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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report (11/1/17)

Ohio AG Mike DeWine Opioid Initiatives

Ohio AG Is Determined To Force Big Pharma To Pay To ‘Clean Up Their Mess’
Nov 1, 2017 | The Daily Caller
By Steve Birr

The attorney general of Ohio, who is suing drug manufacturers for igniting the opioid epidemic, vowed Monday to hold the companies financially liable for the damage done by painkillers in the state.
Ohio Attorney General outlines opioid recovery plan
Oct 31, 2017 | The Toledo Blade
By Allison Reamer

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is calling for a new, multi-pronged plan to help combat the opioid crisis in the state to be paid for by the drug companies, since he believes they contributed to the problem.
Ohio attorney general unveils plan to combat opioid epidemic
Nov 1, 2017 | The News Herald (OH)
By Staff

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has unveiled a set of 12 initiatives dubbed “Recover Ohio” designed to help combat the opioid epidemic ravaging the state.
Ohio Attorney General addresses 12-step plan against heroin epidemic in Toledo
Nov 1, 2017 | WTOL 11 (OH)
By Staff

"Every citizen in the state of Ohio should be mad."
DeWine wants drug companies to pay — literally — for Ohio’s opioid crisis
Nov 1, 2017 | Columbus Dispatch (OH)
By Randy Ludlow

Attorney General Mike DeWine is demanding that drug makers and distributors pay a not-insignificant price as restitution for what he sees as their role in enslaving and killing Ohioans with prescription opioids.

Missouri AG Josh Hawley Expands Investigation

Missouri Attorney General expands opioid investigation
Nov 1, 2017 | St. Louis Business Journal
By Angela Mueller

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has expanded his investigation of the opioid industry, demanding additional information from three major drug distributors.
Missouri Attorney General expands opioid investigation to include three distributors
Nov 1, 2017 | KTTN (MO)
By Staff

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley continues to widen his fight against the ongoing opioid crisis announcing the issuance of civil investigative demands to three major opioid distributors.
AG Hawley Expands Opioid Investigation to Include Three Distributors
Nov 1, 2017 | Lee's Summit Tribune (MO)
By Staff

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley continues to widen his fight against the ongoing opioid crisis today announcing the issuance of civil investigative demands to three major opioid distributors.
Missouri Attorney General expands opioid investigation to three more companies
Nov 1, 2017 | Columbia Missourian (MO)
By Samantha Koester

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is expanding his opioid investigation by inquiring into three more pharmaceutical companies.
AG Hawley expands opioid investigation
Nov 1, 2017 | KRBK 5 (MO)
By Joey Morgan

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley continues to widen his fight against the ongoing opioid crisis today announcing the issuance of civil investigative demands to three major opioid distributors. These investigative demands, the equivalent of a subpoena, require the distributors to provide documents and information relevant to the Attorney General Office’s ongoing investigation into the pharmaceutical industry’s involvement in the opioid epidemic.
Three pharmaceutical companies file motion to dismiss AG's lawsuit
Oct 31, 2017 | KMIZ 17 (MO)
By Sara Masiar-Donar

Three pharmaceutical manufacturing companies have filed a motion against Attorney General Josh Hawley's office to dismiss a suit he brought earlier this summer for deceptive opioid marketing.

Other Coverage

New Jersey Joins States Suing Purdue Pharma for Opioid Marketing
Nov 1, 2017 | Bloomberg
By Christie Smythe

With more and more states going after pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, New Jersey is getting in on the action.
State files charges against Purdue Pharma over opioid crisis
Nov 1, 2017 | NJ Biz (NJ)
By Vince Calio

New Jersey has filed a five-count lawsuit against Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma for alleged improper marketing practices related to its opioid-based painkiller, oxycontin.
Walker Administration suing opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma
Nov 1, 2017 | Must Read Alaska (AK)
By Suzanne Downing

In an unannounced press conference in Juneau this morning, the Walker Administration said it has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of OxyContin, an opioid.
Drugmakers Want Chicago's Opioid Suit Paused Pending MDL
Oct 31, 2017 | Law 360
By Dani Kass

Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Cephalon Inc. on Monday asked an Illinois federal court to stay the city of Chicago’s suit accusing them of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers until after the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decides whether to consolidate more than 70 related suits.
Central Texas County sues nation's biggest drug makers, accuses them of fraud
Nov 1, 2017 | KCEN 5 (TX)
By Stephen Adams

McLennan County announced Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit against two dozen of the country's largest opioid manufacturers and distributors, including Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson.
Another area county sues opioid manufacturers, distributors
Nov 1, 2017 | KWTX (TX)
By Staff

McLennan County Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against manufacturers, developers and distributors of opioids.
County files lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies over opioid epidemic
Oct 31, 2017 | Waco Tribune Herald (TX)
By Cassie Smith

McLennan County’s rate of prescription opioid distribution is higher than state and national averages, a fact that helped prompt county commissioners to file a lawsuit Tuesday against the country’s largest opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors.
Lawrence County to Sue Over Opioid Crisis
Oct 31, 2017 | WCN 24/7 News (PA)
By Staff

Lawrence County is joining other counties in Pennsylvania in legal action against pharmaceutical companies for allegedly contributing to the opioid addiction crisis. Lawrence County commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to file the lawsuit citing a spike in local drug-related deaths.
Quincy plans to sue ‘Big Pharma’
Oct 31, 2017 | The Patriot Ledger (MA)
By Sean Philip COtter

The City of Quincy has contracted a big D.C. law firm to sue pharmaceutical companies, saying that the corporations have responsibility for the rise in drug addiction over the past several years.
Louisiana attorney general wants to take over opioid lawsuit
Oct 31, 2017 | Associated Press
By Staff

Louisiana’s attorney general is trying to take control of a lawsuit filed by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration accusing pharmaceutical companies of worsening opioid abuse in the state.

Commentary and FYIs

Activists: drugmakers, distributors liable for opioids abuse
Nov 1, 2017 | Modern Medicine
By Christine Blank

Soon after President Donald Trump announced declared the opioid abuse crisis a “public health emergency,” shareholder activist groups said they aim to hold drug manufacturers and distributors liable for their part in the crisis.
The Rannazzisi File: Congress Fuels Opioid Crisis
Nov 1, 2017 | Townhall
By Bob Barr

In the childhood fairy tale Snow White, the magic mirror from which the evil queen seeks reassurance of her beauty never lies, much to her ultimate fury. In a contemporary story - definitely not a fairy tale - an expert on opioid abuse is forcing the Congress to look into the mirror, and realize that it is to blame, at least in part, for the tragedy of opioid abuse that is ravaging our nation.
McKesson gives White House 11 tips on how to fight opioid epidemic
Nov 1, 2017 | Health Data Management
By Joseph Goedert

McKesson Corporation, the largest pharmaceutical distributor in the nation, sent a letter on Tuesday to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie—who serves the Trump Administration as chair of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis—with a series of policy and technology recommendations to enhance the fight against addiction.
It's Time for Pharma to Take Responsibility for Opioid Deaths (EDITORIAL)
Nov 1, 2017 | MedPage Today
By Lynne Peterson

One of the current villains in the opioid epidemic is pharma marketing. It is as if the country just woke up and realized that marketing by opioid manufacturers is contributing to – or possibly responsible for – the problem.
Trump opioid panel ducks question of new money
Nov 1, 2017 | Politico
By Brianna Ehley & Sarah Karlin Smith

President Donald Trump’s opioid commission will call Wednesday for big boosts in substance abuse treatment programs but stop short of asking for new funding that federal and state officials say is critical to pay for such programs.

Broadcast Media Coverage

ABC 17 News at 5
Oct 31, 2017 | KMIZ (ABC)
By Columbia, MO

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30415347?token=de5d18a3-8c08-4fe6-98a5-68aef7fd5ecd
Local News at 5pm
Nov 1, 2017 | KCEN (NBC)
By Waco, TX

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30415340?token=de5d18a3-8c08-4fe6-98a5-68aef7fd5ecd

Ohio AG Mike DeWine Opioid Initiatives

Ohio AG Is Determined To Force Big Pharma To Pay To ‘Clean Up Their Mess’

Nov 1, 2017 | The Daily Caller

By Steve Birr

The attorney general of Ohio, who is suing drug manufacturers for igniting the opioid epidemic, vowed Monday to hold the companies financially liable for the damage done by painkillers in the state.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican, filed a lawsuit May targeting Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions and Allergan. It alleges the companies violated the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act and committed Medicaid fraud in their push to sell prescription painkillers, reports WCPO.
DeWine tore into the pharmaceutical industry in a speech Monday, where he announced his “Recovery Ohio” plan, a 12-point strategy to overcome the plague of opioid addiction in the state. He said drug makers have caused “misery and destruction” throughout Ohio, noting opioid overdoses kill roughly 14 residents each day.
“I am determined to bring them to justice by demanding that they fund the extensive effort needed to clean up their mess,” DeWine said Monday, according to WCPO. “Yes, I am mad. And every Ohioan should be mad.”
The lawsuit seeks damages for the funds spent on combating opioid addiction and prescription drug overdoses in Ohio. The opioid death rate in the state spiked 13 percent between 2014 and 2015, among the largest increases in the country. Heroin deaths increased by nearly 20 percent over the same period, claiming 1,444 lives.
Officials in Ohio say opioids are also the main driver of a 19 percent spike in the number of kids removed from parental custody to foster care since 2010.
Representatives of Purdue Pharma submitted legal filings against the Ohio lawsuit Sept. 8, advising the case should be dismissed for a litany of reasons including its contradiction of federal drug regulations. They note the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of their medications.
They also argue the lawsuit fails to identify specific cases of harm caused to patients as a direct result of Purdue’s marketing of OxyContin.
The pharmaceutical industry generally says they are committed to curbing rates of opioid abuse and helping the federal government solve the addiction epidemic, denying allegations of complicity in the crisis.
Data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse released Sept. 7 paints a grim outlook for the current opioid crisis ravaging American communities. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death for Americans under 50.
The study predicts the addiction epidemic in America will continue to deteriorate, pushing drug deaths to an estimated 71,600 in 2017. If the estimates prove accurate, 2017 will be the second year in a row that drug deaths surpass U.S. casualties from the Vietnam War.

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Ohio Attorney General outlines opioid recovery plan

Oct 31, 2017 | The Toledo Blade

By Allison Reamer

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is calling for a new, multi-pronged plan to help combat the opioid crisis in the state to be paid for by the drug companies, since he believes they contributed to the problem.
A 12-point plan called “Recovery Ohio” was developed with a focus on increased treatment, tools for law enforcement, and expanding prevention to combat the opioid crisis, Mr. DeWine said.
At least 14 Ohioans die every day from a drug overdose, Mr. DeWine said. Some of the problems started with the drug companies providing misinformation to doctors by telling them the prescription painkillers were not addictive and for “creating a culture of overprescribing,” Mr. DeWine said Tuesday during a press conference at the Toledo Police Department.
In return, the drug companies must pay their share in helping pay for treatment and education, as well as change the culture back to a reasonable prescription protocol, the attorney general said.
“As a result of their misleading doctors, there have been thousands and thousands of deaths. We can’t bring the people back who died. But we can hold these drug companies accountable and make them pay,” said Mr. DeWine.
Representatives from several law enforcement agencies in northwest Ohio stood behind the attorney general during the news conference.
To Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp, the attorney general’s message — a focus on enforcement, treatment, and intervention — was a home run, he said.
“This is truly a public health emergency,” added Toledo Police Department Chief George Kral. “I like that his plan is coming at it from several different areas — not just law enforcement. It’s coming at it from the foster care and the social service aspect of it.”
Those addicted to painkillers frequently move to heroin, and are now choosing fentanyl or even carfentanyl, the attorney general said.
While an exact figure of the plan was not available Tuesday, the initiative should be paid for by the drug companies, not taxpayers, DeWine said. On Monday, he sent a letter to Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva, Johnson & Johnson, and Allergan — the pharmaceutical companies he filed suit against in May. He is giving them 30 days to come forward and begin settlement solutions. He also sent letters Monday to Cardinal Health, McKesson, and Amerisource Bergen.
“I’m happy to see that happen, for these companies to be held responsible for not thinking it through,” said Sheriff Tharp. “I believe the entire country can benefit from these lawsuits. They need to be a part of the solution, and part of the solution is costly.”
Should the companies not be willing to participate, Mr. DeWine said Tuesday he will take further action, although he wouldn’t disclose what he would do.
“All we want them to do is what is right,” said Mr. DeWine.
As of Tuesday, he had not heard a response from the companies, he said.
Recovery Ohio’s plan includes:
● Pass legislation to give the governor the ability to declare a public health emergency statewide or in specific areas, which would allow for the distribution of money or other resources to local entities that are facing unexpected emergency conditions, like overdose spikes, and creating an accelerated process for state licenses or approvals in critical professions such as the medical or social work fields, as well as expedited licensing reciprocity with other states.
● Create a 21st century law enforcement data infrastructure that allows real-time, statewide data sharing and brings state-of-the-art data analytics and crime prediction to every Ohio law enforcement agency.
● Expand proven drug task force models that specifically target and disrupt the flow of money and drugs from Mexican drug cartels.
● Create at least 60 more specialized drug courts.
● Double the substance use treatment capacity in Ohio.
● Expand workforce of critical specialists.
● Empower employers to help employees with substance use disorder to seek treatment while remaining employed.
● Help business owners hire employees in recovery by offering employers incentives and reducing risks.
● Create a special position reporting directly to the governor with cabinet-level authority, who works every day with the single-minded focus of fighting the opioid epidemic.
● Implement proven K-12 grade drug prevention education in all Ohio schools.
● Roll out a statewide drug prevention media campaign.
● Expanded early intervention programs that target Ohio families and children in foster care.

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Ohio attorney general unveils plan to combat opioid epidemic

Nov 1, 2017 | The News Herald (OH)

By Staff

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has unveiled a set of 12 initiatives dubbed “Recover Ohio” designed to help combat the opioid epidemic ravaging the state.
“Ohio is in crisis,” DeWine said. “At least 14 Ohioans are dying every single day in our state from drug overdoses. More people will die in Ohio this week (from drug overdoses) than died in the devastating shooting recently in Las Vegas.”
Ohio has more overdose deaths than any other state. In 2016, there were 4,050 overdose deaths in the state, breaking the record set the previous year of 3,050.
DeWine said his multi-pronged plan includes treatment, new tools for law enforcement, and expanding prevention.
The Recover Ohio Plan:
• 1. Pass legislation to give the governor the ability to declare a public health emergency statewide or in specific areas, which would allow for the distribution of money and other resources to local entities that are facing unexpected emergency conditions like overdose spikes, and creating an accelerated process for state licenses or approvals in critical professions such as the medical or social work fields as well as expedited licensing reciprocity with other states.
• 2. Create a 21st century law enforcement data infrastructure that allows real-time, statewide data sharing and brings state-of-the-art data analytics and crime prediction to every Ohio law enforcement agency.
• 3. Expand proven drug task force models that specifically target and disrupt the flow of money and drugs from Mexican drug cartels.
• 4. Create at least 60 more specialized drug courts.
• 5. Double the substance use treatment capacity in Ohio.
• 6. Expand workforce of specialists in critical professions.
• 7. Empower employers to help employees with substance use disorders to seek treatment while remaining employed.
• 8. Help business owners hire employees in recovery by offering employers incentives and reducing risks.
• 9. Create a special position reporting directly to the governor with cabinet-level authority, who works every day with the single-minded focus of fighting the opioid epidemic.
• 10. Implement proven kindergarten-12th grade drug prevention education in all Ohio schools.
• 11. Roll out a statewide drug prevention media campaign.
• 12. Expanded early intervention programs that target Ohio families and children in foster care.
DeWine said the plan should be paid for by the drug companies — the people he said are responsible for the crisis.
The attorney general Oct. 30 sent a letter to the five companies he filed a lawsuit against in May — Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan — giving them 30 days to come forward and begin settlement solutions.
DeWine also sent letters to Cardinal Health, McKesson, and Amerisource Bergen, drug distributors whom he said “flooded the state with pills that they knew far exceeded medical need.” He asked them to come forward and pay their share as well.
“While there is no amount of money that can bring back the thousands of our fellow Ohioans who have died or take away the pain of their families, these drug companies must be held accountable,” DeWine said.

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Ohio Attorney General addresses 12-step plan against heroin epidemic in Toledo

Nov 1, 2017 | WTOL 11 (OH)

By Staff

"Every citizen in the state of Ohio should be mad."
Using Northwest Ohio as his backdrop, Attorney General Mike DeWine made two big announcements at the Toledo Police Headquarters.
One; a 12-step plan to get ahead of the deadly heroin epidemic and two; explain the lawsuit he filed on behalf of the state of Ohio against five large pharmaceutical companies.
"So they misled doctors. They caused a lot of this problem and they failed to do anything to try to elevate the problem. Very very little of anything," said DeWine.
DeWine said suing the drug companies for damages would take the burden off of taxpayers to fight this epidemic.
"I see this as an opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to help us in enforcement, education and prevention. I think it's very important we move forward with that," said Sheriff John Tharp with the Lucas County Sheriff's Department.
Several of the 12 action steps DeWine outlined include, passing legislation that let's the Governor of Ohio declare a public health emergency statewide or in specific areas. In addition, create at least 60 more drug courts and to create a special position within the governor's office with the sole purpose of fighting the opioid epidemic.
"The push to decriminalize it was so that we can make sure we can somehow maybe get these people who are addicted the treatment they need so that they can be healthy," said TPD Chief George Kral.
DeWine applauded what the local enforcement has done, but stresses going after pharmaceutical companies is a critical step.
Using existing capacity at hospitals to help battle the opioid epidemic is an action step the Attorney General outlined.
The goal is to double the substance abuse treatment capacities in Ohio.
DeWine explained there is existing space in hundreds of hospitals around Ohio which can be used.
He said current reimbursement rules don't allow most of the capacity in hospitals to be used for treatment.
One local hospital system agrees.
"Reimbursement models obviously impact who can provide services as well as the level of those services we're able to provide. His efforts to change some of those initiatives obviously will assist being able to provide those services," said Craig Albers/President & COO, Mercy Health St. Charles
Until any changes like this happen, hospitals will continue to work with community health agencies to help battle the opioid epidemic in our community.

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DeWine wants drug companies to pay — literally — for Ohio’s opioid crisis

Nov 1, 2017 | Columbus Dispatch (OH)

By Randy Ludlow

Attorney General Mike DeWine is demanding that drug makers and distributors pay a not-insignificant price as restitution for what he sees as their role in enslaving and killing Ohioans with prescription opioids.
DeWine on Monday gave five drug makers and three distributors 30 days to begin negotiating a financial settlement to help the state improve opioid addiction treatment and prevention.
DeWine announced that he sent letters to drug companies he now is suing for damages and to distributors, including Dublin-based Cardinal Health, to pay their “fair share” for an opioid crisis that claimed 4,050 lives last year, a 33 percent increase from 2015.
“These drug companies have laid waste to our state as only the worst plague could do,” DeWine said. “They have destroyed families, they have made children orphans, they have weakened our economy and they have caused parents to do the worst thing they have to do, and that is to bury their own children.
“Despite making billions, billions of dollars, for these drugs, they done comparatively little” to help fight and treat opioid addiction first fueled for many by pain-pill prescriptions, he said.
DeWine had not previously revealed that he would sue drug distributors for their alleged failure to police and report excessive, suspicious opioid orders, but heavily hinted at such a move on Monday.
“We’re very close to a decision and announcement whether we file a lawsuit against” the drug distributors, including McKesson and Amerisource Bergen, for “flooding the state with pills that they knew far exceeded legitimate medical need,” DeWine said.
In his letter, DeWine told the drug makers and distributors: “I expect to hear more than promises to act at some indefinite time in the future. You need to come to this meeting with a plan that includes the thought, terms and money needed to make a real difference right now.”
In a statement Monday, Cardinal Health said an “overprescribing problem” by doctors has driven the opioid epidemic. “Distributors like Cardinal Health operate as part of a multifaceted and highly regulated health-care system — we do not promote or prescribe prescription medications to members of the public — and believe everyone in that chain, including us, must do their part to help find solutions to this public-health crisis.”
DeWine said any payments received from pharmaceutical companies and distributors would be used to help ease the opioid crisis, which has evolved from pain pills to heroin to deadly fentanyl.
A spokesman for Allergan, with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, said it would work “cooperatively” with DeWine. “Allergan has a history of supporting — and continues to support — the safe, responsible use of prescription medications,” including opioids, said Mark Marmur. Allergan’s opioid products accounted for less than 1 percent of opioid prescriptions in the U.S. last year, he said.
Cuyahoga County, Vinton County and Dayton — along with Toledo, which sued on Monday — also have sued the drug industry.
The attorney general, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, Monday proposed a 12-point “Recovery Ohio” plan that could benefit from any financial settlement with drug companies and distributors.
DeWine proposes to:
‒ Get a bill passed that would give the governor authority to declare a public health emergency, target funding where needed and accelerate occupational licenses to help fight opioid addiction.
‒ Create an opioid data-gathering and analytics system to share with Ohio’s nearly 1,000 law-enforcement agencies.
‒ Expand drug task forces to help fight the importation of drugs by Mexican cartels and others.
‒ Add at least 60 specialized drug courts to help route more people into treatment. Franklin County has such a court.
‒ Double the availability of substance-abuse treatment beds by working with hospitals and local treatment agencies.
‒ Create a pilot program with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to encourage employers to treat and hire addicts in recovery.
‒ Establish a cabinet-level administrator to coordinate state action on the opioid crisis.
‒ Provide age-appropriate drug education in Ohio schools from kindergarten through 12th grade.
‒ Implement a statewide drug prevention campaign including media and social media components.
‒ Expand family-centered early intervention programs involving children in foster care due to family opioid abuse.

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Missouri AG Josh Hawley Expands Investigation

Missouri Attorney General expands opioid investigation

Nov 1, 2017 | St. Louis Business Journal

By Angela Mueller

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has expanded his investigation of the opioid industry, demanding additional information from three major drug distributors.
Hawley's office has issued investigative demands to AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. The demands, which are the equivalent of a subpoena, request documentation relevant to the attorney general's ongoing investigation into the pharmaceutical industry's involvement in the opioid epidemic.
“It has become clear that opioid distributors had opportunities to stem the tide of the opioid crisis, but instead chose to look the other way while making millions of dollars in profit,” Hawley said in a statement.
In June, Hawley filed suit against three large drug manufacturers, Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, alleging the companies misrepresented the risks posed by the opioids they manufacture and sell. In August, Hawley widened the investigation to seven additional drug makers, including Mallinckrodt PLC, Allergan, Depomed, Insys, Mylan, Pfizer and Teva Pharmaceuticals.

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Missouri Attorney General expands opioid investigation to include three distributors

Nov 1, 2017 | KTTN (MO)

By Staff

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley continues to widen his fight against the ongoing opioid crisis announcing the issuance of civil investigative demands to three major opioid distributors.
These investigative demands, the equivalent of a subpoena, require the distributors to provide documents and information relevant to the Attorney General Office’s ongoing investigation into the pharmaceutical industry’s involvement in the opioid epidemic.
The Office issued investigative demands to AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corporation.
Hawley tells the Capitol Press Corps those three companies will have to provide all documents relating to his office’s ongoing investigation into the pharmaceutical industry’s involvement in the opioid epidemic. Hawley says 500 Missourians died from opioid overdoeses or complications in 2015.
“It has become clear that opioid distributors had opportunities to stem the tide of the opioid crisis, but instead chose to look the other way while making millions of dollars in profit,” Hawley said. “Opioid distributors will not receive a free pass from my office. I am committed to holding all parties responsible for this epidemic and working toward solutions that will protect and heal our communities.”
In June, Attorney General Hawley filed one of the largest lawsuits in Missouri history against three opioid manufacturers alleging that these manufacturers fraudulently misrepresented the serious risks posed by opioids. The lawsuit named Purdue Pharma, Endo Health, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The Office was among the first State Attorney General offices to file a lawsuit addressing this crisis.
Following this action, the Office sent Civil Investigative Demands to seven other opioid manufacturers, in August. The documents requested in the CIDs will help determine how widespread the fraud is and whether other pharmaceutical companies need to be targeted for their contribution to Missouri’s opioid crisis.

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AG Hawley Expands Opioid Investigation to Include Three Distributors

Nov 1, 2017 | Lee's Summit Tribune (MO)

By Staff

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley continues to widen his fight against the ongoing opioid crisis today announcing the issuance of civil investigative demands to three major opioid distributors.
These investigative demands, the equivalent of a subpoena, require the distributors to provide documents and information relevant to the Attorney General Office’s ongoing investigation into the pharmaceutical industry’s involvement in the opioid epidemic.
The Office issued investigative demands to Amerisouth Bergen Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corporation.
“It has become clear that opioid distributors had opportunities to stem the tide of the opioid crisis, but instead chose to look the other way while making millions of dollars in profit,” Hawley said. “Opioid distributors will not receive a free pass from my office. I am committed to holding all parties responsible for this epidemic and working toward solutions that will protect and heal our communities.”
In June, Attorney General Hawley filed one of the largest lawsuits in Missouri history against three opioid manufacturers alleging that these manufacturers fraudulently misrepresented the serious risks posed by opioids. The lawsuit named Purdue Pharma, Endo Health and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The Office was among the first State Attorney General offices to file a lawsuit addressing this crisis.
Following this action, the Office sent Civil Investigative Demands to seven other opioid manufacturers, in August. The documents requested in the CIDs will help determine how widespread the fraud is and whether other pharmaceutical companies need to be targeted for their contribution to Missouri’s opioid crisis.

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Missouri Attorney General expands opioid investigation to three more companies

Nov 1, 2017 | Columbia Missourian (MO)

By Samantha Koester

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is expanding his opioid investigation by inquiring into three more pharmaceutical companies.
Hawley announced at a press conference Tuesday at the Capitol that he has issued investigative demands to AmerisouthBergen Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corporation, the three largest U.S. distributors of opioids.
The three companies were ordered to turn over documents related to their distribution of opioids.
“Federal and state laws require these distributors to report any suspicious activity, but among other facts, the sheer volume of opioids that they have delivered to multiple locations is inherently suspicious,” Hawley said. “The evidence suggests that these companies chose to look the other way, oversupply pharmacies and other outlets and make millions of dollars in profits.”
If the companies refuse to hand over the documents, Hawley said, they will be compelled to do so in court. He urged any knowledgeable or participating parties in the oversupply and over-distribution to come forward sooner rather than later.
The initial investigative demands were issued to seven companies in August. Hawley requested several documents, including the amount of opioids produced, interactions with doctors and in-person advertising relating to opioids since 2010.
Hawley strongly challenged opioid distribution in June 2017, when his office filed a lawsuit against three opioid manufacturers: Purdue Pharma, Endo Health and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The companies are suspected by Hawley to have intentionally deceived patients by misrepresenting the addictive nature of opioids.
Hawley’s office alleged that the companies’ marketing techniques over several years convinced both doctors and consumers that prescription medications with opioids were not addictive. He also said they funded research projects in an attempt to back their claims.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency. Hawley agreed, saying that the death rate in Missouri continues to rise, while the United States as a whole remains the largest opioid consumer in the world.
“I welcome the president’s leadership on this, and we welcome all voices who have an interest in this issue,” Hawley said.

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AG Hawley expands opioid investigation

Nov 1, 2017 | KRBK 5 (MO)

By Joey Morgan

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley continues to widen his fight against the ongoing opioid crisis today announcing the issuance of civil investigative demands to three major opioid distributors. These investigative demands, the equivalent of a subpoena, require the distributors to provide documents and information relevant to the Attorney General Office’s ongoing investigation into the pharmaceutical industry’s involvement in the opioid epidemic.
The Office issued investigative demands to Amerisouth Bergen Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corporation.

“It has become clear that opioid distributors had opportunities to stem the tide of the opioid crisis, but instead chose to look the other way while making millions of dollars in profit,” Hawley said. “Opioid distributors will not receive a free pass from my office. I am committed to holding all parties responsible for this epidemic and working toward solutions that will protect and heal our communities.”

In June, Attorney General Hawley filed one of the largest lawsuits in Missouri history against three opioid manufacturers alleging that these manufacturers fraudulently misrepresented the serious risks posed by opioids. The lawsuit named Purdue Pharma, Endo Health and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The Office was among the first State Attorney General offices to file a lawsuit addressing this crisis.

Following this action, the Office sent Civil Investigative Demands to seven other opioid manufacturers, in August. The documents requested in the CIDs will help determine how widespread the fraud is and whether other pharmaceutical companies need to be targeted for their contribution to Missouri’s opioid crisis.

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Three pharmaceutical companies file motion to dismiss AG's lawsuit

Oct 31, 2017 | KMIZ 17 (MO)

By Sara Masiar-Donar

Three pharmaceutical manufacturing companies have filed a motion against Attorney General Josh Hawley's office to dismiss a suit he brought earlier this summer for deceptive opioid marketing.
Hawley and his office are conducting an investigation into three opioid manufacturers: Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Source and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

"Missouri law says if you have a legal product, you can sell it but you may not misrepresent it," said Hawley on Tuesday. "Among other things, they said they funded research and they funded front groups that said things like, 'If you take opioids pursuant to a prescription, you can never get addicted.' That's just false."

The three companies filed a motion in September to dismiss Hawley's suit. The motion indicates the attorney general's office used "few facts about any defendant's supposed role in the alleged fraud scheme."

The companies said that Hawley's suit was based on the conduct of third parties who allegedly received funding from the companies, and not the companies' "own statements or actions."
Despite this, Hawley said he welcomed the opportunity to set out his claims in court because he feels "absolutely in the right."

"Absolutely we have the facts," he said. "We feel very confident we have the facts that show that these manufacturers deliberately engaged in a multiyear marketing campaign to doctors and also to consumers where they misrepresented the nature of these drugs."

ABC17 News contacted all three companies and received statements from Endo Health Source and Janssen Pharmeceuticals.

Endo Health Source's statement is below:

"It is Endo's policy not to comment on pending litigation. That said, Endo is committed to providing top-quality products that improve patients' lives, and in doing so, we take our legal obligations- including those relating to product pricing - very seriously. As such, we plan to vigorously defend the company against the claims asserted today by the state Attorneys General."

Janssen Pharmeceuticals' statement is below:

"We believe the allegations in lawsuits against our company are both legally and factually unfounded. Jansses has acted in the best interests of patients and physicians with regard to its opioid pain medicines, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about possible risks on every product label.

"According to independent surveillance data, Janssen opioid pain medicines consistently have some of the lowest rates of abuse among these medications, and since 2008 the volume of Janssen opioid products always has amounted to less than one percent of the total prescriptions written per year for opioid medications, including generics.
"Responsibly used opioid-based pain medicines give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain. At the same time, we recognize opioid abuse and addiction is a serious public health issue that must be addressed and will require collaboration among many stakeholders. We will continue to work with federal, state, and local officials to support appropriate solutions.".

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Other Coverage

New Jersey Joins States Suing Purdue Pharma for Opioid Marketing

Nov 1, 2017 | Bloomberg

By Christie Smythe

With more and more states going after pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, New Jersey is getting in on the action.
State Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Purdue Pharma Inc., maker of the widely known opioid OxyContin. The suit accuses the company of helping foster substance abuse through a "dangerously false" marketing campaign about the risks and benefits of the drugs.
“When we point the finger of blame for the deadly epidemic that has killed thousands in New Jersey, Purdue is in the bulls eye of the target,” Porrino said in an email statement.
New Jersey joins at least 10 others states suing drug companies including Purdue Pharma, Endo International Plc, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals over sales of opioid painkillers. Dozens of cities and counties are also bringing suits while federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into Purdue Pharma.
"We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense," Purdue Pharma spokesman John Puskar said in an email statement. “We are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution."

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State files charges against Purdue Pharma over opioid crisis

Nov 1, 2017 | NJ Biz (NJ)

By Vince Calio

New Jersey has filed a five-count lawsuit against Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma for alleged improper marketing practices related to its opioid-based painkiller, oxycontin.
The state’s Attorney General, Christopher Porrino, alleges that Purdue pressured its sales force into aggressively and deceptively market opioid-based pain killers in the state, and that its marketing push between 2008 and 2015 helped directly lead to the opioid crisis in the state. The 100-page charge was filed in Essex County court on Oct. 31.
The state has retained Newark-based Keefe Law Firm and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll in New York and to assist in the case.
“When we point the finger of blame for the deadly epidemic that has killed thousands in New Jersey, Purdue is in the bullseye of the target,” said Porrino in a press release. “Today, my office took the first step toward holding them legally and financially responsible for their deception…In a campaign of almost inconceivable callousness and irresponsibility, we allege that Purdue has spent hundreds of millions of marketing dollars to downplay the addiction risk associated with taking opioids for chronic pain, all the while exaggerating the benefits of using these dangerous drugs.”
The complaint charges that Purdue manipulated the public and even the medical community to embrace the view that pain was undertreated and that opioids should be the first-line solution for patients suffering from chronic conditions such as moderate back pain, migraine headaches and arthritis. The complaint alleges that Purdue aggressively marketed its opioid-based painkillers – particularly oxycontin – as safe and effective treatments for chronic pain. It also alleges Purdue failed to disclose that it had no studies to support the efficacy or safety of opioid medications for treatment periods longer than 12 weeks.
Purdue, in an emailed response, denied the allegations.
“We are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution. As a company grounded in science, we must balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines, while working collaboratively to solve this public health challenge,” the company statement said. “Although our products account for approximately 2 percent of the total opioid prescriptions, as a company, we’ve distributed the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, developed three of the first four FDA-approved opioid medications with abuse-deterrent properties and partner with law enforcement to ensure access to naloxone. We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”
In addition to Purdue Pharma, the state also named Purdue Frederick Co. as a defendant. The state’s complaint includes three counts alleging violations of New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act and one count alleging violations of the New Jersey False Claims Act. It also charges a fifth count of Creating a Public Nuisance.
The lawsuit comes a week after the city of Patterson filed charges against several pharma companies, including Johnson & Johnson, for similar reasons.

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Walker Administration suing opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma

Nov 1, 2017 | Must Read Alaska (AK)

By Suzanne Downing

In an unannounced press conference in Juneau this morning, the Walker Administration said it has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of OxyContin, an opioid.
Purdue Pharma, the subject of the state lawsuit, makes pain medicines such as hydromorphone, oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine and hydrocodone. Its brands include MS Contin, Oxycontin and Ryzolt.
“The claims that we’re bringing here are based on violations of Alaska state law,” said Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, who alleged the company misled doctors regarding the risks and engaged in deceptive marketing tactics.
The investigation is ongoing and there may be additional claims that are brought against other companies, she said. The investigation is confidential and is sealed. The lawsuit was filed in Anchorage Superior Court yesterday.
The governor’s livestream video feed was cut for much of the announcement, so check back here for more details.
In September, Washington state sued Purdue Pharma, and the City of Seattle filed a separate lawsuit against Purdue, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Johnson & Johnson, Endo International Plc and Allergan plc.
Other states have filed similar lawsuits, including New Jersey, Louisiana, West Virginia, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as well as several cities and counties.
Lindemuth said she considered joining a multi-state lawsuit but decided to go it alone as a complaint for unfair trade practice and consumer protection under Alaska law.

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Drugmakers Want Chicago's Opioid Suit Paused Pending MDL

Oct 31, 2017 | Law 360

By Dani Kass

Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Cephalon Inc. on Monday asked an Illinois federal court to stay the city of Chicago’s suit accusing them of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers until after the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decides whether to consolidate more than 70 related suits.
The drug companies are attempting to get the city's suit folded into the requested MDLand then have the MDL centralized in Chicago, given that it's the most senior case in the bunch. Whether the case is sent to Illinois or another court, the drugmakers say a stay will preserve judicial resources and prevent them from being unreasonably burdened.

“Having this individual case proceed while the JPML determines whether a coordinated proceeding is necessary, presents ‘clear hardships’ for defendants who ‘could be faced with conflicting decisions on similar pre-trial issues from this court and the transferee court’ and be forced to ‘participate in duplicative discovery’ in this case and later, in the MDL,” the motion states.

Chicago filed its suit in 2014, claiming the drugmakers misled doctors and the public about the addictive nature of opioids and pushed prescriptions despite known dangers of addiction. As a result, the city claims that it paid for thousands of medically unnecessary prescriptions for city employees.

Purdue, Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. unit Cephalon say this case was inadvertently left off the consolidation request, which involves some 75 federal suits targeting a wide variety of drugmakers and distributors. The drug companies have asked the JPML to add the Chicago suit and send the consolidated litigation to the Northern District of Illinois, given that the court is already very familiar with the questions and details of these lawsuits.

“If the JPML agrees with defendants that the MDL should be assigned to this court, a stay would enable the court to temporarily refrain from deciding key issues in this individual case in favor of evaluating how best to establish an orderly structure for global case management and discovery issues that ensure uniform processes are formed from the beginning of what is anticipated to be a complex multifaceted MDL proceeding,” the motion states.

If the MDL ends up elsewhere, then this court loses its jurisdiction, meaning it wasted its resources deciding pretrial questions, Purdue, Janssen and Teva said.

The drugmakers also noted that it’s risky to comply with Chicago’s discovery requests when those could be challenged or altered later in an MDL.

On the other hand, Chicago doesn’t face any hardships from having to delay the case, especially as the panel hearing is on Nov. 30 and a decision will likely follow shortly thereafter, the companies said.

When contacted Tuesday, Purdue didn't touch on the stay request, but said "we are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution" and that "we vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense."

Teva declined to comment. Representatives for the city and Janssen didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.

The city is represented by Edward Siskel, Thomas McNulty and Fiona Burke of the city of Chicago, Linda Singer, Elizabeth Smith, David I. Ackerman and Jeffrey Nelson of Motley Rice and Kenneth A. Wexler and Thomas A. Doyle of Wexler Wallace LLP.

Purdue is represented by R. Ryan Stoll and Patrick Joseph Fitzgerald of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP and Sheila L. Birnbaum, Mark S. Cheffo and Hayden A. Coleman of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP. Janssen is represented by Michael P. Doss and Scott D. Stein of Sidley Austin LLP and Charles C. Lifland of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Teva is represented by Tinos Diamantatos, Gordon Cooney Jr. and Steven A. Reed of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The case is City of Chicago v. Purdue Pharma L.P. et al., case number 1:14-cv-04361, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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Central Texas County sues nation's biggest drug makers, accuses them of fraud

Nov 1, 2017 | KCEN 5 (TX)

By Stephen Adams

McLennan County announced Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit against two dozen of the country's largest opioid manufacturers and distributors, including Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson.
In the federal complaint obtained by Channel 6, McLennan County Commissioners allege the opioid industry used a marketing scheme to deceive doctors and used front groups to promote opioids as a means of treating chronic pain, while downplaying the risks.
"Defendants falsely instructed doctors and patients that signs of addiction are actually signs of under-treated pain and should be treated by prescribing more opioids," the complaint said.
The county alleges the pharmaceutical industry targeted vulnerable patients like veterans and elderly individuals in McLennan County and knowingly prescribed them highly addictive opioids for chronic pain. McLennan County also accuses the pharmaceutical industry of committing fraud by misrepresenting opioids to physicians. The lawsuit further accuses the companies of negligence and claims they violated the Texas Controlled Substance Act.
The county is seeking both punitive and exemplary damages, along with restitution for local customers who bought opioids for chronic pain.
The McLennan County Commissioners hired the law firms of Haley & Olson, P.C. and Harrison Davis Steakley Morrison Jones, P.C. to represent them in court.
“The opioid epidemic has created a tremendous burden for counties across the country and McLennan County is no exception to that rule," Attorney Craig Cherry said. "This epidemic has caused an increase in costs for a number of different services the county provides, all at taxpayer expense. We look forward to working for the county and its taxpayers to try and recoup those tax dollars.”
The county said healthcare providers nationwide wrote more than 289 million opioid prescriptions in 2016 alone.
"The economic burden caused by opioid abuse in the United States is approximately $78.5 billion," the county said in a press release, which attributed that figure to decreases in productivity and increased social service, judicial and health insurance costs.
Seventy-seven opioid prescriptions were dispensed for every 100 people in McLennan County in 2015. Both that number and the death rate attributable to drug poisoning in McLennan County exceeded state averages, according to the county.
Earlier this month, Upshur County became the first in Texas to sue the painkiller manufacturers and distributors in federal court, according to the Texas Tribune.
Purdue Pharma released the following statement:
“We are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis and we are dedicated to being part of the solution. As a company grounded in science, we must balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines, while working collaboratively to solve this public health challenge. Although our products account for approximately 2% of the total opioid prescriptions, as a company, we’ve distributed the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, developed three of the first four FDA-approved opioid medications with abuse-deterrent properties and partner with law enforcement to ensure access to naloxone. We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”

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Another area county sues opioid manufacturers, distributors

Nov 1, 2017 | KWTX (TX)

By Staff

McLennan County Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against manufacturers, developers and distributors of opioids.
County commissioners announced Tuesday they’ve retained the law firms of Haley & Olson, P.C. and Harrison, Davis, Steakley, Morrison, Jones P.C. to represent the county in the suit, which a press release describes as “a crucial first step toward holding these companies responsible for flooding communities with prescription opioids and fueling the opioid epidemic by putting profits over people.”
The suit seeks to enjoin the defendants from misrepresenting the risks and benefits of opioids for chronic pain and seeks unspecified damages as well as “restitution on behalf of McLennan County consumers who paid for opioids for chronic pain.”
“The commissioners want to be leaders in this fight against an epidemic that has affected McLennan County citizens of all races and socio-economic groups,” County Judge Scott Felton said in the press release Tuesday.
“Simply put, opioid addiction and the corresponding effects of opioid addiction do not discriminate,” he said.
“We want to help put a stop to this and recoup taxpayer dollars that have been expended in numerous ways to combat this epidemic.”
Last week, Coryell County joined 14 other Texas counties that have signed on with a Dallas-area law firm to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors.
The move is an effort to recover funds expended for law enforcement, child protective services, county employee prescriptions and other issues associated with use of opioids.
"Hopefully this will provide some relief, similar to the asbestos and tobacco lawsuit in the past," Coryell County Attorney Brandon Belt said.

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County files lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies over opioid epidemic

Oct 31, 2017 | Waco Tribune Herald (TX)

By Cassie Smith

McLennan County’s rate of prescription opioid distribution is higher than state and national averages, a fact that helped prompt county commissioners to file a lawsuit Tuesday against the country’s largest opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors.
County commissioners retained the law firms of Haley & Olson P.C., and Harrison Davis Steakley Morrison Jones P.C. in what commissioners say is a first step toward holding companies responsible for flooding the community with prescription opioids and fueling an opioid-abuse epidemic by prioritizing profits over people.
For every 100 people in McLennan County, 77 opioid prescriptions were dispensed in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state average for the class of painkillers was 59.8 prescriptions per 100 people, and the national average was 70.6 prescriptions per 100 people, Haley & Olson attorney Craig D. Cherry said.
The two firms will receive a third of any settlement or judgment recovered against the pharmaceutical companies, County Administrator Dustin Chapman said. If the county does not get a favorable result, the firms will not be paid, he said.
McLennan County Judge Scott Felton said everyone has friends or family who have been impacted by the epidemic.
“The commissioners want to be leaders in this fight against an epidemic that has affected McLennan County citizens of all races and socio-economic groups,” Felton said. “Simply put, opioid addiction and the corresponding effects of opioid addiction do not discriminate. We want to help put a stop to this and recoup taxpayer dollars that have been expended in numerous ways to combat this epidemic.”
The lawsuit could take years to resolve, Cherry said.
“The opioid epidemic has created a tremendous burden for counties across the country,” he said. “McLennan County is no exception to that rule.”
Felton said he believes the two law firms are the right ones for the job.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday afternoon in the U.S. District Court Western District, Waco division. Defendants listed include: Purdue Pharma LP, Purdue Pharma Inc., The Purdue Frederick Company, Cephalon Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. n/k/a Janssen, Endo Health Solutions Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Knoll Pharmaceutical Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, Watson Laboratories Inc., Actavis LLC, Actavis Pharma Inc. f/k/a Watson Pharma Inc., Insys Therapeutics Inc., Pfizer Inc., McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp.
There have been a substantial number of overdose deaths as a result, in whole or part, of opioid ingestion, and opioid addiction is one of the primary reasons county residents seek substance abuse treatment, according to the lawsuit.
Manufacturing companies have pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids falsely representing to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction, while the distributors breached their legal duties to monitor, detect, investigate, refuse and report suspicious orders of prescription opioids, commissioners said in a press release. The economic burden caused by opioid abuse in the United States is about $78.5 billion, including from lost productivity, an increased need for social services, increased health insurance costs, increased criminal justice presence, strain on judicial resources, and substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation, according to the release. The two law firms are evaluating what type of financial impact the epidemic has had on McLennan County, but they believe the cost has been in the millions of dollars, Cherry said.
Both firms have been contacted by a number of other counties throughout the state, he said.
“We are evaluating those cases at this time,” Cherry said. “My belief is that we will be asked to represent additional counties going forward.”
Other counties’ cases would be separate from McLennan County’s, but there is a chance they could be consolidated as they move forward, he said.‘Cried with my clients’
The CDC has provided fairly concrete and scientific information regarding the opioid problem in McLennan County, said Herb Bristow, another Haley & Olson attorney.
County leaders asked the firm to look into whether there was an issue in McLennan County, Bristow said.
Matt Morrison, a Harrison Davis Steakley Morrison Jones attorney, said his litigation experience has brought him face to face with victims of the opioid crisis.
“I have cried with my clients. I have represented families of people who have died from the epidemic,” Morrison said. “It is overwhelming and it is across the country.”
Health care providers in the United States wrote more than 289 million prescriptions for opioids in 2016, enough for every adult in the nation to have more than one bottle of pills, according to the lawsuit.
Opioids used to treat moderate to severe pain include oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine and methadone, according to the CDC. Some opioid brand names include OxyContin, Vicodin, Opana, Percocet, Percodan, Roxicodone and Avinza.
Fentanyl is an opioid typically approved to treat advanced cancer pain. Heroin is an illegal opioid that has seen increased use in the U.S. among many demographics, according to the CDC.
The prescription opioid-abuse epidemic did not occur by chance, the lawsuit states.
“Defendants falsely and misleadingly downplayed the serious risk of addiction … exaggerated the effectiveness of screening tools in preventing addiction, claimed opioid dependence and withdrawal are easily managed, … promoted highly addictive opioids through souvenirs and toys,” according to the lawsuit.
Misrepresentations by the defendants led doctors and patients to discount risks of the drugs, the suit states.
“Some of the repercussions for residents of McLennan County include job loss, loss of custody of children, physical and mental health problems, homelessness and incarceration, which results in instability in communities often already in economic crisis and contributes to increased demand on community services such as hospitals, courts, child services, treatment centers and law enforcement.”
Morrison said it would be the law firms’ privilege to bring the fight against opioid abuse to McLennan County. “The county has been damaged, and we need to help make that right,” he said.
More than six out of 10 drug overdose deaths in the nation involve an opioid, according to the CDC. The amount of prescription opioids sold to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2010, according to the CDC. Opioid deaths have quadrupled since 1999. On average, 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the CDC.
McLennan County commissioners voted 4-0 to file the suit. Precinct 2 Commissioner Lester Gibson was not in attendance.
Other Texas counties have recently engaged in litigation against pharmaceutical companies concerning the opioid epidemic.
Lawyers with the Dallas-based firm Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett P.C. filed a similar suit on behalf of Upshur County on Sept. 29, making it the first lawsuit by a Texas governmental body against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid epidemic, which was declared a national emergency by President Donald Trump last week. Bowie and Hopkins counties have since joined the firm’s suit.
“There is no denying that we have an opioid crisis in America and that the human misery and financial damage it causes is enormous,” said Jeffrey Simon, a Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett attorney, in a statement. “Although accidental overdoses have become the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50, the pharmaceutical industry has not been fully held accountable for its role in creating this epidemic.”

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Lawrence County to Sue Over Opioid Crisis

Oct 31, 2017 | WCN 24/7 News (PA)

By Staff

Lawrence County is joining other counties in Pennsylvania in legal action against pharmaceutical companies for allegedly contributing to the opioid addiction crisis. Lawrence County commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to file the lawsuit citing a spike in local drug-related deaths.
“We just pulled the records for the past 6 months and the county did 80 forensic autopsies and the clear majority of those were people who died from opioid overdoses,” said Lawrence County Commissioner Steve Craig (D).The commission voted to officially move forward with the lawsuit during a meeting held at Westminster College in New Wilmington.
Craig explained the problem is stressing the county court system, child and youth services, first responders and law enforcement, and the coroner’s office.
“It’s just not a cost to the county, it’s a cost to the community. Of those over 80 (deaths), those are all somebody’s mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, and child, all lost to this crisis.
Last week neighboring Beaver County was the third local government in the state to sue pharmaceutical companies based on claims manufacturers bear responsibility for the thousands of overdoses nationally in recent years.
Most of the companies being sued have said they’re already taking steps to curb opioid abuse.

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Quincy plans to sue ‘Big Pharma’

Oct 31, 2017 | The Patriot Ledger (MA)

By Sean Philip COtter

The City of Quincy has contracted a big D.C. law firm to sue pharmaceutical companies, saying that the corporations have responsibility for the rise in drug addiction over the past several years.
“It seems to me Big Pharma has been getting away from this for a long time,” said Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch, referring to the giant pharmaceutical companies.
The city has not yet filed a complaint to begin the lawsuit, but they just signed a contract with law firm Motley Rice, and they plan to go ahead with the suit after some further work between the city and attorneys, Koch said on Tuesday.
The city is still working to determine which companies it will sue, the mayor said. The city plans to allege that some combination of drug manufacturers and distributors undersold the addictive nature of opioids and misled prescribers about the risks and research about drugs. Koch said that helped open the floodgates for opioids, which are synthetic drugs such as oxycodone and fentanyl that mimic the effects of opium and are often used by doctors as anesthetics and pain relievers.
“The big elephant in the room has been the pills,” the mayor said. “It’s too easy to get pills.”
The city will be seeking both injunctive relief and monetarily damages. Basically, the city is looking for the courts to order the companies to behave differently, and for the corporations to have to pay money to Quincy. Koch said the city is working to put a number on the total monetary cost to city services caused by drug issues, and they will ask the courts to force the pharmaceutical companies to pay for all of it.
The city, state and country have seen overdoses spike in recent years. Quincy Police began carrying Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses, in 2010, and officers as of this October had used it to save 175 people in 2017, already well more than in 2016.
That possibility of receiving some direct damages is one of the reasons why the city is suing rather than leaving it up to states’ attorneys general to bring suits the way they did in the 1990s against tobacco companies, which ended up having to pay out hundreds of billions of dollars to the states.
“It’s at the local level where all this stuff hits,” Koch said.
Koch noted the recent investigation by news program 60 Minutes and The Washington Post newspaper into the influence of the pharmaceutical industry in federal politics and policy. The episode, which aired Oct. 15, included former Drug Enforcement Administration officials blaming manufacturers and distributors for the current opioid epidemic, and it led to Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Marino, who had introduced legislation to make prescribing opioids easier, to withdraw his name from consideration as President Donald Trump’s drug czar.
“That showed they have very heavy influence over congress in this country,” Koch said of pharmaceutical lobbyists.
Koch said it’s still to be determined whether the suit ends up being a class-action suit and whether it’s filed on the state level, the federal level, or both.
Motley Rice is no stranger to headline-grabbing class-action lawsuits. Its founders led the multi-billion-dollar successful suit against tobacco companies in the 1990s, and the firm continues to represent families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a lawsuit against the perpetrators.
The city will not be paying Motley Rice a fee, but the firm is entitled to 25 percent of any damages a court might award the city.
Linda Singer, a former attorney general of Washington, D.C., is working with the city on the impending lawsuit. She could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Over the past few months, various governmental bodies have begun to take pharmaceutical companies to court. Motley Rice is dealing with a number of them, including suits from the City of Chicago and the states of South Carolina, New Hampshire, Alaska and Kentucky.
A group of 39 state attorneys general announced in June that they are conducting an investigation into whether distributors and manufacturers of opioids were using practices of deceptive marketing and improper tracking and reporting. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy’s office on Tuesday said the investigation, which Healy part of, remains ongoing.
Her office and the other attorneys general are looking into drug manufacturers Purdue Pharma, Endo, Janssen, Teva and Allergan and distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, the investigators announced in September.

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Louisiana attorney general wants to take over opioid lawsuit

Oct 31, 2017 | Associated Press

By Staff

Louisiana’s attorney general is trying to take control of a lawsuit filed by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration accusing pharmaceutical companies of worsening opioid abuse in the state.
The Advocate reports that Attorney General Jeff Landry wants to expand the lawsuit. He also wants to hire Mike Moore, the former Mississippi attorney general who shepherded a national action against tobacco manufacturers in 1990s that settled for billions of dollars.
Landry’s office filed a document Monday evening asking the Baton Rouge-based state district court to allow the attorney general to “supersede” the Louisiana Department of Health.
The health department’s lawsuit, filed Sept. 27 in Baton Rouge against more than a dozen pharmaceutical firms, accuses the companies of “an orchestrated campaign to flood Louisiana” with highly-addictive opioids to boost their profits. The lawsuit seeks damages for payments made through the Medicaid program for what it describes as excessive opioid prescriptions and for treatment costs tied to opioid abuse.
Landry’s office says the issue is larger than its impact on the Medicaid program and the lawsuit should include broader allegations, such as increased costs to the state’s criminal justice and education systems, the impact on social services and the loss of workforce productivity.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Bill Stiles estimates opioid-related costs to the state at about $160 million annually.
“The subject of the suit, the opioid crisis in Louisiana, is a matter of state interest which has far-reaching effects beyond the burdens placed on our healthcare resources,” Landry’s office wrote in the court filing.
Edwards, a Democrat, and Landry, a Republican, have repeatedly clashed since taking office in 2016. Landry is seen as a possible challenger to Edwards in the 2019 election.
The attorney general’s office says it was unaware of the lawsuit until the Edwards administration filed it, clashing with efforts underway by Landry for similar litigation.
The attorney general had asked Moore to help Louisiana put together litigation against the drug manufacturers and distributors like Moore had done in Mississippi and Ohio. Attorneys general in eight other states have filed lawsuits raising similar legal issues.
“I’m hopeful we don’t get into a technical fight about who has the authority to bring a case,” Moore said. “It’s tough enough going after these big industries without having a sideshow in your own state.”
Edwards’ executive counsel Matthew Block said he and the attorney general’s office had been in discussions before Landry’s latest court filing about the attorney general helping out with the administration’s lawsuit and bringing on Moore as an adviser. The governor wants to collaborate on the lawsuit, Block said.

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Commentary and FYIs

Activists: drugmakers, distributors liable for opioids abuse

Nov 1, 2017 | Modern Medicine

By Christine Blank

Soon after President Donald Trump announced declared the opioid abuse crisis a “public health emergency,” shareholder activist groups said they aim to hold drug manufacturers and distributors liable for their part in the crisis.
Leaders of a 30-fund group that includes state pension officials and religious and labor organizations said they are filing shareholder resolutions at 10 companies, including distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Cardinal Health, along with manufacturers such as Johnson & Johnson and Insys Therapeutics, Reuters reported.
Federal prosecutors also charged John Kapoor, the founder of Insys, with participating in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe a particularly potent opioid. A lawyer for Kapoor said in a statement that Kapoor is innocent and will fight the charges, Reuters reported.
The shareholder activists seek corporate-governance reforms including allowing more grounds to claw back pay from executives who inappropriately promote opioid painkillers and creating independent board chairs to provide better oversight. They are also urging independent directors to review and report on how the boards are managing the legal, financial and reputational risks their enterprises face from their involvement with opioids.
“We believe these companies have played an important role in this epidemic,” Donna Meyer, director of shareholder advocacy for Mercy Investment Services, an investment fund for Roman Catholic nuns that is leading the push against drugmakers and distributors, told Reuters. The UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, which oversees benefits for about 700,000 retirees of the United Auto Workers, is another group involved in the campaign.
Late last week, Trump declared the opioid crisis a “public national health emergency”, which does not automatically direct additional federal funding to combat the crisis, CNN reported.
However, federal agencies will be directed to devote more grant money already in their budget to the problem and take "action to overcome bureaucratic delays and inefficiencies in the hiring process," according to a fact sheet on Trump's order.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Health will face a resolution calling for an independent board chair in order to improve oversight at its annual meeting on November 8.
“These considerations are especially critical at Cardinal given the potential reputational, legal and regulatory risks Cardinal faces over its role in the nation’s opioid epidemic, including its history of compliance challenges concerning the distribution of controlled substances,” the resolution’s sponsors, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said in a supporting statement.
The statement cited Cardinal’s payment of tens of millions of dollar to settle various federal and state charges related to opioids, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, AmerisourceBergen “welcomes a productive dialogue with all shareholders,” Spokeswoman Keri Mattox said. “The issue of opioid abuse is a complex one that spans the full healthcare spectrum, including manufacturers, wholesalers, insurers, prescribers, pharmacists and regulatory and enforcement agencies.”

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The Rannazzisi File: Congress Fuels Opioid Crisis

Nov 1, 2017 | Townhall

By Bob Barr

In the childhood fairy tale Snow White, the magic mirror from which the evil queen seeks reassurance of her beauty never lies, much to her ultimate fury. In a contemporary story - definitely not a fairy tale - an expert on opioid abuse is forcing the Congress to look into the mirror, and realize that it is to blame, at least in part, for the tragedy of opioid abuse that is ravaging our nation.
In many respects, the opioid epidemic is more insidious than other problems the Drug Enforcement Administration has confronted. For starters, there is no typical “opioid” user; addicts range from wealthy suburbanites to inner city poor. Nor does the distribution chain resemble anything like that of cocaine or marijuana. Manufacturers are not South American “narcos,” but Fortune 500 companies. Dealers are not carrying burner phones and standing on street corners, but instead, wear stethoscopes and run offices with full-time staffs.
For officials like Joe Rannazzisi, who once spearheaded the government’s efforts to fight opioid abuse at the DEA, the challenge was immediate and immense. He took action, and it cost him his job.
Last month, Rannazzisi was interviewed on the CBS flagship program 60 Minutes as a part of a joint investigation with the Washington Post into America’s opioid crisis. Rannazzisi painted a disturbing picture of how multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical distributors diverted hundreds of millions of opioid prescription pills from manufacturers to so-called “pill mill” pain clinics, which serve as fronts for unscrupulous doctors to write fraudulent prescriptions. When prosecuting individual providers proved ineffective, Rannazzisi relied on the DEA’s regulatory power to investigate and fine distributors. These companies are required by law to make a “good faith effort” to report suspicious orders to the DEA so action can be taken; instead the companies often just look the other way rather than risk cutting off the money spigot from such sales.
For a time, the Rannazzisi strategy was effective; resulting in huge fines against some of the opioid industry’s largest players. Unfortunately, his efforts also drew the industry’s ire, precipitating a lobbying effort designed to convince conservative members of Congress that the DEA was interfering in the free commerce of legitimate business. Eventually, says Rannazzisi, even his superiors at the DEA started to push back on his team; and the number of cases being pursued plummeted, even as opioid deaths continued to rise.
The final straw came in 2015, when a bill written by a former DEA official then working for “Big Pharma,” raised the standard of proof required by the DEA before it could investigate suspicious orders, to a near-impossible level. The primary sponsors were Tom Marino (R-PA) in the House and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in the Senate.
Objections by the DEA and Rannazzisi himself were insufficient to match the $102 million spent lobbying Congress; the bill passed both Houses last year by unanimous consent and was signed without publicity by President Obama. Rannazzisi by then had retired after a 30-year career at the DEA after a heated exchange with Marino and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) led to accusations he was attempting to “intimidate the United States Congress.” Coincidentally (or, perhaps not), both Blackburn and Marino received sizeable donations from pharmaceutical distributors that year.
In the end, it was Congress that proved to be the DEA’s biggest foe in slowing opioid diversion and abuse. “If it had been the intent of Congress to completely eliminate the DEA’s ability to ever impose an immediate suspension on distributors or manufacturers, it would be difficult to conceive of a more effective vehicle for achieving that goal,” Chief DEA Administrative Law Judge John J. Mulrooney II will state in an upcoming Law Review article acquired in advance by the Washington Post.
There is, of course, a line that must be drawn that prevents the government from directly interfering with, or limiting, the ability of doctors to treat patients with a pain management regimen best for the patients; and, prescription opioids have proven to be one of the best options for such treatment. However, there is a clear difference between bad legislation that hamstrings healthcare providers and the Marino bill that effectively robbed the DEA of any ability to uphold what was already the law targeting drug distributors.
The opioid epidemic is not going away on its own. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that nearly 80 percent of heroin users today first abuse opioid prescriptions obtained primarily by family, friends, or personal prescriptions. It is a vicious spiral that can only be broken by a multi-faceted approach. Accomplishing this, however, is being made needlessly more difficult by congressional actions such as the 2016 bill that hamstrung the DEA’s regulatory arm.

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McKesson gives White House 11 tips on how to fight opioid epidemic

Nov 1, 2017 | Health Data Management

By Joseph Goedert

McKesson Corporation, the largest pharmaceutical distributor in the nation, sent a letter on Tuesday to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie—who serves the Trump Administration as chair of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis—with a series of policy and technology recommendations to enhance the fight against addiction.
“Our country’s opioid abuse epidemic is affecting communities across America at increasingly alarming rates,” Pete Slone, senior vice president of public affairs at McKesson, told Christie. “The opioid epidemic is a complicated, multi-faceted public health crisis that cannot be solved by any one stakeholder. We believe it needs to be addressed through a comprehensive approach that includes the doctors, patients, pharmacists, insurance companies, government payers, distributors, manufacturers, law enforcement and regulators.”
McKesson’s recommendations include:
• Requiring all payers and providers to use opioid management programs;
• Requiring e-prescribing for all controlled substances across the nation;
• Harnessing the Food and Drug Administration’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies program;
• Fully leveraging data analytics to identify patients most at risk;
• Integrating a National Patient Safety Network into the pharmacy dispensing process, including cash prescriptions and prescriber e-prescribing processes;
• Improving information sharing among prescription drug monitoring programs;
• Permitting partial refills to reduce risks associated with an excess of unused pills;
• Requiring the Drug Enforcement Agency to work closely with industry and medical and pain communities to revisit the annual quota on the production of opioids;
• Enacting a national policy to limit the number of opioids prescribed, such as PhRMA’s recent proposal to limit pills to a seven-day supply for acute pain treatment;
• Prioritizing a National Patient Safety Network for Safe Dispensing and Prescribing of Opioids; and
• Leveraging the expertise and experience of pharmacists to address the opioid epidemic.
“Education alone, however, is insufficient to fully address the opioid crisis,” Slone continued. “To make the most informed dispensing decisions, pharmacists need robust, real-time information that can draw upon and analyze data across all 50 states.”
The tool to achieve this, Slone adds, is a National Patient Safety Network that would identify red flags and alert dispensers when patient safety issues are identified. “For example, in instances where there may be non-medical use of opioids, the Network would notify the pharmacist who could voluntarily check the prescription monitoring program before prescribing.”
The commission’s final report to the President is expected this week. The panel issued an interim report at the end of July, which called on Trump to declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency and recommended—among other recommendations—that the federal government provide funding and technical support to states to improve interstate data sharing between state-run prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) to better track prescriptions written for addictive medications.

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It's Time for Pharma to Take Responsibility for Opioid Deaths (EDITORIAL)

Nov 1, 2017 | MedPage Today

By Lynne Peterson

One of the current villains in the opioid epidemic is pharma marketing. It is as if the country just woke up and realized that marketing by opioid manufacturers is contributing to – or possibly responsible for – the problem.
What bothers me about this?
In 2001 – that's 16 years ago, yes 16 years -- 13 young people in my area of Florida died in opioid-related deaths. They all reportedly got their drugs from the same doctor, a general practitioner with a one-doctor practice in a strip mall. Kids lined up every day to pay their $65 office visit fee and get their prescriptions.
At a visit about a week before he died, this doctor wrote my then healthy son prescriptions for 100 oxycodone, 120 hydromorphone, and 100 Xanax (alprazolam). My son tried to report her for drug dealing, telling the county prosecutor and a county drug court judge what she was doing.
My son didn't live to see what they did, which was to conduct a sting on that doctor and catch her on tape.
She was tried and convicted of manslaughter, a decision that was later overturned. A retrial ended in a hung jury. She avoided a third trial with a negotiated plea that prevented her from practicing medicine again.
The doctor's insurance company called the victims' families and proactively settled with all of them to the limits of the doctor's policy. It wasn't much, but the families didn't have to litigate or fight for the money.
Yet, one of the things that truly bothered me through all of this was that the amount of opioids this doctor prescribed was so outrageously high. In a single year, she reportedly wrote more than $1 million in Medicaid prescriptions for OxyContin (oxycodone).
How could Purdue Pharma not know?
How could the Purdue sales rep, whose salary was likely volume-based, not know?
And how could they not think something was wrong with a single practitioner in a strip mall office – not a pain clinic – writing prescriptions for that many opioids?
"About 9 million hydrocodone pills were shipped over 2 years to a single pharmacy in a rural town of fewer than 400 people," the Huffington Post reported last week. When I read that, I thought again of that Florida doctor tied to my son's death.
And I wondered how many more doctors there are that Purdue and other opioid makers know exist, yet do nothing to control?
The drug makers say it is not their job to police the doctors, but I think it is.
They police copycats, patent breaches, trade secrets, but don't protect the patients their drugs are designed to help.
I am not anti-opioids, and I have not written about this before.
I have family members who today take opioids responsibly from appropriate sources.
There is not a single villain in the opioid story, but why has it taken 16 years to realize that pharma must take some of the blame?

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Trump opioid panel ducks question of new money

Nov 1, 2017 | Politico

By Brianna Ehley & Sarah Karlin Smith

President Donald Trump’s opioid commission will call Wednesday for big boosts in substance abuse treatment programs but stop short of asking for new funding that federal and state officials say is critical to pay for such programs.
The commission, led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, will recommend the Trump administration increase access to addiction treatment and recovery programs, expand the availability of medication-assisted therapies and expand first responders' ability to administer the life-saving overdose reversal drug, naloxone, according to a draft of the commission’s final report obtained by POLITICO.
But the draft recommendations don't include asking Congress to appropriate new dollars to tackle the crisis.
The commission’s final meeting and report come just one week after Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency — a move seen as a largely symbolic gesture that provided no new funding.
Administration officials have characterized the declaration as a jumping off point and said the president would incorporate recommendations from the commission. Assistant Secretary for Mental Health Elinore McCance-Katz told a congressional committee last week that the Trump administration was committed to “bringing everything to bear” to respond to the opioid epidemic.
While the panel acknowledges that lack of funding is the main barrier to implementation, it doesn't lay out a figure, project how long money will be needed or where it should come from.
The report says, for example, the “principal factors” limiting the expansion of drug courts are insufficient funding, treatment and supervision resources, not a lack of interest.
It also emphasizes the need for “significant funding,” to increase the number of doctors trained in addiction medicine and to fund research on new pain, overdose reversal and addiction treatments.
The report also says federal funding is needed to help states share data from their prescription drug monitoring programs and recommends funding for a national media campaign that would address the stigma surrounding addiction and the danger of opioids.
It further calls for restoring funding for surveys of chronic drug users and morbidity information that Congress struck, including the Drug Abuse Warning Network that tracked drug mentions in hospital emergency rooms until 2011.
The panel acknowledges existing sources of funding, including $1 billion over two years authorized in the 21st Century Cures Act, which state officials and advocacy groups say is inadequate to the problem.
Advocates and policy experts say without new resources, most of the panel’s recommendations will be difficult to fully implement.
“It’s great to have good ideas but you need money to implement them,” said Chuck Ingoglia, vice president of public policy at the National Council for Behavioral Health. “How do any of these things get paid for?”
A member of the opioid commission, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, told POLITICO in August, that any effective response to the epidemic will need new money. “It’s going to need support from Congress," he said.
Some advocates say it’s not the opioid commission’s responsibility, but rather Congress’s job, to sort out the funding issues.
Andrew Kessler, who runs a Washington, D.C., consulting firm specializing in behavioral health, said he’s not “going to get worked up” over the report lacking specific funding details. “I don’t think that’s their job,” Kessler explain. Congress should now take their ideas and come up with the appropriate funding amounts.
But last week, administration officials seemed to imply the White House was looking to the commission to help it come up with an appropriate request. White House officials said there is an “ongoing discussion” with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about funding to address the emergency.
The commission does make recommendations for how to distribute federal funding for the crisis. It calls on Congress and the White House to block grant money to the states to streamline the complicated application process states currently must follow for different programs.
Current opioid and addiction resources are fragmented and provided by different agencies with their own application requirements and reporting mechanisms, the commission said, creating a “tremendous” burden for states.
To track funding, the commission recommended the Office of National Drug Control Policy establish a system to monitor all federally funded efforts, using HHS and SAMHSA's regional directors.
But advocates say such proposals are meaningless without detailing where the funding will come from. Some are worried that the administration will simply shift money around at the expense of existing programs.
Some question the purpose of Trump's commission altogether, since many of its recommendations — like the need to increase access to treatment programs — rehash oft-made proposals that have never gone anywhere.
"Regarding the commission — thank you for reaffirming what we already knew," Ingoglia said.

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Broadcast Media Coverage

ABC 17 News at 5

Oct 31, 2017 | KMIZ (ABC)

By Columbia, MO

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30415347?token=de5d18a3-8c08-4fe6-98a5-68aef7fd5ecd
Rough Transcript: Attorney General Josh Hawley is suing companies for deceptive opioid marketing. those three - purdue pharma, endo health solutions and janssenpharmaceuticals - have now filed a motion to dismiss his lawsuit. the motion indicates the ag's office used few facts to support that the companies committed fraud - that hawley's suit is based on conduct of third parties that allegedly received funding from the companies - but hawley says he's confident. absolutely we have the facts. we feel very confident we have the facts that show that these manufacturers deliberately engaged in a multi year marketing campaign to doctors and also to consumers where they misrepresented the 6:13 PMnature of these drugs. just last week, president donald trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency - but that didn't declare much funding for it...missouri attorney general josh hawley says they have the facts to prove three opioid manufacturers misrepresented the products they sold. hawley filed his petition this past summer - but thre three manufacturers filed a motion to dismiss his petion - saying his office did not have specific facts about the alleged fraud. abc17's sara maslar-donar joins us live from our jefferson city newsroom after talking with the attorney general. sara - he says they plan to go to court. 6:12 PMhe did, lucas/ashley. despite what the companies say in this motion to dismiss i have right here, he says they feel quote absolutely in the right about their claims that these three companies misrepresented the nature of their drugs. this past summer, attorney general josh hawley sued three drug manufacturing.... hawley says despite this, the president is taking a good first step. i want to be grateful for what the white house is diong and say ths is good. the president is shining attention on the issue, it needs the attentino, this shouldbe a nationwide focus. on the topic of the lawsuit - two of the three companies - endo health and janssen pharmaceuticals - both sent me responses today. endo says it does not comment on pending litigation but will continue to defend against the claims. janssen says the allegations are legally and factually unfounded. reporting live in jefferson city, sara maslar- donar, abc17 news. and the attorney general did announce today he is sending what amounts to subpeaonas for documents from three additional drug distribution companies. he says they did not report... suspiciously large shipments of opioids.

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Local News at 5pm

Nov 1, 2017 | KCEN (NBC)

By Waco, TX

Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/30415340?token=de5d18a3-8c08-4fe6-98a5-68aef7fd5ecd
Rough Transcript: McLennan county is joining a number of other Texas counties suing the country's largest opioid manufacturers. those companies include purdue pharma and johnson and johnson. in the federal complaint obtained by channel 6, McLennan county commissioners allege the opioid industry used a marketing scheme to deceive doctors and used front groups to promote opioids as a means of treating chronic pain, while downplaying the risks. the county is seeking both punitive and exemplary damages, along with restitution for local customers who bought opioids for chronic pain. in the last few weeks-- dozens of counties across the country along with several states have also sued these drug manufacturers

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