooling of research efforts could help local governments mount a more vigorous case against Big Pharma’s deep pockets.
At least one defendant, Purdue Pharma, quickly denied culpability, and establishing wrongdoing or goading drugmakers into a settlement may be a formidable challenge. The point is, it’s worth trying. There is a growing public consensus that the drug industry shares some blame for what President Donald Trump intends to declare a national crisis.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, a Republican from Lycoming County, withdrew his name from consideration as the nation’s drug czar after The Washington Post and CBS’ “60 Minutes” program reported that he backed a law making it easier for drug companies to overrun communities with opioids. With federal officials providing help like that, the industry-fighting efforts of local governments take on added significance. “They can buy the feds, maybe, but they can’t buy the local communities,” Mr. Peirce said.
Two other Pennsylvania counties, Lackawanna and Delaware, already have filed suits similar to Beaver’s. Cities and counties in other states have filed them as well. Some states, including Ohio, also have gone to court. In addition, Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Josh Shapiro, is part of a 40-state investigation into the marketing and sale of opioids.
This may be the tobacco case of our time. Various states filed suits against tobacco companies in the 1990s to recover costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses. That litigation continues to pay dividends, financially and in other ways.
All 50 states settled, with 46, including Pennsylvania, parties to a master agreement requiring tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars annually in perpetuity. The settlement also places restrictions on tobacco advertising, prevents manufacturers from hiding information about tobacco’s impact on public health and funds prevention activities.
Through April, Pennsylvania had received $6.5 billion from the settlement, according to Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Monroeville, minority chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. The source of funds is so reliable that the state Senate, confronted with tough budget choices this year, voted to borrow money against future tobacco settlement funds.
There is no compensation possible for the lives lost to opioid addiction, 102 of them in Beaver County alone last year. However, the county and other local governments deserve some recompense for money they have spent on law enforcement, treatment programs and other epidemic-related costs. More important, as the tobacco settlement showed, government can use litigation to change an industry’s behavior forever.
The old drug crisis involved narcotics smuggled into the country and sold on street corners under cover of darkess. The opioid crisis is arguably a greater threat, and these drugs were manufactured and distributed by established companies, prescribed by licensed medical professionals and released by pharmacies. If wrongdoing is established, industry reform would be the best result of Beaver County’s suit.
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Washington, Greene counties could pursue lawsuits over opioid epidemic
Oct 17, 2017 | Observer Reporter (PA)
By Gideon Bradshaw
Officials in Washington and Greene counties are considering whether to follow nearby Beaver County in filing suit against pharmaceutical companies that allegedly had a hand in creating the opioid abuse epidemic ravaging Southwestern Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit filed in Beaver County Court asserts “public health and safety throughout the United States, including Beaver County, has been significantly and negatively impacted due to the misrepresentations and omissions by defendants regarding the appropriate uses and risks of opioids, ultimately leading to widespread inappropriate use of the drug.”
Attorney Robert Peirce Jr., who filed the 83-page civil complaint, said he’s spoken with officials from other counties, including Greene and Washington, about possibly taking similar steps.
“My guess is that most, if not all, of the Western Pennsylvania counties will be filing suit very soon,” Peirce said Tuesday.
Peirce’s firm contacted Greene County Commission Chairman Blair Zimmerman two weeks ago, and they’ve spoken again since. Zimmerman said he and other commissioners plan to meet with Peirce in the next week or two to decide whether to join the lawsuit.
“Everyone agreed that we were open to what they were saying,” Zimmerman said.
Greene County has experienced a sharp increase in the number of drug overdose deaths, which have nearly doubled over the past three years.
“I think it’s becoming a statewide and even national issue to go (after) these pharmaceutical companies for pushing these opioids onto the market,” Zimmerman said. “Doctors were getting kickbacks if they pushed, pushed, pushed.”
On the eastern side of the state, Lackawanna and Delaware counties filed similar lawsuits last month.
Beaver County’s lawsuit alleges deceptive actions or practices; fraud; unjust enrichment; negligence; negligent misrepresentation; and public nuisance, and it seeks compensatory and other damages, as well as legal fees and other costs.
One report mentioned in the lawsuit found Pennsylvania spent $874 million on “health care costs alone relating to opioid abuse,” in 2012, “with all metrics pointing to that number increasing since then.” Fatal drug overdoses in Beaver reportedly tripled from 1999 to 2015.
It also points to statistics purportedly showing a “campaign of deception” by the defendants that promoted “opioids over safer and more effective drugs” and includes statistics allegedly showing “opioid prescriptions increased even as the percentage of patients visiting a doctor for pain remained constant.”
Beaver County’s lawsuit names 23 defendants, including Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, Allergan, Actavis, McKesson, Cardinal Health, AmeriSourceBergen and four out-of-state doctors who were allegedly “instrumental in promoting opioids for sale and distribution nationally and in Beaver County.”
An emailed statement from Purdue Pharma read, in part, that the company is “deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution.”
“We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense,” the company said.
In Washington County, drug-related overdose deaths numbered 106 last year – 45 percent more than just one year earlier – according to the Philadelphia division of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
Washington County Solicitor J. Lynn DeHaven said a representative from Peirce’s firm contacted Scott Fergus, director of county administration, within the last few weeks.
“I know commissioners have considered it,” he said. He added that “no decision has been made.”
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Marion County joins opioid lawsuit
Oct 17, 2017 | Longview News Journal (TX)
By Staff
Marion County has joined litigation against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid painkiller crisis.
The Marion County Commissioners Court unanimously approved retaining the Dallas law firm of Simon, Greenstone, Panatier & Bartlett for the lawsuit that will be filed in Marshall's federal court.
Upshur and Rusk counties also are represented by the law firm in similar litigation.
The lawsuits accuse drugmakers of inflating the drugs' benefits in treating chronic pain and downplaying the addiction risks.
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Eau Claire Co. to be part of lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Oct 17, 2017 | WEAU 13 News (WI)
By Danielle Wagner
The Eau Claire County Board agrees to be part of a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids.
It's part of an initiative by the Wisconsin Counties Association.
The initiative recommends counties to retain law firms while pursuing legal action against opioid manufacturers.
If allegations can be proven related to misrepresenting the risk of prescription opioids and fueling addictions, damages could be awarded.
The counties would be responsible for providing information for the basis of the lawsuit.
"There are a number of counties that have already approved participating, and I think most other counties are considering it," said Corporation Council for Eau Claire County Keith Zehms.
According to Zehms, there's no direct cost to the counties. If any damages are awarded, the law firms will then get 25 percent.
The hope is to file something before the end of this year.
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Marathon Co. Joins Opioid Lawsuit
Oct 17, 2017 | WSAU (WI)
By Staff
The Marathon County Board voted to join other Wisconsin counties in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies to try and recover money lost by the county because of the opioid epidemic.
Supervisor Jim Schaefer says he believes people need to be able to show self control and argued maybe the county should go after more industries.
He said, "If we're going to go out and sue some big pharmacy company, maybe we ought to go after the local doctors and physicians who prescribed that stuff. Maybe we ought to go after all the bartenders and the alcohol industry and the soda industry and the sugar industry and the salt industry for hypertension."
Supervisor Sara Guild worked as a certified pharmacy technician before serving on the county board. She argued that not the doctors, but the pharmaceutical companies themselves, are the ones to blame for this issue.
"(Doctors) are taught the basics and then they're taught to defer to the information to get educated by the pharmaceutical companies about the (medication) before the prescribe them. If they only information they were presented with is that this is good (and) this will help, then these creatures of fact are going to follow that. And that is what happened," said Guild.
The board would approve the resolution by a 28-5 vote.
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County hires law firms to sue drug companies over opioid epidemic
Oct 18, 2017 | Go Erie (PA)
By Matthew Rink
County Council voted 6-0 on a resolution to hire three law firms to investigate, litigate or negotiate for settlement claims “related to the marketing, prescribing, distribution or sale of opioids” against drugmakers and distributors.
Erie County government took another step Tuesday to hold accountable pharmaceutical companies and drug dispensers that officials say are culpable for the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Council voted 6-0 on a resolution to hire Motley Rice LLC, Nealon & Associates, P.C. and Raffaelli & Prazak Attorneys at Law to investigate, litigate or negotiate for settlement claims “related to the marketing, prescribing, distribution or sale of opioids” against drugmakers and distributors. Councilman Edward DiMattio Jr. was absent Tuesday.
The county is only obligated to pay the firms if a lawsuit results in a monetary award. They would share 25 percent of any damages.
County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper made a plea to council to pass the resolution.
“It’s known that those drugs are extremely addictive and yet for many, many years they (manufacturers and distributors) went out and sold them as non-addictive drugs that people could take any amount of these drugs for pain and not become addicted,” she said. “Of course we know that is not true.”
County “bears the results of that,” she said, in the cost for prevention and treatment programs, and the cost to the criminal justice system.
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Saratoga County to sue drug companies over opioids
Oct 17, 2017 | The Daily Gazette (NY)
By Kassie Parisi
In an effort to curb the opioid crisis in local municipalities, the county will pursue a lawsuit "against companies and potentially physicians responsible for careless practices related to the manufacturing, distribution and prescriptions of opioid pharmaceuticals."
The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors has authorized plans to pursue a lawsuit that will be filed in state Supreme Court in Suffolk County. Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a firm headquartered in New York City that deals with pharmaceutical litigation, among other areas, will represent the county.
The firm has been retained by other municipalities across the country, including Nassau County and Dayton, Ohio, to deal with similar cases.
Saratoga is not the first county to turn to legal action as a means to keep addictive prescription drugs off the streets. In June, Schenectady County filed a state Supreme Court lawsuit against more than a dozen major pharmacy companies, alleging much of today's epidemic can be blamed on drug companies' policies pushing the sale of prescription painkillers. It was estimated that the crisis costs Schenectady County millions of dollars each year.
The goal of the lawsuits is to recover the massive sums of money that are spent by counties to deal with the opioid crisis, costs which include proper training for police departments and recovery services provided by county health groups.
Spencer Hellwig, Saratoga County administrator, described opioid addiction as a “public health issue” that has become so large and affected so many county departments that the Board of Supervisors decided to take action.
The process started, he said, with discussions among the board and first responders, law enforcement officials, mental health officials and other departments to gauge exactly how much is spent dealing with the opioid epidemic locally, and what can be done to get that money back.
“This is a step in that direction,” Hellwig said.
Hellwig said that while the county does have a sense of exactly how much goes toward dealing with the opioid crisis in different departments, exact numbers will be included in the lawsuit. The lawsuit will present no cost to taxpayers. Lawyers will only be paid if they win a settlement.
“It’s substantial enough that we’re taking this action,” Hellwig said. The county will be conducting in-depth audits of different departments, he said, to determine those exact dollar amounts.
“Like most areas of the state, opioid abuse has become an epidemic in Saratoga County,” said Ed Kinowski, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, in a news release. “The ease of access, and over-prescription of these dangerous drugs, has led to the death of too many of our friends and neighbors. The misrepresentation of the nature of these drugs has led to an alarming rise in addiction and overdoses.”
The lawsuit will target not only drug manufacturers, but potentially doctors who over-prescribe drugs such as morphine, hydrocodone and oxycodone to deal with pain. Hellwig claimed that drug companies often use reckless, aggressive and deceptive marketing campaigns to push the narcotics.
Many doctors, he added, prescribe the medication to patients with not enough emphasis on the drugs’ addictive nature, or a failure altogether to give patients information about possible side effects.
Saratoga Springs Police Chief Gregory Veitch said that he could not comment on the lawsuit since the decision was made by the county, and the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office did not return a request for comment.
The opioid crisis spans across the nation. Drug overdose deaths in 2016 most likely exceeded 59,000, according to The New York Times, and drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans younger than 50. Many states, including West Virginia and California, have pursued similar lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. President Donald Trump has pledged to tackle the epidemic, and said that he is considering declaring the crisis a national emergency next week.
Smaller efforts are being made to curb opioid addiction too. On Oct. 26, the towns of Halfmoon, Clifton Park, Stillwater, Ballston, Malta and Waterford will host a joint educational forum on understanding heroin and opioid use at Shenendehowa High School at 6 p.m.
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Bowie County joins opioid lawsuit
Oct 17, 2017 | KTBS News 3
By Staff
Bowie County is joining the fight against opioid abuse.
Officials recently authorizing legal action.
Last month, the civil lawsuit was filed in a Texarkana Federal court.
Bowie County is joining a growing list of counties, cities, and states suing manufacturers that make, distribute and mislead the public about the safety of taking opioid-based painkillers.
Bowie County Judge James Carlow believes it's a growing problem in their mental health and inmate population.
The county's budget for indigent care is more than $1 million.
Carlow says he's concerned for the welfare of those caught up in the opioid abuse.
"I'm also concerned about the taxpayers who are having to fund it all. That's our reason for getting involved in this lawsuit is trying to bring awareness to the problem and trying to get someone who helped cause the problem to help pay for fixing it," said Carlow.
The Texas Attorney General's office recently joined a coalition of 40 other states in serving a subpoena and additional requests on eight companies that manufacture or distribute highly addictive painkillers.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, opioids were involved in more than 33,000 deaths in 2015, including nearly 2,600 in Texas.
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Oneida County weighs joining lawsuit against drug companies
Oct 18, 2017 | Rome Sentinel (NY)
By Dan Guzewich
Oneida County is weighing whether to sue to recover costs incurred as a result of the surge in the prescribing of narcotic painkillers.
More and more counties and other local governments across the country are filing litigation against drug companies, like the maker of OxyContin, to demand repayment for taxpayer costs the opioid epidemic has caused.
“In the coming weeks the county will pursue litigation to recover costs incurred as a result of the opioid epidemic from those who are responsible for the proliferation of prescription opioids in our communities,” said Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. in his Oct. 4 budget address. As of last week, he said it was still premature to comment beyond what he said in his speech.
If filed, the intent would be to, it is hoped, to recoup some of the money absorbed by the county’s criminal justice and social services departments for everything from the addicts and suppliers who are arrested or hospitalized to those who die.
County Attorney Peter M. Rayhill said requests for proposals have been sent to law offices.
The county is seeking legal services to:
-- Determine the costs the county has incurred as a result of the prescription of opioids; and
-- Investigate and, if appropriate, commence and prosecute litigation against manufacturers and distributors of prescription opiates for damages to the county from the marketing and distribution of opiates.
Reponses are due Oct. 25 at the law department.
Law firms are taking on cities, counties and states around the U.S. as clients in a legal strategy modeled on successful litigation states brought against tobacco makers in the 1990s. The foundation of the painkiller lawsuits is the premise is that the pharmaceutical companies and several key doctors who promoted opioid use and concealed the risk of addiction should be held responsible for the drugs’ monetary toll.
Typically counties pay nothing to participate in the litigation. The law firm would keep a percentage of the drug makers’ future settlement payment and recover its expenses through that payout if and when it reaches that stage.
Governments are seeking reimbursement for what they have spent on drug rehabilitation, hospital treatment, overdose autopsies and other public costs of opioid addiction.
“We continue to see the devastating effects of opioid abuse in our community,” said Picente as he laid out his budget proposal to the Board of Legislators. “Ninety-one Americans die per day from opioid abuse. Roughly 21 to 29 percent of prescribed opioids for chronic pain are misused. About 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.”
The goal of the lawsuits is to force drug makers into a massive settlement similar to one that 46 states reached with the four largest tobacco manufacturers in 1998 to compensate them for medical costs incurred as a result of illness resulting from use of tobacco products. As a result, Oneida County received millions of dollars.
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County Board Considers Lawsuit Against Opioid Drug Makers
Oct 18, 2017 | Urban Milwaukee
By Theodore Lipscomb, Sr.
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider a proposal that would empower the county’s lawyers to select outside legal counsel and prepare for possible lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers whose practices contribute to the ongoing opioid epidemic within Milwaukee County.
“In addition to the tragic loss of life that is increasing at an alarming rate, the opioid epidemic has also left Milwaukee County with potentially millions of dollars in unexpected costs,” said Peggy A. West, Chair of the Finance Committee.
“I’m working closely with our top attorneys to ensure that Milwaukee County takes appropriate legal action, if it is warranted, to recover some of the costs we have incurred while combating the opioid epidemic,” said County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr.
The proposal, from Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun, requests approval from the County Board to allow the county’s in-house lawyers to select outside counsel and determine whether to sue any pharmaceutical company, distributor, or manufacturer, if their practices are believed to contribute to the opioid epidemic in Milwaukee County.
The resolution specifies that outside counsel would only be compensated if Milwaukee County receives a financial benefit as a result of any claims made against a company.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner is predicting more than 325 opioid related deaths in 2017. More than 31,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Several other counties and local governments around the country have already filed lawsuits in an attempt to force individuals and businesses responsible for the costs of the opioid epidemic to take on the associated financial responsibilities.
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US Prosecutors Announce First-ever Indictments Against Chinese Opioid Manufacturers
Oct 18, 2017 | New Delhi Times
By Staff
U.S. law enforcement officials announced Tuesday the indictments of two Chinese nationals and their North American associates charged with manufacturing and distributing fentanyl and other opioids in the United States, highlighting China’s role as a global supplier of illicit opiate substances.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the charges against Xiaobing Yan, 40, and Jian Zhang, 38, represent the first-ever indictments brought against designated Chinese manufacturers of fentanyl and other opiate substances.
The indictments come amid a brewing scandal in the United States over the role President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Drug Enforcement Agency played in passing legislation that undercut the agency’s ability to target manufacturers of opioids. Trump announced on Tuesday that the nominee, Tom Marino, a member of Congress, had withdrawn his name from consideration.
Rosenstein said he was “very concerned” by the revelation, first reported by CBS’s 60 Minutes and The Washington Post, but he said “if you look at the data, what you see is that the increase in drug overdose deaths is actually driven by the Chinese fentanyl rather than the pharmaceutical drugs.”
“The pharmaceutical drugs are a problem as well, but I think we have to keep it in perspective as well,” Rosenstein said. “We have a number of challenges that we need to deal with, all of which fall under the rubric of the opioid overdose crisis.”
The opioid overdose crisis is being fueled in large part by the growing prevalence of fentanyl imported from China and other countries. Since 2000, the epidemic has killed over half a million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, more than 64,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, including more than 20,000 who overdosed on fentanyl, preliminary CDC data show.
Fentanyl, a painkiller that is 100 times stronger than morphine, is available as a Schedule II prescription drug in the United States. While toxicology tests don’t distinguish between prescription and illegal fentanyl, drug seizure data suggest “a substantial portion of the increase in synthetic opioid deaths appears to be related to increased availability of illicit fentanyl,” according to a 2016 CDC report.
China is the main source of illicit fentanyl sold in the United States, according to a recent report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. In addition to shipping directly to U.S. customers, Chinese manufacturers, which are weakly regulated, deliver shipments of the drug to Mexico and Canada from which it is trafficked into the United States, the report said.
‘Ton quantities’
Yan and Zhang operated labs and chemical plants in China that were capable of producing “ton quantities” of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, Rosenstein said.
“Yan monitored legislation and law enforcement activities in the United States and China, modifying the chemical structure of the fentanyl analogues he produced to evade prosecution in the United States,” Rosenstein said.
Zhang allegedly ran an organization that manufactured fentanyl in at least four labs in China and advertised and sold the drug to U.S. customers over the internet.
“Zhang’s organization would send orders of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and pill presses, stamps, and dies used to shape fentanyl into pills, to customers in the United States through the mail or international parcel delivery services,” Rosenstein said.
Rosenstein would not say whether Chinese authorities have arrested the two suspects or shut down their labs and websites. However, while touting Chinese cooperation with the investigation, he said the U.S. wants China to do more to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country.
“We need them to do more because 20,000 American citizens lost their lives in 2016 and tens of thousands more were injured as a result of fentanyl manufactured in China, distributed from China to the United States,” he said.
Joseph S. Campbell, a director at Navigant Consulting in Washington, said that “there are issues with corruption [in China] that I’m sure add to the ability of individuals to develop different types of opioids.”
Taking down the two Chinese drug rings could have a ripple effect, he said.
“The more action is taken in regard to identifying and disrupting these groups, the more information is obtained,” said Campbell, a former assistant FBI director. “It helps the authorities to identify and target other groups.”
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Trump says he'll declare opioid crisis a national emergency. Here's what that could mean (OPINION)
Oct 18, 2017 | USA Today
By Gregory Korte
President Trump first promised to declare a national emergency to confront the epidemic 68 days ago. Since then, statistics show more than 6,000 Americans have died of opioid overdoses waiting for federal action.
Trump now says he'll formally declare that emergency next week, a two-month delay that he said underscores the "time-consuming work" behind his administration's response to the crisis.
"We are going to be doing that next week," Trump said at a news conference Monday, 67 days after he first promised to sign the emergency declaration. "That is a very, very big statement. It's a very important step. And to get to that step, a lot of work has to be done and it's time-consuming work."
An emergency declaration would be a powerful rhetorical tool in focusing national attention on an epidemic that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, claims 91 lives every day.
But the impact of an emergency wouldn't just be symbolic. It would give the Trump administration novel and untested powers: broad authority to waive patient privacy laws, divert funds and give immunity to medical professionals and first responders.
Without a formal proclamation, it's impossible to know which of these powers — some of which could be controversial — Trump intends to use.
Neither Trump nor the White House would explain what's holding up the proclamation, though Trump suggested that he's wading through uncharted waters. "And I want to get that absolutely right," he said Monday.
He's doing it without two key advisers: Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was fired last month for taking private jets at taxpayer expense — often traveling to opioid-related events. And Trump on Tuesday withdrew his nomination for "drug czar" after the Washington Post and 60 Minutes reported Rep. Tom Marino's role in pushing through legislation to make it difficult for the Drug Enforcement Administration to crack down on shipments of opioids from drug companies to black market dealers.
"If you want to be cynical, it’s one thing to declare we are now in a state of emergency. Well, everyone seems to already know that and understand it. So the question is, what specific logjams are removed?" said Mark Parrino, president of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence. "As this epidemic goes on and claims more lives, that question takes on even greater weight."
Under federal law, the administration has special powers to combat disease when there's a public health emergency declared by the secretary of Health and Human Services.
Those emergencies are routine. Just since August, the secretary of Health and Human Services has declared 17 different public health emergencies to deal with the effects of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate, and for the California wildfires. But none for opioids.
Presidents can put even more muscle behind those public health emergencies by declaring a state of national emergency, giving the president additional powers to waive Medicaid and Medicare regulations and patient privacy regulations.
That's what the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis recommended in July.
The chairman of that commission, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, said last week that it's "not good" Trump hasn't declared an emergency yet. “I think the problem is too big to say that if he had declared an emergency two months ago that it would make a significant difference in two months,” he said at a Trenton press conference. “But I would also say you can’t get those two months back."
The pharmaceutical industry has been publicly supportive of the commission. During the most recent meeting, drug company CEOs promoted their products and sought Food and Drug Administration and Medicaid reimbursement rates that would benefit their proposed opioid treatments and alternatives.
The commission will hold its final scheduled meeting Friday.
The White House says the administration is still working out the details of the emergency. "Right now these actions are undergoing a legal review," said White House assistant press secretary Ninio Fetalvo.
But for those on the front lines of the opioid crisis, frustration is mounting.
"I think it’s very reasonable to assume that he's just gone on to other things," said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor who has studied public health emergencies.
To be sure, a national emergency to address a crisis of addiction would be unprecedented. Only once before has a president used the National Emergencies Act to respond to a public health crisis. President Barack Obama did that in 2009 for an outbreak of the swine flu. That emergency quietly expired in 2010 when the pandemic turned out to be milder than anticipated.
An opioid emergency would raise new questions about how to adapt powers Congress designed for one purpose — infectious diseases and biological agents — to the slower-moving crisis of addiction, which has been two decades in the making.
One example: Patient privacy.
Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor who has emerged as Trump's key adviser on the issue, has been struck by stories of parents who first learned their children had been treated for overdoses only after they've died.
“We’re so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Jones. We tried to save your son. In fact, we resuscitated him three or four times over the last six or eight months, but this time he was too far gone,” Conway said, recounting what she said was an all-too-typical story.
"And sometimes the privacy laws don’t allow parents of a 19-year-old, in fact, to be notified," she said.
Experts disagree about whether that's the case, but concede there's enough confusion about the issue that many medical professionals err on the side of silence.
"It would be terrific for a declaration of national emergency to declare very clearly in this situation — where someone has overdosed — that health care professionals have every right under the law to communicate with the families," said Paul Samuels of the Legal Action Center, which advocates for the rights of drug addicts. "That would be a major contribution."
An emergency would also allow the Trump administration to tap the Public Health Emergency Fund, a special pool set up by Congress to deal with unanticipated health crises.
That fund has been all but depleted following the Ebola and Zika emergencies of 2015 and 2016. While the Department of Health and Human Services has so far refused to give a public accounting of that fund, congressional aides say they've been told it has a balance of just $30,000.
Even without new funds, an emergency declaration would allow the president to divert existing money. The federal government could tell states to redirect existing federal grant funds — and the employees paid with them — to the opioid emergency.
Even more significantly, an emergency could allow HHS to waive Medicaid regulations, which currently prohibit reimbursement for residential treatment facilities with more than 16 beds. That waiver could also free up funds for addiction treatment in other institutions like prisons.
And the Department of Health and Human Services could even pay off the student loans of health care workers who provide addiction treatment.
Beyond those specific powers, addiction treatment advocates say presidential action could also help send a powerful signal that could help de-stigmatize the disease and focus national attention where it's needed most.
"This is a bully-pulpit issue. There are many people who voted for him along the Appalachian trail, which has been particularly hard hit by this," Parrino said. "This president has a unique ability to reach out and — no matter what you say about his politics or the fights he picks with people — he has the ability to connect with a large group of the American people."
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Erie County to hire legal firm to sue drug companies over opioid epidemic
Oct 17, 2017 | Erie News Now
By Matt Knoedler
After a record number of overdose deaths in Erie County this year, county leaders are expected to now join a lawsuit against some of the most powerful companies in medicine: the makers of opiate prescription drugs.
"The companies that produced these drugs that said they were not addictive, and yet they knew that they were," said Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper.
Erie County Council Tuesday evening approved 6-0 a measure allowing Erie County Solicitor Marcia Haller the authorization to retain outside legal counsel to pursue litigation related to the "marketing, prescribing, distribution, or sale of opioids."
Erie County would become the latest to join the lawsuit that takes on at least 20 drug companies and physicians -- including powerhouses Johnson & Johnson and Cardinal Health -- alleging those manufacturers falsely stated the strength of the opioids and their long-term impacts.
"Every taxpayer in Erie County is paying for this opioid epidemic be it through OCY, the 911 calls, or the coroner's office," said Council Chairman Jay Breneman.
There were 90 overdose deaths throughout Erie County in 2016, according to a joint report from the University of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
In 2017, there were 95 overdose deaths by Aug. 22, according to the Erie County Coroner's office. Most of those deaths were linked to prescription drugs or more illicit opiates, such as heroin and fentanyl, they said.
Erie County now joins at least three other Pennsylvania counties, including Beaver in Western Pa., and several state and local governments from across the country in that lawsuit.
"It really is great for us to bind together for this litigation going forward," Dahlkemper said.
The opioid epidemic hits close to home for Breneman, who says he became addicted due to an injury he sustained while in the U.S. Army.
"I thankfully had the support to break that habit, but there are so many who don't," he said.
It's unclear when the county could file that lawsuit, who the outside counsel would be, or how much money the county would receive if victorious.
The county would not be pay legal fees unless they win, Breneman said.
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NE Texas county joins legal fray resulting from opioid epidemic
Oct 17, 2017 | SE Texas Record
By John Suayan
A Northeast Texas county has pursued legal action in response to the ongoing opioid epidemic, according to recent Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas records.
The County of Upshur filed a 58-page product liability lawsuit on Sept. 29 against 20 pharmaceutical companies, including, but not limited to, Purdue Pharma, L.P.; Johnson & Johnson; and McKesson Corp.
Asserting healthcare providers nationwide wrote more than 289 million prescriptions for opioids last year alone, the suit states the usage of opioids “too often leads to misusing and abusing opioids.”
“This epidemic did not occur by chance,” court papers explain. “The defendants manufacture, market, distribute, and sell prescription opioids, including, but not limited to, brand-name drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Opana, Percocet, Percodan, Roxicodone, Avinza, and generics like oxymorphone and hydrocodone, which are powerful narcotic painkillers. Other defendants manufacture, market, distribute, and sell prescription opioids, including, but not limited to, brand-name drugs like Fentanyl, Fentora, Duragesic, Ultram, and Ultracet.”
Per Upshur County, the opioids were sold to its pharmacies and the companies failed to address the “alarming and suspicious” rise in the ordering of the drugs. It further pinpoints a majority of multiple drug overdose deaths in 2013 to opioid ingestion.
“Upshur County has committed and continues to commit resources to provide and pay for healthcare, law enforcement, social services, public assistance, pharmaceutical care and other services necessary for its residents,” the original petition says.
Attorney Jeffrey B. Simon of the law firm Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, P.C. serves as the county’s lead counsel.
Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas Case No. 2:17-CV-0672
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Oct 18, 2017 | WICU (NBC)
By Erie, PA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30160010?token=d1d5bd0e-77d7-4ba3-a677-5cf99d89dcf7
Rough Transcript : erie county leaders say they're ready to file a lawsuit against some of the nation's leading drug companies, all over the opioid epidemic that's led to so many overdose deaths. erie news now's matt knoedler reports.x 3 after a record number of overdose deaths in erie county this year, county leaders are expected to now join a lawsuit against some of the most powerful companies in medicine: the makers of opiate prescription drugs. 3 "the companies that produced these drugs that said they and yet they knew erie county would become the latest to that takes on at least 20 drug companies and physicians -- including powerhouses johnson and johnson, and cardinal health -- alleging those manufacturers falsely stated the strength of the opioids, and their long-term impacts. "every taxpayer in erie county is paying for this opioid epidemic be it through ocy, the 911 calls, or the coroner's office." there were 90 overdose deaths throughout erie county in 20-16.3
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Oct 18, 2017 | WNAC (FOX)
By Providence, RI
Video Link: Unavailable
Rough Transcript: the opioid epidemic, also in the news this week... where do things stand here in rhode island on solving this nationwide problem? attorney general kilmartin announces multistate investigations seeking documents from opioid manufacturers and distributions kilmartin taking lead role into investigation of opioid distributors attorney general peter f. kilmartin announced that a bipartisan coalition of attorne manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids as part of multistate investigations into the nationwide opioid epidemic. this information will enable the attorneys general to evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids. there are 41 attorneys general participating in the multistate investigations. nationwide and in rhode island, opioids - prescription and illicit - are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. according to the centers for in 33,091 deaths in 2015. in rhodeoverdoses last year. "we know al addiction, and overdos cris in td results all too often in a vacuumvery aspect of the supply chainnd distributors - to determine hsolve the epidemic," said attorney manufacturers and dist this epidemic and t." today's announcement represenf the investigations by thopioid epidemic. a clear mofficers are now pooling resourc address the most pressing pcountry, neral kilmartin is on tnvestigationgroups focusing on manufacturers and distributors. rhodsubgroup focusing on opioid distri the investigation theeral is now targeting the following pharntitional plc janssen pharmaephalon inc. allergan innvestigaattorneys general focused exclusivendintiononal manufacturers, ve also served a supplemental invest general are also seion about distributionies, who together manage approxi's opioid distribution: amerisonvestigant to th dishe attorneys general gave the companies until october 18, 2017 to sing these iole and distributors may have plonging appropriate course of action to "rhode the s crisi began, which is why i believe it is importanto these investigations,t of information and scrap otions of law or culpability by the manufacturers bear to hold thesee in this dead epidemic." "assincere belief that to truly addreemic the lives of families across our state, we must emp strategy that includes crie these drugs knowing the public onand to pry services and treatment
CBS 60 Minutes Follow -on / Rep. Marino
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