Preview Newsletter
Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 1/23/18
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Warwick Joins Fourteen-Community Lawsuit Against Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors
Jan 23, 2018 | Warwick Post (RI)
By Rob Borkowski
Lt. Governor Dan McKee joined Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian and the mayors of five other Rhode Island communities during a Monday press conference to announce a pending lawsuit against five pharmaceutical manufacturers and three pharmaceutical distributors they say helped cause the national opioid addiction crisis. -
14 RI communities join national lawsuit against opioid distributors, manufacturers
Jan 22, 2018 | WRPI (RI)
By Steph Machado & Sarah Dioron
Fourteen municipalities in Rhode Island are now joining a national lawsuit against opioid distributors and manufacturers, saying the companies knowingly fueled the opioid crisis. -
RI towns to sue drugmakers
Jan 22, 2018 | NBC 10 (RI)
By Bill Rappleye
Rhode Island had more than 300 drug overdose deaths in 2016, and many times more responses by police and fire to overdoses that were not fatal. -
14 RI communities join suit against opioid drug manufacturers and distributors
Jan 22, 2018 | ABC 6 News (RI)
By Samantha Fenlon
Lt. Governor Dan McKee is leading the charge behind a federal public nuisance lawsuit filed by 14 communities here in Rhode Island against manufacturers and distributors of opioid drugs. -
R.I. communities sue opioid manufacturers, distributors as public nuisances
Jan 23, 2018 | Providence Business News (RI)
By Rob Borkowski
Fourteen Rhode Island communities led by Lt. Gov. Dan McKee have filed a public nuisance lawsuit against five of the largest pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and the three largest wholesale drug distributors, companies that McKee and community leaders say made the opioid epidemic possible. -
Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes declares war on drugmakers for fueling opioid-addiction epidemic as 2018 Legislature opens
Jan 22, 2018 | The Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
By Lee Davidson and Taylor W. Anderson
House Speaker Greg Hughes opened the 2018 Legislature Monday by declaring war on opiate drugmakers for doing little to prevent addiction — and by urging part-time legislators to seek more power against the full-time governor. -
Legislative session begins with confusion over possible Utah opioid lawsuit
Jan 22, 2018 | Good4Utah (UT)
By Glen Beeby
The Utah Legislative session is officially underway and there are already more than 1,200 bill requests. -
Greg Hughes Opens Legislature With Call To Battle Big Pharma Over Opioid Crisis
Jan 23, 2018 | KUER (UT)
By Julia Ritchey
Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes opened the first day of the 2018 legislative session telling lawmakers to brace themselves for a fire-hose of tough issues, including taking on opioid makers. -
The Utah State Legislature kicks off with a lawsuit threat against Big Pharma
Jan 22, 2018 | FOX 13 (UT)
By Ben Winslow
The Utah State Legislature convened on Monday with lawmakers pledging to tackle a nearly $17 billion dollar budget and more than a thousand pieces of legislation. -
Reyes says lawsuit in opioid crisis is coming, but not quite yet
Jan 22, 2018 | Utah Policy (UT)
By Bob Bernick
GOP Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said Monday that Utah will be in the mix, either through a lawsuit or negotiated settlement, for some big bucks from Big Pharma, over the drug manufacturers flooding the market with opioid painkillers that have devastated some Utah and U.S. families, killing thousands each year. -
Walsh exploring litigation against pharmaceutical companies for opioid crisis
Jan 22, 2018 | Boston Globe (MA)
By Martha Schick
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Monday he is considering litigation against several pharmaceutical companies, saying they “irresponsibly saturated the market with opiates, knowingly putting consumers at risk for addiction.” -
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh considers suing pharmaceutical companies over opioid crisis
Jan 22, 2018 | MassLive (MA)
By Gintautas Dumcius
Boston is exploring litigation against pharmaceutical companies that "irresponsibly saturated the market with opiates, knowingly putting consumers at risk for addition," Mayor Marty Walsh's office said Monday. -
Making drugmakers pay for opioid crisis
Jan 23, 2018 | Boston Herald (MA)
By Dan Atkinson
Mayor Martin J. Walsh is putting pharmaceutical companies “on notice” and is looking to join cities and towns across the country in a massive lawsuit that could recoup the costs of dealing with the opioid epidemic that has killed thousands across the Bay State. -
Boston Mayor May Sue Drug Makers Over Opioid Crisis
Jan 22, 2018 | NECN (MA)
By Kaitlin McKinley Becker
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh could take pharmaceutical companies to court for their alleged role in the opioid crisis. -
City of Sullivan to file suit against opioid makers, distributors
Jan 22, 2018 | Tribune Star (IL)
By Staff
The city of Sullivan is joining the legal battle against opioid makers and distributors. -
Lake County sues pain pill companies for alleged role in causing opioid epidemic
Jan 22, 2018 | NWI (IN)
By Steve Garrison
Lake County joined the city of Hammond and dozens of other municipalities across the nation Friday in suing opioid manufacturers and distributors for their alleged role in the opioid addiction crisis. -
Johnson & Johnson Results Driven by Pharmaceutical Sales Growth
Jan 23, 2018 | Dow Jones
By Allison Prang
Johnson & Johnson reported an increase in sales for its fourth quarter, largely spurred by its pharmaceutical business, but reported a loss because of effects from the new tax law. -
County executive, Speaker of the House to host opioid roundtable discussion
Jan 22, 2018 | Daily Gazette (MD)
By Chase Cook
County and state legislators are joining together Tuesday for a roundtable discussion on the county’s response to opioid deaths and overdoses. -
Cuomo Blasts Opioid Manufacturers For Drug Epidemic
Jan 22, 2018 | Jewish Press
By Staff
Unveiling his state budget for the 2019 fiscal year Tuesday afternoon in Albany, Governor Andrew Cuomo took a strong stand against substance abuse, blaming drug manufacturers for the opioid epidemic and allocating millions in funding to the state’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. -
Can commissioner Scott Gottlieb undo FDA missteps in opioid crisis?
Jan 23, 2018 | NBC News
By Cynthia McFadden, Brenda Breslauer & Tracy Connor
When the FDA took steps this month to put limits on opioid cough medicine for children, it was the latest sign of an agency crackdown on a class of painkillers that has taken thousands upon thousands of American lives. -
Lawsuits blaming medicine distributors for opioid crisis makes no sense (EDITORIAL)
Jan 22, 2018 | MassLive (MA)
By Belle Rita Novak
An article in Saturday's paper about lawsuits against medicine distributors and pharmaceutical manufacturers for costs related to the opioid crisis has me scratching my head, "We aren't willing to be scapegoats," page A1. -
5 myths about opioids (EDITORIAL)
Jan 22, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Adrian Fugh-Berman
When I was in medical training in the 1980s, physicians were taught that opioids were useful but dangerous drugs that should be used only for severe injuries, after surgery or in terminally ill patients. Since the 1990s, however, pharmaceutical companies have systematically distorted perceptions about opioids, through paid speakers, sponsored “education” and bought-off organizations. Opioid manufacturers are directly responsible for the current opioid addiction epidemic and continue spreading misinformation that will feed rather than stem this epidemic. -
Trump has had a year to confront the opioid epidemic. He’s done almost nothing (EDITORIAL).
Jan 23, 2018 | Vox
By German Lopez
If you listen to President Donald Trump’s words about the opioid epidemic, he seems to understand it’s an emergency. He declared it as one late in 2017. And he has repeatedly promised, as president and on the campaign trail, that he will do something about it — that he would “spend the money,” and that “the number of drug users and the addicted will start to tumble downward over a period of years.” -
Kentucky attorney general sues national opioid distributor
Jan 22, 2018 | Associated Press
By Staff
Kentucky’s Democratic attorney general has sued a national opioid distributor for allegedly using misleading business practices to flood the state with dangerous and highly addictive prescription painkillers. -
Industry’s Need to Understand the President’s Opioid Commission (EDITORIAL)
Jan 22, 2018 | New Jersey Law Journal (NJ)
By David J. Marella
As you undoubtedly know, the United States is in the midst of a worsening health crisis due to the use and misuse of licit and illicit opioids, a crisis that will have a broadening impact on numerous businesses and organizations in New Jersey. Because the current opioid epidemic is considered to be the worst public health crisis in modern American history, President Donald Trump in early 2017 established by executive order the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Chaired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the bipartisan Commission was tasked to study the scope and effectiveness of the federal response to the opioid crisis and to recommend improvements. -
Gov. Haslam announces $30M plan to fight opioid epidemic in Tennessee
Jan 22, 2018 | WJHL (TN)
By Staff
Governor Bill Haslam announced Monday a plan to end the opioid epidemic in Tennessee. -
Boston 25 Morning News at 9AM
Jan 23, 2018 | WFXT (Fox)
By Boston, MA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189573?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e -
Good Morning Utah
Jan 23, 2018 | KTVX (ABC)
By Salt Lake City, UT
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189581?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e -
necn THIS MORNING
Jan 23, 2018 | NECN (NEWSENG)
By Boston, MA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189599?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e -
7 Action News This Morning on TV20 Detroit
Jan 23, 2018 | WMYD (MNT)
By Detroit, MI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189602?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e -
Today Show
Jan 23, 2018 | WNBC (NBC)
By New York, NY
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189612?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e -
ABC6 News at 6am
Jan 23, 2018 | WLNE (ABC)
By Providence, RI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189760?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e -
Local 33 News Today
Jan 23, 2018 | WVLA (NBC)
By Baton Rouge, LA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189773?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e -
Eyewitness News at 10
Jan 22, 2018 | WNAC (Fox)
By Providence, RI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189791?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rhode Island Municipalities Suit
West (UT)
Northeast (MA)
Midwest (IL, IN)
Commentary and FYIs
Broadcast Media Coverage
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Warwick Joins Fourteen-Community Lawsuit Against Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors
Jan 23, 2018 | Warwick Post (RI)
By Rob Borkowski
Lt. Governor Dan McKee joined Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian and the mayors of five other Rhode Island communities during a Monday press conference to announce a pending lawsuit against five pharmaceutical manufacturers and three pharmaceutical distributors they say helped cause the national opioid addiction crisis.
Joining McKee and Avedisian were Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien, North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi, Cumberland Mayor William Murray and Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena. In all, fourteen communities will join the suit against the companies.
The manufacturers to be named in the suit are Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, Allergan, Activis and Watson Pharmaceuticals.
The distributors to be named in the suit are McKesson , Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation.
McKee said the manufacturing companies 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.
Those duties were established by the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which requires the companies to monitor, identify and report suspicious activity in the size and frequency of opioid shipments to pharmacies and hospitals.
In Rhode Island, which has the seventh highest opioid overdose death rate in the US at 30.8 percent with 326 deaths in 2016.
“In the last three years alone, 80 residents in my community lost their lives to overdoses. That’s 80 of our friends, neighbors and co-workers. It’s heartbreaking and it’s unacceptable,” said Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian. “As Mayor, it’s my job to fight for the safety of every citizen.”
Avedisian said he has created a five member committee chaired by Police Chief Colonel Stephen McCartney and my Chief of Staff Raymond Studley, the retired Lt. Colonel of the Rhode Island State Police; Captain Joseph Hopkins of the Warwick Police Department; Councilwoman Donna Travis, who has been a long time leader of Warwick’s Substance Abuse Task Force; and Patricia Seltzer, Warwick’s community wellness nurse, he said.
“This diverse group of people brings knowledge from a variety of backgrounds, all of which have directly dealt with this crisis. I am confident that any funding we are able to obtain will be used wisely to help treatment and prevention of opioid misuse.”
Avedisian also made suggestions for potential activities that he hopes the committee would consider using funding derived from any settlement of the lawsuit. “The purchase of Narcan for use by members of Warwick’s police and fire departments, continuing the strong working relationship between the City’s police department and the mental health outreach work of the Providence Center. Also, the continuation of the pilot Vivitrol program that the Kent Re-entry Council operates with the Department of Corrections and the Adult Correctional Institution, as well as the programs that Captain Hopkins and the Opioid Task Force have identified as priorities,” he continued.
Agencies like Bridgemark Addiction Recovery Services, Westbay Community Action, Comprehensive Community Action, Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center, Kent Center, and others have long been part of the social service community response in Warwick. Avedisian said he wants to continue to find and fund projects that will help eliminate both the use and stigma associated with opioid use and recovery efforts.
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14 RI communities join national lawsuit against opioid distributors, manufacturers
Jan 22, 2018 | WRPI (RI)
By Steph Machado & Sarah Dioron
Fourteen municipalities in Rhode Island are now joining a national lawsuit against opioid distributors and manufacturers, saying the companies knowingly fueled the opioid crisis.
The federal public nuisance lawsuit asks for damages to cover the costs of enforcement, treatment and prevention of the opiate epidemic. Lt. Governor Dan McKee said he is leading the charge, with 14 towns and cities in Rhode Island filing individual claims.
“As lieutenant governor and a former municipal leader, I am determined to do everything in my power to stop this epidemic from further destroying the lives of the people of Rhode Island. Ending this crisis is going to take a major collective effort that involves municipal, state and federal leaders, lawmakers, doctors, law enforcement and health officials coming together to find workable solutions,” McKee said. “But until we address the source of this epidemic and force drug makers and distributors to follow the law, our cities and towns will continue to face an uphill battle.”
In the 168-page federal lawsuit, the plaintiffs state a purpose “to recoup monies that have been spent because of Defendants’ false, deceptive and unfair marketing and/or unlawful diversion of prescription drugs.”
The named defendants are McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Perdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and its subsidiary Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, Allergan, Activis and Watson Pharmaceuticals.
The pharmaceutical industry has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“This lawsuit is going to send a message that we will no longer sit idly by as these overdoses continue to rise,” Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien said.
“In the last three years alone, 80 residents in my community lost their lives to overdoses,” said Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian. “That’s 80 of our friends, neighbors and co-workers. It’s heartbreaking and it’s unacceptable.”
The lawsuit is not a class-action, so each city and town will file its own claim regarding how the opiate epidemic has affected its residents. The municipalities currently signed on are Barrington, Bristol, Burrillville, Central Falls, Coventry, Cumberland, East Providence, Johnston, North Providence, Pawtucket, Richmond, Warwick, West Greenwich and West Warwick.
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s spokesperson said the mayor’s scheduler did not receive a formal invite to Monday’s event, and the mayor had a previous commitment. Press secretary Victor Morente applauded the efforts of the group and said Providence’s law department was also preparing to take legal action.
Cranston Mayor Allan Fung also did not attend the event, but his spokesperson Mark Schieldrop said the city council would hear a presentation about the lawsuit and the city would consider joining.
Hundreds of other cities, towns and counties across the country are also getting involved in the federal lawsuit. The claims will first be heard as a group in the Northern District of Ohio, according to attorney Archie Lamb.
“We’re holding them accountable for poisoning the communities and addicting people and destroying lives,” Lamb said. “They knew when they sent that pill…that they were going to addict people and ruin their lives.”
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Jan 22, 2018 | NBC 10 (RI)
By Bill Rappleye
Rhode Island had more than 300 drug overdose deaths in 2016, and many times more responses by police and fire to overdoses that were not fatal.
he cost is unquantified, but a potential class of culprits has been identified: prescription drug manufacturers and distributors.
More than a dozen cities and towns in the Ocean State have signed on to sue drug making and shipping companies.
“What we’re suing them for is they have a federal obligation to monitor the amount of shipments of drugs they send to a community," Archie Lamb, a lawyer spearheading the suit. "They have an obligation to investigate if it looks suspicious. And they have the authority to stop shipment."
Across the country, hundreds of municipalities are engaged in similar suits.
At the announcement in North Providence of the Rhode Island suits, police chiefs from many of the cities and towns fanned across the room on either side of the podium to show their support for the effort to get drug companies to help pay for the carnage created by their opioid-based drugs.
Attorney Jim Magazine, who is also working on the suits, said his daughter became addicted to opioids, and gave birth to a bay who was born addicted.
“This epidemic has to stop. And it was because these people did it all for profit. They had a duty. They had a duty to stop it. And they didn’t because they were making so much money,” Magazine said.
Lt. Gov. Dan McKee pulled together the municipal leaders to join the lawsuits. The firms handling the work are from Florida, but have hired local counsel to shepherd the suits in Rhode Island.
The lawyers said they are putting in the work for free, expecting a portion of the proceeds if the suits are successful. The money that is won by the cities and towns will be put towards reimbursing first responders who have had to deal with overdoses, and go to centers for treating addiction.
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14 RI communities join suit against opioid drug manufacturers and distributors
Jan 22, 2018 | ABC 6 News (RI)
By Samantha Fenlon
Lt. Governor Dan McKee is leading the charge behind a federal public nuisance lawsuit filed by 14 communities here in Rhode Island against manufacturers and distributors of opioid drugs.
"The lawsuit gives our municipalities an opportunity for relief,” said McKee.
Attorney Archie Lamb, who working to represent suits all across the country, says that the companies being sued acted intentionally to "damage" millions of Americans.
"We're holding them accountable for poisoning the communities and addicting people and destroying lives,” said Lamb.
Lamb says the goal of the some 300 suits filed nationwide is to get back revenue and hit the source of the opioid epidemic.
"Each individual town and city has a claim for their specific damages that will be calculated on their behalf. They'll all be put together because it's the same defendants, the same misconduct, the same kind of scheme,” said Lamb.
Pawtucket, Warwick, Johnston, Central Falls, and North Providence among those communities to sign on so far.
Those mayors saying at Monday’s press conference that enough is enough.
"While we bear this burden multi-billion dollar companies are turning a profit and turning a blind eye to the crisis they are causing. It is unacceptable,” said North Providence Mayor Charlie Lombardi.
"We must send a message to the drug companies that they need to pay for what they have done,” said Johnston Mayor Joe Polisena.
McKee says he expects several other communities to join in on the suit in the coming weeks.
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R.I. communities sue opioid manufacturers, distributors as public nuisances
Jan 23, 2018 | Providence Business News (RI)
By Rob Borkowski
Fourteen Rhode Island communities led by Lt. Gov. Dan McKee have filed a public nuisance lawsuit against five of the largest pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and the three largest wholesale drug distributors, companies that McKee and community leaders say made the opioid epidemic possible.
The wholesale drug distributors listed as defendants in the lawsuit include: McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen Drug.
The manufacturers listed as defendants in the lawsuit include: Perdue Pharma LP; Endo Health Solutions Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and its subsidiary, Cephalon; as well as Allergan, Activis and Watson Pharmaceuticals; Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Lt. Governor Dan McKee announced the lawsuit in cooperation with the communities of Barrington, Bristol, Burrillville, Central Falls, Coventry, Cumberland, East Providence, Johnston, North Providence, Pawtucket, Richmond, Warwick, West Greenwich and West Warwick.
Municipal leaders have hired law firms experienced in holding the powerful pharmaceutical industry accountable, to pursue the lawsuit, McKee said.
Those firms include: the local law firm of Hamel, Waxler, Allen & Collins; Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor; Baron & Budd; Greene Ketchum Bailey Farrell & Tweel; Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee & Deitzler; and McHugh Fuller Law Group.
The lawsuit comes about a week after the state reported a nine percent drop in the number of overdose deaths in 2017 during the first eight months of the year. While the Ocean State was among few states that reported a drop in the number of overdose deaths this year, it also has the fifth highest death rate in the nation, with 28.2 percent (the number of deaths per 100,000 total population), at 310 deaths.
The lawsuit alleges the companies failed in their duty to protect the public under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Under the act, a select few wholesalers gained the right to deliver opioids, according to McKee. In exchange, those companies agreed to halt suspicious orders and control against the diversion of the drugs to illegitimate uses.
“But in recent years they failed to do that, and today communities across Rhode Island are paying the price,” McKee said.
“In the last three years alone, 80 residents in my community lost their lives to overdoses. That’s 80 of our friends, neighbors and co-workers. It’s heartbreaking and it’s unacceptable,” said Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian in support of the lawsuit. “As Mayor, it’s my job to fight for the safety of every citizen.”
“As municipal leaders, our job is to look out for the safety and wellbeing of the people who call our communities home,” said North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi. “While we bear the burden of this epidemic, multi-billion dollar companies are turning a profit and ignoring the crisis they caused. On behalf of all North Providence residents, I will do everything I can to hold these companies accountable.”
“As lieutenant governor and a former municipal leader, I am determined to do everything in my power to stop this epidemic from further destroying the lives of the people of Rhode Island. Ending this crisis is going to take a major collective effort that involves municipal, state and federal leaders, lawmakers, doctors, law enforcement and health officials coming together to find workable solutions,” McKee said. “But until we address the source of this epidemic and force drug makers and distributors to follow the law, our cities and towns will continue to face an uphill battle.”
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Jan 22, 2018 | The Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
By Lee Davidson and Taylor W. Anderson
House Speaker Greg Hughes opened the 2018 Legislature Monday by declaring war on opiate drugmakers for doing little to prevent addiction — and by urging part-time legislators to seek more power against the full-time governor.
“This is a call to arms,” Hughes, who is beginning what he has said will be his final year in office, told colleagues in his opening speech.
Hughes said he became upset with the manufacturers of opiates when he opened an office in the Rio Grande area of Salt Lake City this year to oversee work there to clean up crime in the neighborhood around the state’s largest homeless shelter, and saw the horrors of addiction.
“It was news to me … that you could stay well within the prescription of your doctor given you to manage pain, and you could find yourself physically addicted,” he said.
He said big Pharma, however, markets opiates by saying they are rarely addictive, improve function of patients, have few side affects and are safe for long-term use.
“I think we know better. I think we have paid a terrible price,” Hughes said.
A year ago, Hughes opened the session by declaring homelessness a statewide “crisis” and calling for an all-out attack on organized drug traffickers, especially those targeting homeless people.
This year the speaker said several bills are coming that will seek to hold drugmakers more accountable for helping to create what he says the Centers for Disease Control calls “a national health crisis,” and allow more civil lawsuits.
“We need to go after those big pharmaceutical companies,” he said. “I want the crush of liability to be felt across this country to the point where it doesn’t make business sense anymore” to claim opiates are not easily addictive. “We need practices to change.”
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said he is on the same page as Hughes. Reyes said Utah is part of a 41-state partnership that is now investigating the opiate industry and negotiating compensation for states and its residents, and is preparing to pursue its own lawsuit if that multi-state effort is unsuccessful.
“I think manufacturers have pushed for decades drugs that they knew … were highly addictive and used a number of different devices to hide that information from doctors and from the communities at large that were desperate for pain relief,” Reyes said.
He adds that Utah hopes not only to gain a settlement to help with state and local programs — as states once received from the tobacco industry — but also seeka money to distribute to victims to help them and their families. Reyes said attorneys general also will seek injunctions to stop inappropriate practices.
Hughes also suggested another perhaps smaller battle to give Utah’s part-time legislators more power against the full-time governor and his administration.
It grows out of frustration when Gov. Gary Herbert last year refused to call the Legislature into special session to enact rules for a special congressional election to fill a vacancy when former Rep. Jason Chaffetz resigned. Herbert simply designed rules himself and proceeded, despite protests from lawmakers.
Hughes warned that unless the Legislature acts to safeguard its powers, “this part-time Legislature” could soon be considered “a part-time branch of government.” Bills are under consideration that could allow the Legislature to call itself into special session in some circumstances.
“We can lose our power” to impact government, Hughes warned. “We have to stay vigilant…. You are going to see some bills this session that will address our separation of powers.”
That said, Hughes did praise the administration of Herbert for generally working in concert with the Legislature to address such things as homelessness, improving education, and more.
Hughes said several tough issues are coming this year. One where he also urged action is reforming the scandal-tainted Utah Transit Authority, where he was once chairman of its board.
He said proposals to replace its current part-time board with a full-time, three-member commission would give better oversight and help restore trust there. He said that is important as lawmakers will consider this year also allowing state highway money to be used for transit.
Lawmakers have opened more than 1,200 bill files to draft legislation — and more than 300 bills have been numbered and publicly released, ready for quick introduction on Monday.
Senate President Wayne Niederhauser said legislators would focus during the session on education, roads and taxes.
Niederhauser made clear he views recently approved federal tax changes as an opportunity state tax changes, specifically to income taxes.
Lawmakers who will lead the way on taxes have circled around possibly cutting the number of tax breaks for various industries, collecting sales tax from more online retailers and, perhaps, lowering the income tax rate below 5 percent.
“An opportunity we have for tax reform [is] income tax reform,” Niederhauser said. “Broadening the base and lowering the rate.”
Niederhauser also said he’s recently noticed the state’s roads and highways are becoming congested, and the Legislature will focus both on how Utah will fund and manage roads in the future.
“This [congestion] is after several billion dollars of investment over the last couple of decades,” Niederhauser said. “This is a huge issue for us.”
Niederhauser, who has sponsored a bill that could lead to more toll roads and has specifically talked about charging for using the road up Little Cottonwood Canyon, said the state’s general fund is paying $600 million for transportation.
He said lawmakers would look at the “funding and governance” of Utah’s transportation systems, a possible reference to the ongoing debate over whether lawmakers will shake up the governance of UTA.
Three new lawmakers, appointed to fill vacancies, are beginning their first general session.
They are Sen. Brian Zehnder, R-Holladay, replacing Brian Shiozawa who resigned to become regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Rep. Adam Robertson, R-Provo, replacing Dean Sanpei who moved to Colorado; and Rep. Cheryl Acton, R-West Jordan, replacing Adam Gardiner, who was appointed as the new Salt Lake County recorder.
Republicans continue to hold commanding majorities: 62-13 in the House and 24-5 in the Senate. The last time Democrats controlled the Utah Senate was 1977, and it last held a House majority in 1965 — 53 years ago.
Besides Republicans, men and Mormons also hold large majorities in the Legislature.
Nine of every 10 legislators are Mormon. Men outnumber women by an 83-21 majority.
The part-time legislators come from all walks of life.
That includes 18 attorneys, the most common profession among them. Interestingly, Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, is both an attorney and a doctor.
Sixteen members are business owners or run businesses. Another 15 are current or retired educators.
Members who work in the health-care industry include five doctors, two dentists, one hospital administrator and one pharmacist.
Real estate-related industries also have several members: five current or former realtors (including Niederhauser), four homebuilders or developers (including House Majority Leader Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville) and one title insurance professional.
Five lawmakers are ranchers; two are farmers.
Some unique professions among legislators include art dealer (Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City); a Highway Patrol lieutenant (Rep. Lee Perry, R-Perry); and a low-voltage technician (Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City).
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Legislative session begins with confusion over possible Utah opioid lawsuit
Jan 22, 2018 | Good4Utah (UT)
By Glen Beeby
The Utah Legislative session is officially underway and there are already more than 1,200 bill requests.
The 2018 legislative session started off with confusion during the opening address from Speaker Greg Hughes. He indicated the state could move forward with it's own lawsuit against drug companies after several conversations with Attorney General Sean Reyes. Although the AG says his office is still apart of a multi state investigation that could end in settlement.
This is just one of many issues that's expected to be hammered out on the hill over the next several weeks.
Hughes started off the session encouraging this colleges to tackle the big issues during this session which also falls during an election year. Transportation infrastructure, education, and homelessness are expected to be some of the main topics.
The speaker created confusion during his speech when he indicated the state would move forward with a lawsuit against drug companies...something the AG says isn't on the table just yet.
"There is no intention of ours as the state of Utah to file a lawsuit unless and until we see what happens with the multi-state. We would be foolish prematurely right now,” said Reyes.
The attorney general notes this investigation is uncovering much of the information they would need in a lawsuit in the first place. Speaker Hughes worries a multi-state settlement would be an easy way out for drug companies.
"It's been my opinion that those who want to settle early are trying to alleviate some of the liability they may face further down the road,” said Hughes.
The speaker wants a lawsuit to hit drug companies so hard they have no choice but to change their practices.
"If that settlement does that and we're convinced it does that then I think we would be smart to move forward in that way. But I'm skeptical of that,” Hughes.
Reyes says he is on the same page with the speaker when it comes to the extra resources and outside council needed for a case like that. He notes the multi-state investigation is vital for now.
"I'll say it again we are getting everything we need in the multi-state to put together the best case,” said Reyes.
Governor Gary Herbert is set to give his state of the state on Wednesday which will also help shape some of the legislative agenda. Many people are keeping an eye to see if the legislature will tackle issues like education and Medicaid which are set for ballot measures later this year. -
Greg Hughes Opens Legislature With Call To Battle Big Pharma Over Opioid Crisis
Jan 23, 2018 | KUER (UT)
By Julia Ritchey
Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes opened the first day of the 2018 legislative session telling lawmakers to brace themselves for a fire-hose of tough issues, including taking on opioid makers.
Speaker Hughes couldn’t resist taking a dig at Congress during his opening remarks to lawmakers.
“It’s the first day that this legislature convenes, and that business starts on behalf of the people we serve, and it is the same day on Monday morning — on what should be a work day — our federal government was shut down," he said.
Contrasting what he described as Utah’s consensus style of governing to a dysfunctional Washington, the Republican leader outlined several priorities for the session — including a harder line against opioid makers.
Hughes said he and Attorney General Sean Reyes, in a shift in policy, had agreed to file suit against manufacturers, joining several Utah counties who’ve already pledged to do so.
“This is why — it’s not a money chase for me — I want the crush of liability to be felt across this country, to the point where it doesn’t make business sense anymore," he said. "We need practices to change.”
Hughes also plans to spur more affordable housing and have communities pitch in to alleviate homelessness. He also hinted at “big changes” to transportation policy.
On the Senate side, President Wayne Niederhauser welcomed back the chamber’s 29 members and reiterated another top priority of the session: state tax reform.
“And with federal reform, we have probably a once in a multi-decade opportunity to do something like this," Niederhauser said.
This will be the last session for several longtime incumbents, including Speaker Hughes. He called on lawmakers not to lose their momentum.
“This isn’t a somber moment, this is a rallying cry," he said, his voice breaking some. "This is a call to arms. We’re getting together, we’re doing this together... and I want to thank you so much.”
Lawmakers will now have 45 days to sort through some of the nearly 1,200 bills already requested.
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The Utah State Legislature kicks off with a lawsuit threat against Big Pharma
Jan 22, 2018 | FOX 13 (UT)
By Ben Winslow
The Utah State Legislature convened on Monday with lawmakers pledging to tackle a nearly $17 billion dollar budget and more than a thousand pieces of legislation.
Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said taxes will be a big topic. Lawmakers were still assessing the overall impact of the federal tax reform bill passed by Congress.
"At least what we would initially look at is a revenue neutral. But we may look at a tax cut depending on what the federal reform does for us," he said of the impact to Utahns.
At least some of the more than 1,200 bills requested so far will be an effort to ward off citizen ballot initiatives on education, medical marijuana, voting and health care.
Education will be the top spending priority, Governor Gary Herbert said.
"Our number one budget priority in fact will be education. Nearly three out of every four new dollars will be going into education," the governor told reporters on Monday.
In his remarks to the Utah State Legislature, House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, praised the hard work his colleagues have done in addressing homelessness and called on them to get tough on opioids.
"We need, in my opinion, to create a liability or an accountability for those that have produced these drugs as we see the carnage that has been created," Speaker Hughes said.
He threatened a lawsuit against "Big Pharma" that is similar to the Big Tobacco lawsuits that yielded billions for states. Recently, the House Speaker has been in disagreement with Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes about how to proceed. The attorney general has favored a multi-state litigation effort that could yield a settlement before a lawsuit is ever filed; the Speaker wants Utah to forge on alone.
In a surprise announcement from the House floor, Speaker Hughes revealed he'd gotten an agreement from Reyes about going ahead with a lawsuit.
"In recent conversations with our attorney general, I want to thank him as he has decided Utah will step forward," the Speaker announced.
That appeared to take Reyes by surprise. In a meeting with reporters from his office on the other end of the Capitol, the attorney general insisted they would pursue multi-state litigation first. However, he said he did agree to put out a bid for outside counsel in case that falls apart.
"We wanted to have the gun loaded figuratively, really to pull the trigger on a lawsuit," Reyes said.
Lawmakers did address bills on Monday afternoon. Most notably, Senate Bill 27passed unanimously. It allows people in dating relationships to get protective orders. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, was run in response to the murders of Memorez Rackley and her 6-year-old son, Jase.
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Reyes says lawsuit in opioid crisis is coming, but not quite yet
Jan 22, 2018 | Utah Policy (UT)
By Bob Bernick
GOP Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said Monday that Utah will be in the mix, either through a lawsuit or negotiated settlement, for some big bucks from Big Pharma, over the drug manufacturers flooding the market with opioid painkillers that have devastated some Utah and U.S. families, killing thousands each year.
Utah’s legal options were mentioned Monday morning by House Speaker Greg Hughes in his 2018 Legislature opening remarks – catching Reyes’ office off guard.
More fully explaining his lawsuit thinking in a quickly-called press conference, Reyes said he has a basically two-prong approach:Working with the current “41 state” group looking to get a settlement out of Big Pharma.
If that doesn’t work out in a reasonable time, Utah will sue Big Pharma itself, or with some other groups of states.Hughes has been a bit frustrated with Reyes, pushing him privately – and now publically – to do something concrete on suing Big Pharma.
Hughes, who, like Reyes, is thinking of running for governor in 2020, has praised several local counties in this state for filing lawsuits against certain drug companies.
Reyes said it is his personal desire to see Utah, or more likely, individual Utah counties, to use some of any settlement funds to help private individuals and families with actual cash or insurance settlements in case of opioid deaths or current addicts who need treatment.
Reyes said it would be unwise for his office to file suit at this time.
Mainly, he said, his office is getting all the pre-litigation materials from the 41-state effort without having to pay big bucks for an outside private counsel to litigate for Utah.
Reyes said while his office has a lot of attorneys, they are too busy to drop all they are doing to take on the massive task of such a large Big Pharma lawsuit.
He said he is well on his way to finding outside counsel, should that ultimately be needed. Outside counsel would work on a contingency basis – being paid for expert witnesses, legal work, and such upfront, and then getting a percent of the final settlement.
Utah has gone down this big settlement road before – getting hundreds of millions of dollars over the years from Big Tobacco in a settlement from 20 years ago.
At one time, the state was getting $35 million to $40 million a year in that tobacco settlement, which has dwindled in recent years as per the original settlement.
UtahPolicy.com asked Reyes what kind of settlement funds he’s looking at for the state, but he said he really has no idea at this point.
Ideally, Utah state government would get one pot of settlement money, counties would get another, and out of any county monies could be payments to opioid-affected families or individuals, with the chance that medical insurance firms would also work to help such families.
“It would be foolish” to start a Utah-only lawsuit against Big Pharm now, said Reyes.
He did not put a time frame on when he might run out of working time with Big Pharma and decide to take legal matters into his own hands.
He said it is clear to him that Big Pharma acted in a hazardous manner by pushing opioid drugs – starting in the 1990s – and telling doctors and others that such drugs were not addictive, or even dangerous if prescribed in large amounts.
Large drug manufacturers and distributers “used a number of devices to hide that information,” he said.
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Walsh exploring litigation against pharmaceutical companies for opioid crisis
Jan 22, 2018 | Boston Globe (MA)
By Martha Schick
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Monday he is considering litigation against several pharmaceutical companies, saying they “irresponsibly saturated the market with opiates, knowingly putting consumers at risk for addiction.”
In a statement, Walsh said he will seek information from “law firms, researchers and other interested parties” on potential opioid litigation. Over the past few months, city officials have been meeting with various law firms and “collecting relevant information in preparation for potential litigation,” the statement said.
In September, state Attorney General Maura Healey announced she and attorneys general from 38 other states were seeking information from five opioid manufacturers and three distributors to determine whether they misrepresented dangers of prescription painkillers.
In 2016, more than 2,000 people died from opioid-related overdoses, the highest number ever recorded in the state and a 17 percent increase from 2015, according to the state public health department.
In November, Quincy became the first city in the state to sue the pharmaceutical industry for allegedly downplaying the dangers of opioids.
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Boston Mayor Marty Walsh considers suing pharmaceutical companies over opioid crisis
Jan 22, 2018 | MassLive (MA)
By Gintautas Dumcius
Boston is exploring litigation against pharmaceutical companies that "irresponsibly saturated the market with opiates, knowingly putting consumers at risk for addition," Mayor Marty Walsh's office said Monday.
f city officials file a lawsuit, they would join more than 100 cities and states suing drug companies, according to Governing magazine.
Boston would be following Quincy, a city directly south of Boston, which said last year it plans to sue drug companies, and Springfield, which announced last week that its city officials were pursuing a lawsuit.
Greenfield has also filed lawsuit in federal court, naming Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Purdue Pharma, which makes Oxycontin.
Walsh on Monday released a request for information from law firms, researchers and others interested in helping city officials in litigation over the opioid crisis.
"I strongly believe that the pharmaceutical industry is the main offender and sustainer of the opioid crisis," Walsh said in a statement. "Their distribution and marketing of narcotics is unforgivingly reckless, causing irreversible devastation to our families and significant damages to cities nationwide."
Walsh, a recovering alcoholic, noted that city officials created a "recovery office," invested in additional services and plan to build a new recovery facility on Long Island, outside the city.
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Making drugmakers pay for opioid crisis
Jan 23, 2018 | Boston Herald (MA)
By Dan Atkinson
Mayor Martin J. Walsh is putting pharmaceutical companies “on notice” and is looking to join cities and towns across the country in a massive lawsuit that could recoup the costs of dealing with the opioid epidemic that has killed thousands across the Bay State.
The city will ask private attorneys and researchers to help develop a legal strategy to sue pharmaceutical companies that flooded the market with opioids, Walsh said. The request will be released in early February and Walsh said he expected a “fast turnaround.”
“We have to use everything, every tool we can, to fight back in this crisis,” Walsh said. “This is another way of putting pharmaceutical companies on notice.”
Walsh said he would not know the potential cost to the city until he saw responses to the request. He declined to name companies the city would target but huge drugmakers like Purdue Pharma have already seen lawsuits from Massachusetts cities, including Methuen and Woburn.
Richard Sandman, an attorney with Rodman, Rodman & Sandman, is working on several of those lawsuits and said while they are not class-action — cities and towns are seeking different damages — the lawsuits are being consolidated in federal court.
The suits are charging companies with continuing to pump drugs into markets that would not appear to support high sales volume, leading to more opioids being sold to feed addictions instead of for medical reasons.
“Companies and manufacturers flooded the markets, they should be the ones who bear a lot of responsibility to clean up the mess they made,” Sandman said.
He said cities are looking to recoup money that fighting the opioid epidemic has taken from their budgets — from costs of naloxone to overtime for police, fire and emergency responders, to the potential loss of business due to concerns over blight from addicts.
“There’s a lot of time spent on the damages model, it’s not just based on what population you have and how many died — it has to go far deeper than that,” Sandman said, adding his firm would likely respond to Boston’s request.
“The opioid crisis has already been a big cost to the city, from people dying to emergency services — it’s hit every aspect of life,” Walsh said.
Walsh compared the series of lawsuits to the enormous series of suits against tobacco companies that eventually resulted in Massachusetts receiving an $8 billion settlement. Sandman agreed that the lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies could reach that scale, but said it could take years for any settlement or judgment to be reached.
Purdue Pharma — in responding to multiple lawsuits — has said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved OxyContin for use as a painkiller and approved the safety warnings.
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Boston Mayor May Sue Drug Makers Over Opioid Crisis
Jan 22, 2018 | NECN (MA)
By Kaitlin McKinley Becker
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh could take pharmaceutical companies to court for their alleged role in the opioid crisis.
The Mayor's office said Monday drug companies knowingly put customers at risk by flooding the market with powerful opiates.
Walsh is calling out to research firms in February for data that might support his case against pharmaceuticals.
"We've put out a request for info so we can get information on what a lawsuit would look like and what the mitigation would be for people, not necessarily loss of life, but loss of resources here in the city of Boston."
Boston's mayor has called drug makers reckless and says they have damaged entire cities with their drugs.
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City of Sullivan to file suit against opioid makers, distributors
Jan 22, 2018 | Tribune Star (IL)
By Staff
The city of Sullivan is joining the legal battle against opioid makers and distributors.
Mayor Clint Lamb today announced the city has hired the law firm of Cohen & Malad LLP to pursue litigation.
The lawsuit will seek to recover funds to address the overwhelming financial burden that the opioid crisis has placed on the city, the mayor said in a news release.
In Sullivan County, the opioid prescription rate has been as high as 147 opioid prescriptions per 100 residents in the county, the mayor said.
"I personally know many of the individuals and families that have been affected by this tragic epidemic," said Lamb.
“Opioid addiction causes break-ins, theft, broken families, and takes a financial toll on the taxpayer through police and fire budgets. Most importantly, this monster eats away at the spirit of a community.
"We are doing the best we can to physically invest in infrastructure to create a vibrant community," he said. "However, all those efforts are negated when we don't support the overwhelming amount of our neighbors that are suffering."
The manufacturer defendants will be Purdue Pharma, Cephalon, Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Noramco, Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt PLC, Allergan PLC, and Watson Pharmaceuticals.
The lawsuit will allege that these manufacturers deceptively marketed the appropriate uses, risks, and safety of opioids.
The opioid distributor defendants will be AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., and McKesson Corporation.
The lawsuit will allege that these distributors failed in their duty to report and stop suspicious orders of opioids.
“Opioid manufacturers and distributors must be held accountable for their roles in creating this epidemic. This lawsuit is just one method that the city of Sullivan can use to respond to the needs of its residents and provide resources to set them on the path to recovery,” said Lynn Toops of Cohen & Malad LLP.
Sullivan joins a growing list of communities seeking damages from opioid makers and distributors.
In early January, Terre Haute and Vigo county filed suit in the Terre Haute Division of the Southern District of Indiana against 23 defendants accused of racketeering, corrupt business influence, negligence, deceptive trade practices, fraud and conspiracy to market and distribute opioids unlawfully in the community.
Filing suits in federal court on the same day, Jan. 8., were the town of Atlanta, the cities of Muncie and Kokomo, and Jennings County.
Many Indiana cities -- including Fort Wayne, New Albany, Jeffersonville and Columbus -- had already filed suit.
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Lake County sues pain pill companies for alleged role in causing opioid epidemic
Jan 22, 2018 | NWI (IN)
By Steve Garrison
Lake County joined the city of Hammond and dozens of other municipalities across the nation Friday in suing opioid manufacturers and distributors for their alleged role in the opioid addiction crisis.
The lawsuit alleges the manufacturing companies used deceptive marketing practices to promote opioid medications beyond their effective short term use. The distributing companies allegedly failed to identify, report and stop suspicious orders of these medications.
The alleged negligence and misinformation resulted in “blockbuster profits” for the opioid companies, with $8 billion in revenues generated in 2012 alone, the lawsuit states.
The county seeks unspecified damages from the companies on allegations of racketeering, public nuisance, negligence, unjust enrichment and civil conspiracy.
The county seeks compensation for past and future costs “to abate the ongoing public nuisance caused by the opioid epidemic,” as well as unspecified damages and attorneys' fees.
The allegations in the county's lawsuit are similar to those made by Hammond in its Nov. 16 lawsuit. Both municipalities are represented by Cohen & Malad LLP, a law firm based in Indianapolis.
The Lake County Board of Commissioners signed an agreement with the law firm last month to file the lawsuit on its behalf.
The city's lawsuit was consolidated with dozens of other similar lawsuits Dec. 5 in the U.S. District Court of Northern Ohio.
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Johnson & Johnson Results Driven by Pharmaceutical Sales Growth
Jan 23, 2018 | Dow Jones
By Allison Prang
Johnson & Johnson reported an increase in sales for its fourth quarter, largely spurred by its pharmaceutical business, but reported a loss because of effects from the new tax law.
The company swung to a loss of $10.71 billion, or $3.99 a share, compared with a profit of $3.81 billion, or $1.38 a share, in the year-ago period. The drop was largely because of a tax provision charge of $13.27 billion.
Excluding special items such as the tax provision, J&J's profit rose 9.5% to $4.78 billion, or $1.74 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.72.
J&J, one of the largest U.S. health-products companies by revenue, said sales rose 12% to $20.2 billion. That growth was once again spurred by the company's pharmaceuticals business, where sales grew 18%.
The company's international pharmaceutical business grew by 21%, but sales in the U.S. were overall higher.
Analysts were expecting revenue of $20.07 billion.
J&J said it expects sales between $80.6 billion and $81.4 billion for 2018 and adjusted earnings per share between $8 and $8.20. Analysts had expected full-year adjusted earnings of $7.87 on revenue of $80.7 billion.
Shares rose 0.9% in premarket trading Tuesday.
In prepared remarks, Chief Executive Alex Gorsky commended the new tax law, saying it "enables Johnson & Johnson to invest in innovation at higher levels to help address the most challenging unmet medical needs" in the business.
The recent short-term government funding bill Congress passed on Monday included language suspending the 2.3% medical-device excise tax this year and in 2019. The tax, which an industry trade group J&J belongs to had lobbied against, applies to devices like artificial knees.
J&J, along with competitor Teva Pharmaceuticals, is also talking with Ohio's attorney general after the state sued the companies, alleging illegal marketing of opioid drugs. J&J has called the state's claims "baseless and unsubstantiated."
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County executive, Speaker of the House to host opioid roundtable discussion
Jan 22, 2018 | Daily Gazette (MD)
By Chase Cook
County and state legislators are joining together Tuesday for a roundtable discussion on the county’s response to opioid deaths and overdoses.
The event is hosted by County Executive Steve Schuh and Speaker of the House Michael Busch. Other participants include Minority Leader Nic Kipke, R-Pasadena; Delegate Eric Bromwell, D-Baltimore County; county police chief Timothy Altomare and county attorney Nancy Duden.
“There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to curb the effects of the epidemic we’re facing – we need to work together and ensure policies we put in place make sense on the local and state level,” Busch said.
Opioid overdose deaths hit record numbers the last two years in the county. There were 155 overdose deaths in 2017 with officials expecting that number to increase after hospital reports are finalized. The number is linked to just police-involved overdose deaths. Schuh and Altomare both spoke to the issue at Friday’s county delegation meeting. The two believe the county is improving since deaths and overdoses are increasing at a slower rate despite the record breaking numbers.
"The opioid crisis is public enemy number one in Anne Arundel County,” Schuh said.
Topics at Tuesday’s meeting will include the county’s previous response to the opioid crisis as well as future plans. Busch and Kipke plan to press for additional opioid-focused legislation this year. Kipke has said he will resurrect a bill that would allow parents to involuntary commit their adult children to rehab services if they have surfaced an overdose and are still on the parent’s insurance.
Most recently the county has put aside a pool of money to help people transition into addiction treatment. The county Mental Health Agency received $43,000 to fill in payments gaps while officials work with insurance companies for service payments.
The county has filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and prescribers, claiming they have contributed to the crisis. Those listed in the lawsuit include Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, Endo Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Percocet, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Insys Therapeutics, the manufacturer of Subsys, a sublingual spray of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which officials say is magnitudes more potent than morphine and heroin.
The 2 p.m. meeting will be in the Lowe House Office Building in the Baltimore City Delegation Room. The house office building is on 6 Bladen Street.
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Cuomo Blasts Opioid Manufacturers For Drug Epidemic
Jan 22, 2018 | Jewish Press
By Staff
Unveiling his state budget for the 2019 fiscal year Tuesday afternoon in Albany, Governor Andrew Cuomo took a strong stand against substance abuse, blaming drug manufacturers for the opioid epidemic and allocating millions in funding to the state’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.
Hoping to help ease New Yorkers’ financial burdens, Cuomo pledged to find ways to create additional opportunities to fund much needed state programs including those that address the ever-growing use of opioids.
“Opioid manufacturers have created an epidemic,” said Cuomo as he announced an opioid surcharge of two cents per milligram to be paid by drug manufacturers, which is expected to raise $170 million and would be used to offset the costs of state funded opioid treatment programs.
Cuomo said that he is hopeful that the surcharge will create a shift away from opioids within the medical community.
“There are other medicines that they can prescribe besides opioids and to the extent they do, it’s a good thing,” said Cuomo.
The governor also announced a $26 million increase in operating and capital support for the OASAS which would be used to expand both residential and outpatient treatment programs.
Rabbi Zvi Gluck, director of Amudim and a member of the New York State Suicide Prevention Task Force, praised the governor for making opioid abuse a high priority in his latest budget.
“We have seen time and time again how opioid use leads to suicide and with 370 young lives lost in the Jewish community over the past two years it is painfully clear that this problem is getting worse, not better,” said Gluck. “While it has been an uphill battle getting the world to wake up and realize how severe this is, it is a breath of fresh air to see Governor Cuomo joining us on the front lines, fighting this epidemic that is destroying families and entire communities.”
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Can commissioner Scott Gottlieb undo FDA missteps in opioid crisis?
Jan 23, 2018 | NBC News
By Cynthia McFadden, Brenda Breslauer & Tracy Connor
When the FDA took steps this month to put limits on opioid cough medicine for children, it was the latest sign of an agency crackdown on a class of painkillers that has taken thousands upon thousands of American lives.
A crackdown, critics say, that has been far too long coming.
Pharmaceutical companies, doctors and clinics, and even the DEA have come under fire in what many say is the worst public health crisis in modern U.S. history. But some experts think it was the FDA, the federal gatekeeper for prescription medication, that could have prevented it.
"I think this may be the best example in history of a regulatory agency failure leading to a public health catastrophe," said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and a frequent FDA critic.
The FDA says it has taken "significant steps to confront the staggering human and economic toll created by opioid abuse and addiction, including strengthening drug warnings, taking action against companies for misleading promotion and taking important measures to enhance the safe and appropriate use."
But from the 1995 approval of Oxycontin to belated 2013 restrictions on popular painkillers like Vicodin, Kolodny and others say the FDA has squandered one opportunity after another to curb rampant prescribing and the wave of addiction that followed.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, whose state has the highest opioid death rate in the nation, sums up the FDA's lumbering response in two words: "Absolutely criminal."
Read the FDA's full statement on its response to the opioid epidemic
The FDA's new commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, doesn't go that far. But he acknowledges that the agency, where he was a deputy from 2005 to 2007, did not do all it could.
"I don't know that we could have stopped it," said Gottlieb, who has made opioids the top priority of his seven-month tenure, in an interview with NBC News.
"I think that there were opportunities probably years ago to take steps that might have allowed us to get ahead of it more than we are now. I think a lot of people didn't do what they needed to do in the past or we wouldn't be in the situation we're in right now."
The situation is undeniably grim: more than 300,000 deaths from prescription and illegal opioids since 2000, a drug-dependent baby born every 25 minutes, and life expectancy in the U.S. down for the second year in a row.
The stage was set in the 1990s when there was a shift by some in the medical community to view chronic pain as treatable.
"I think doctors were trained to prescribe opioids for the treatment of pain," said Gottlieb, who finished his internal medicine training in 1999.“I think a lot of people didn't do what they needed to do in the past or we wouldn't be in the situation we're in right now.”
"I think there was a perception that some of the newer drugs weren't as addictive as some of the older formulations," he added.
"In many cases we were wrong."
When the FDA approved controlled-release Oxycontin, the label said "delayed absorption as provided by OxyContin tablets is believed to reduce the abuse liability of a drug" and that addiction to opioids used for legitimate pain management was "very rare."
That approval paved the way for the manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, to aggressively market Oxycontin for moderate, chronic pain. More than a decade later, the company would pay a $600 million fine and admit that when it promoted Oxycontin as less addictive than other painkillers, it knew it wasn't true.
Read Purdue's statement on opioids
It wasn't until 2001 that the FDA added stronger warnings to the Oxycontin label and narrowed the circumstances under which it should be prescribed.
By then, a growing number of Americans were hooked on Oxycontin, with some turning to heroin. At a Congressional hearing that year, law enforcement officials in the region hardest hit by "hillbilly heroin" — West Virginia and surrounding states — said they were in the grips of an epidemic.
In Kolodny's view, the FDA had a chance to reverse course the very next year when it convened a meeting of experts to discuss opioids.
"They could have changed the rules so that we wouldn't get a steady stream of new opioids hitting the market — each one pouring fuel on a fire," Kolodny said.
But any hope of major reform died with the makeup of the 2002 group, Kolodny said. Eight of 10 invited guest speakers had ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
"It was very clear that we had made a mistake and we needed to change course. And we didn't. We went the opposite direction," Kolodny said.
Over the next decade, opioid prescriptions would surge from 150 million to more than 200 million a year, the death rate would double, and the scourge would spread across the country.
When Manchin moved from the governor's mansion to Capitol Hill in 2010, he had already seen West Virginia ravaged by pain pills like Vicodin. The prescribing patterns made it clear the drugs were being diverted from legitimate use.
"They were everywhere," he said. "One little community of 300, 400 people had nine million pills coming into it."
He began pushing to tighten controls, urging that hydrocodone combination products like Vicodin be made Schedule II drugs, which would make them harder to get.
"I thought that would have been done in what — three-week period, maximum?" he said. "I go up and testify before [the FDA] advisory committee. It was automatically approved — boom! Should have been a slam-dunk, right?"
But it took nearly a year for the FDA to recommend the policy change. After it finally went into effect in 2014, a billion fewer of the affected pills were prescribed in the next year. Manchin said there's no doubt lives would have been saved if it had happened sooner.
"I can use many explicit words to describe what I think was wrong, but there is no reason on earth this shouldn't have happened," he said.
The FDA also came under fire in 2014 when it approved a very powerful opioid called Zohydro over the objections of its advisory committee, which voted 11-2 against it. Zohydro came with strong warnings and there's no indication it's been widely abused, but to watchdogs like Kolodny and Manchin, the FDA action was evidence the agency wasn't alarmed enough.
"Why did the FDA continue to allow more and more of these opiate drugs on the market?" Manchin said.
Kolodny said one answer may be that the FDA was too close to drug manufacturers. He points to a series of invitation-only meetings created by two academics that brought together FDA officials who oversaw painkillers with drug makers who paid thousands of dollars to attend meetings in swanky hotel conference rooms.
The so-called IMMPACT meetings could be interpreted as a "pay-to-play" operation, one government participant fretted in an email. They became the subject of an Inspector General's probe that found no major wrongdoing.
Kolodny claims that a revolving door that funnels former FDA employees into an industry they once regulated may have blunted the agency's response to opioid misuse. One of the key officials involved in the original approval of Oxycontin went to work for Purdue within two years of leaving the agency, and the official who oversaw Zohydro's approval now consults for firms that involved in the opioid field.
"It was certainly in their self-interest to be very friendly to the manufacturers that wanted these products on the market. And the manufacturers, at the end of the day, got what they wanted," Kolodny said.
When Gottlieb was nominated by President Trump, some were worried that he was too close to the medical industry. Although he worked in a hospital early in his career, he more recently worked as a consultant and a venture capitalist for a firm that invested in medical businesses.
But some of those same skeptics say they have hope change is on the horizon.
"I didn't vote for him but I'm optimistic," Manchin said.
Soon after Gottlieb took over, the FDA pushed the opioid Opana off the market, deeming the risk of abuse was too high. He's also beefed up efforts to find drugs being sent by mail and notified 74 drugmakers that will have to provide more training for medical professionals who write pain-control prescriptions.
He's trying to expand access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid addicts and reduce the stigma associated with addiction. Another goal: repackaging pills in smaller quantities so a trip to the dentist doesn't end with a 30-day supply of narcotics.
"I don't think this is going to be a five-year effort," Gottlieb told NBC News. "But it will take us a year, maybe two to get to the optimal place here.
"In the meantime," he said, "we're taking a lot of actions that I think are starting to have an impact."
Gottlieb said he is acutely aware of the FDA's history with opioids as he looks to the future.
"I look to the past to try to understand what we did wrong, to inform what we can do right going forward," he said. "And that's where we are focused.
"I don't want to be looking back five years from now and say, 'I wish I had done more.'"
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Lawsuits blaming medicine distributors for opioid crisis makes no sense (EDITORIAL)
Jan 22, 2018 | MassLive (MA)
By Belle Rita Novak
An article in Saturday's paper about lawsuits against medicine distributors and pharmaceutical manufacturers for costs related to the opioid crisis has me scratching my head, "We aren't willing to be scapegoats," page A1.
How is it the fault of companies who manufacture or distribute something if the product is used improperly? For instance, if a car is manufactured with problems and people are injured or killed because of that, I can see the purpose in suing. If a car is manufactured and I hit someone with that car and they are injured or killed, how is that the fault of the manufacturer? Doesn't the same logic apply here?
There is a need for strong pain killers. And these medications need to get to places where they can be given to the people who need them. My daughter had open heart surgery in 2016; she needed strong pain medications for months. She kept saying to her doctor that she didn't want to become addicted, and her doctor assured her that she wouldn't because she needed them. If they hadn't been available to her she would have suffered even more.
I don't mean to minimize the struggle that people who become addicted to these medications go through, or to their families either. But, where is the personal responsibility?
I am fat. I love potato chips. I know that I've eaten way too many in my life. I'm already 76, so if I die today my family can't say that I died young. But, if I had died younger than I currently am, should my family sue every potato chip company saying that they are responsible for my having been fat? I don't think so.
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5 myths about opioids (EDITORIAL)
Jan 22, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Adrian Fugh-Berman
When I was in medical training in the 1980s, physicians were taught that opioids were useful but dangerous drugs that should be used only for severe injuries, after surgery or in terminally ill patients. Since the 1990s, however, pharmaceutical companies have systematically distorted perceptions about opioids, through paid speakers, sponsored “education” and bought-off organizations. Opioid manufacturers are directly responsible for the current opioid addiction epidemic and continue spreading misinformation that will feed rather than stem this epidemic.
Here are five myths that opioid manufacturers would have you believe:
1. Opioids are the most effective drugs for chronic pain.
Not true. In fact, opioids may be the worst drugs for chronic pain. They don’t work better than other drugs and actually increase pain sensitivity over time. While patients become tolerant to the painkilling effects, they don’t become tolerant to the adverse effects. Long-term use of opioids increases the risk of addiction, respiratory arrest and cardiovascular death.
We have many effective, underused and inexpensive nonopioid medications, including ibuprofen, acetaminophen, diclofenac, ketorolac, lidocaine, capsaicin, gabapentin, low-dose antidepressants and many others. Studies show that exercise, spinal manipulative therapies, acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical stimulation are all helpful for chronic pain. Some of these treatments are as effective or more effective for pain than opioids.
2. Pharma hasn’t caused the addiction epidemic; doctors are at fault for prescribing opioids inappropriately.
In fact, physicians were persuaded to prescribe opioids inappropriately by pharmaceutical companies that paid opinion leaders to convince physicians that opioids weren’t so addictive after all, and that physicians who withheld opioids from patients with arthritis or back pain were “opioiphobic” and not providing the best care to their suffering patients. Pharmaceutical companies also confused prescribers about addiction by inventing the concept of “pseudoaddiction,” which looked exactly like addiction but was easily treated by higher doses of opioids.
3. Addiction to prescribed opioids occurs only in patients who are already addicts.
Not true. Even people with no personal or family history of addiction can and have become addicted through a doctor’s prescription. Once addicted to prescription opioids, patients may eventually become heroin users. Nine of 10 patients in treatment for opioid addiction turned to heroin as a cheaper, more readily available drug than prescription opioids, according to a report in the JAMA - Psychiatry. Another study found that 4 of 5 heroin users reported that their opioid use began with opioid painkillers.
4. Abuse-deterrent formulations are part of the solution.
“Abuse-deterrent” is a marketing term that is terribly misleading; a 2014 survey of 1,000 practicing internists, family physicians and general practitioners in the United States showed that 46 percent of them (and, probably, even more patients) think the term means less addictive. In fact, “abuse-deterrent” simply means the pill is difficult to dissolve into an injectable form. This is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist; most addicts swallow rather than inject opioids. The real purpose of abuse-deterrent formulations is to extend the patents on opioids, keep prices high (there are no generic “abuse-deterrent” formulations), and mislead prescribers and patients into believing these drugs are less addictive. If the term “abuse-deterrent” were reserved for less addictive drugs, none of the currently marketed drugs with this moniker would qualify.
5. Public-private partnerships will help solve the opioid problem.
Federal agencies should focus on providing comprehensive care to addicted individuals and on reducing new cases of addiction by educating prescribers about opioids and alternatives to opioids.
Pharmaceutical companies will focus on new, expensive drugs or patent-protecting tweaks on older drugs, neither of which is necessary. We need expanded use of — and research comparing — proven painkillers and nonpharmacologic therapies. Partnering with the industry that created the opioid epidemic and now wants to profit from solutions does not make sense. In this opioid epidemic, public-private partnerships means allowing private corporations to undermine public health.
Adriane Fugh-Berman is a physician and professor of pharmacology and physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center.
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Trump has had a year to confront the opioid epidemic. He’s done almost nothing (EDITORIAL).
Jan 23, 2018 | Vox
By German Lopez
If you listen to President Donald Trump’s words about the opioid epidemic, he seems to understand it’s an emergency. He declared it as one late in 2017. And he has repeatedly promised, as president and on the campaign trail, that he will do something about it — that he would “spend the money,” and that “the number of drug users and the addicted will start to tumble downward over a period of years.”
If you look at Trump’s actions, well, it’s a very different story. There has been no move by Trump’s administration to actually spend more money on the opioid crisis. Key positions in the administration remain unfilled, even without nominees in the case of the White House’s drug czar office and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). And although Trump’s emergency declaration was renewed last week, it has led to essentially no action since it was first signed — no significant new resources, no major new initiatives.
Chuck Ingoglia, a senior vice president at the National Council for Behavioral Health, which advocates on addiction issues, summarized the general takeaway of experts and advocates: “A lot of talk, little action. It’s great that the president says this is a priority. It’s great that he convened a task force so we have another paper that says the opioid crisis in America needs attention. But too little has happened to actually do anything about it.”
For experts and advocates, this is hard to understand. Taking action on the opioid epidemic could have been an easy win. It’s an issue that crosses partisan lines, with both Democrats and Republicans angling to do something about it. There’s evidence it’s very relevant to Trump’s own base. While experts talk about needing as much as tens of billions of dollars for the crisis over the next few years, that’s actually not much in federal budget terms — a fraction of a percent for a government that spends trillions a year.
And yet the Trump administration has barely budged. Beyond declaring a public health emergency, the administration has done little to nothing to combat the crisis.
That’s not because the crisis is getting better. In 2016, the latest year with a full official count, there were nearly 64,000 drug overdose deaths in the US — an all-time high. The rise in drug overdose deaths was a big reason that life expectancy fell for the second year in a row in the US, which had not happened since the early 1960s. And the early data suggests that 2017 was worse: According to preliminary figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were nearly 67,000 drug overdose deaths in the 12-month period through June 2017, up from more than 57,000 in the 12-month period through June 2016.
If the worst trends continue, Stat forecast that as many as 650,000 people will die within the next decade — the equivalent of the entire population of Baltimore.
This is the reality facing Trump, the reality in which his administration has responded with next to nothing.Trump has been all talk, no action
“The administration has done very little to combat the opioid epidemic to date,” Gary Mendell, founder and chair of Shatterproof, which advocates on the opioid epidemic, told me. “That doesn’t mean they won’t in the future, but to date, there’s no question that the administration has done very little.”
Here are the most significant steps that Trump and his administration have taken on the opioid epidemic over the past year:Trump launched a commission to study the opioid epidemic and drug addiction, which released its recommendations in November. Only a couple of the commission’s dozens of proposals — which mostly focused on a public health approach, particularly by increasing access to treatment — have been implemented.Trump in October declared a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic — a move that at first sounded promising because it could cut some red tape to getting policy solutions out quickly, but it has been followed with no significant resources to actually deal with the crisis.Trump also announced in October “a new policy” to help overcome a rule that blocks Medicaid from reimbursing services from inpatient facilities that treat “mental diseases,” including addiction, with more than 16 beds. Eliminating this barrier could let states open up more treatment beds, but experts are skeptical a mere regulatory shift will have much of an impact overall.Trump in January signed the INTERDICT Act, which will provide border and customs agents with new tools to detect and stop illicit fentanyl from packages, mail, and passengers.The Department of Justice has continued its efforts to crack down on unscrupulous prescribers of opioid painkillers by promoting law enforcement attempts to shut down pill mills and arrest the doctors involved.
That’s it. No major new funding, nor a push for more funding. No big new strategy. To the extent any money was allocated, it was largely from policies that preceded Trump — such as the Cures Act, which passed in 2016 with then-President Barack Obama’s approval and allocated $1 billion over two years to the opioid crisis.
“He’s done nothing,” Keith Humphreys, a drug policy expert at Stanford University, told me, referring to federal funding in particular. “He did appoint a commission. I think those people did a pretty good job. They were smart, they listened, they came up with a lot of good ideas. And they’ve been ignored entirely.”
The most notable actual policy change is the INTERDICT Act. This law’s effect, however, will likely be greatly limited. The federal government has for decades tried to intercept illicit drugs before they come into the US, but drugs have consistently gotten through in huge numbers anyway. Along these lines, experts are deeply skeptical that any effort to beef up border security, including Trump’s wall, would do much, if anything, to stop the flow of drugs into the US.
Meanwhile, Trump hasn’t appointed anyone to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the office is mired by staffing problems — including the hiring of a deputy chief of staff who apparently lied in parts of his résumé. The drug czar’s office, as it’s known colloquially, is crucial to coordinating federal efforts on drugs, according to experts.
Trump also has not nominated anyone to head the DEA, which is tasked with enforcing the nation’s drug laws.
In his proposals, Trump has also tried to cut the budget for the Office of National Drug Control Policy by 95 percent — a move that his team initially walked back after facing bipartisan opposition during last year’s budget talks but reportedly may try again this year.
His budget plan also proposed keeping spending for addiction treatment relatively flat, while cutting prevention funding. The administration has also been silent on proposals in Congress to increase funding to the opioid epidemic, including Democratic plans to add tens of billions of dollars in spending to deal with the crisis.
And the administration supported the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which experts credit with expanding access to addiction treatment.
All of this adds up to the sentiment I heard again and again: “It’s remarkable how little we’ve seen,” Andrew Kolodny, an opioid policy expert at Brandeis University, told me. “There really has been next to no action by the Trump administration other than public statements.”People need action (and money), not talk
The Trump administration’s actions so far, particularly through its establishment of a commission to study the issue, suggest that the opioid epidemic’s solutions are some sort of big mystery.
The reality, experts say, is that while there is no one silver bullet, we have a lot of good ideas about how to deal with the crisis.
One of the big problems is a lack of access to addiction treatment: According to a 2016 report by the surgeon general, only about 10 percent of people with a substance use disorder get specialized treatment. The report attributed the gap, in part, to a lack of supply of treatment — an issue that simply requires more money to deal with.
“I don’t think we don’t know what to do. We do know what to do,” Regina LaBelle, who served in Obama’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, told me. “We need money and the strategy and … political leadership and courage.”
As I previously explained, experts generally agree on what more federal resources should go to: They could be used to boost access to treatment (particularly highly effective medications for opioid addiction), pull back lax access to opioid painkillers while keeping them accessible to patients who truly need them, and adopt harm reduction policies that mitigate the damage caused by opioids and other drugs.
Advocates and experts argue about whether the extra resources should come through Medicaid, block grants for mental health and addiction care, or some other source. The consensus, though, is that much more federal support is needed — in the tens of billions of dollars over the next few years.
“I was just in West Virginia this week. These counties are really devastated,” LaBelle said. “I know that’s been covered a lot. But it’s really something when you talk to a county official and you see how little money they have to put toward the epidemic.”
Some states are attempting to seriously confront this crisis. Vermont, for example, has built a “hub and spoke” system that treats addiction as a public health issue and integrates treatment into the rest of health care. The state was the only one in New England to have an overdose death rate that wasn’t significantly above the national average in 2016. (For more, check out my in-depth breakdown of Vermont’s system.)
But Vermont managed to build this new system in large part with federal dollars, particularly through Obamacare’s insurance expansion and a special Medicaid waiver that states can obtain through the health care law. It’s that kind of federal support that budget-strained states will need to deal with the opioid crisis.
These are the kinds of considerations and ideas that experts say can help the country move toward ending the opioid epidemic.
But in its first year, the Trump administration did nothing to make sure states can set up more programs like Vermont’s. So the opioid epidemic continues, killing tens of thousands of Americans every year.
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Kentucky attorney general sues national opioid distributor
Jan 22, 2018 | Associated Press
By Staff
Kentucky’s Democratic attorney general has sued a national opioid distributor for allegedly using misleading business practices to flood the state with dangerous and highly addictive prescription painkillers.
Andy Beshear announced Monday he has sued the San Francisco-based McKesson Corporation for, among other things, failing to report large volumes of opioid shipments in eastern Kentucky with state and federal authorities.
Beshear says in Floyd County alone between 2010 and 2016, the company shipped more than 18 million doses of prescription opioids. That’s enough for 477 pills for every man, woman and child in the county based on its population of 38,638.
McKesson has settled two similar lawsuits with the federal government in recent years.
This is the second lawsuit Beshear has filed against opioid distributors. He sued Endo Pharmaceuticals and Endo Health Solutions in November.
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Industry’s Need to Understand the President’s Opioid Commission (EDITORIAL)
Jan 22, 2018 | New Jersey Law Journal (NJ)
By David J. Marella
As you undoubtedly know, the United States is in the midst of a worsening health crisis due to the use and misuse of licit and illicit opioids, a crisis that will have a broadening impact on numerous businesses and organizations in New Jersey. Because the current opioid epidemic is considered to be the worst public health crisis in modern American history, President Donald Trump in early 2017 established by executive order the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Chaired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the bipartisan Commission was tasked to study the scope and effectiveness of the federal response to the opioid crisis and to recommend improvements.
Following Governor Christie’s appointment, I was offered a unique opportunity to take a leave of absence from my law firm, Gibbons P.C., in order to accept a six-month, full-time political appointment to serve in the leadership role of Advisor to the Executive Director of the President’s Commission, supporting the governor and the Commission by overseeing the development of the Commission’s work within the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
My goal in sharing some key takeaways from the Commission’s findings is to provide insights to those industries that are affected by this crisis and the government’s response¾in particular, the health care, health insurance, pharmaceutical and technology fields¾and which industries should work alongside the government to effectuate the necessary changes, in part by preparing for the consequential business and legal ramifications brought on by the Commission.
The Commission’s Interim and Final Reports illustrate the importance of the private sector’s cooperation to long-term success. Confronted with a worsening health crisis, Commission members set forth an expansive multimodal response entailing 65 recommendations, largely within three primary categories: prevention, treatment, and research and development. Most of those recommendations understandably advised direct changes to federal government regulations and policies. However, many were directed at the private sector, or will to some extent affect numerous businesses. With that in mind, here are a few highlighted industries that should anticipate particular executive or legislative changes at the federal and state levels.
Hospitals, Rehabilitation Facilities and Health-Care Providers
Hospitals and health-care providers should expect some of the biggest changes as a result of the Reports, as they serve critical roles in both treating those who overdose or are suffering from addiction, and preventing future patients from becoming addicted to opioids.
Among the causes of the crisis cited by the Commission were several issues that arose within the medical field over the past two decades, with the greatest responsibility placed on those that continue to be both widespread and insidious, such as insufficient medical education on pain management, opioid addictiveness and addiction diagnoses, as well as private insurance and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement policies that may inadvertently encourage doctors to prescribe opioids.
The Commission’s prevention-focused recommendations center on the prescribing practices of prescription opioids. The Commission recommended that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) coordinate the development of a national curriculum and standard of care for opioid prescribers, and that the DEA, prior to relicensing an opioid prescriber, require participation in an approved continuing medical education program. The Commission endorsed further enhancements to, and enforced usage of, state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), which are electronic databases that give prescribers and pharmacists access to critical information regarding a patient’s controlled substance prescription history. Finally, the Commission recommended revising CMS policies that encourage prescribing of opioids, such as reimbursement based on a pain survey given to patients and unequal reimbursement for FDA-approved, non-opioid pain treatments. As this partial summary of the forthcoming changes demonstrates, the Commission’s work requires medical executives to prompt structural and cultural transformations to how hospitals administer services and physicians practice medicine.
Recommendations to improve treatment services for addiction will also motivate changes to the practice of addiction medicine, as the Commission placed significant emphasis on psychosocial counseling in conjunction with the expanded use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT). MAT is an evidence-based treatment for individuals with opioid use disorders; it is associated with decreasing opioid use and opioid-related overdose deaths, while improving social functioning and retention in treatment. The Commission recommended removing many of the reimbursement and policy barriers that persist despite these benefits. Accordingly, physicians should be trained in the different FDA-approved MAT medications and be prepared for an increase in patients seeking these treatments. Certain rehabilitation facilities may be required to either partner with other entities that offer these types of medical treatments or hire additional health-care workers trained in addiction medicine.
The Commission also worked to increase overall access to treatment. The Commission recommended that HHS grant each of the 50 states a waiver to the Institutes for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion within the Medicaid program. This component of the Social Security Act prohibits Medicaid funds from reimbursing services provided in an inpatient facility treating “mental diseases” (including substance use disorders) that have more than 16 beds. The Trump Administration has already accepted this recommendation and made it one of its marquee initiatives as a part of the national Public Health Emergency declaration for the opioid crisis (which was the chief recommendation by the Commission in its Interim Report). On Nov. 1, 2017, HHS granted the state of New Jersey a waiver to the IMD exclusion, allowing New Jersey-based hospitals and rehabilitation facilities to immediately begin expanding while still receiving Medicaid reimbursement for their services.
The Commission also supported the expansion of telemedicine to treat patients with substance use disorders as another means to increase access to treatment. The recommendations urged federal agencies to revise their respective regulations and reimbursement policies for substance use disorder treatment via telemedicine. Further developments of these technologies could play a role in ensuring access to care for those in underserved areas. Accordingly, rehabilitation facilities desiring to expand their reach should consider becoming equipped with these technologies.
Private Insurance Companies
On Oct. 20, 2017, the Commission convened a meeting with national and regional private insurance executives to discuss insurance coverage issues related to the opioid crisis. The featured topic was the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). MHPAEA is a federal law that essentially states that health insurance plans are required to offer behavioral health coverage, including for substance use disorders, that is comparable, and equal to, the coverage for medical and surgical benefits. This concept is referred to as “parity.”
Since its passage in 1996, MHPAEA has been the impetus for much of the progress in behavioral health coverage, with insurance plans eliminating clear coverage violations. The Commission discovered, however, that the violations that continue to plague the insurance industry are harder for regulators to discern; therefore, it recommended that MHPAEA be carried out using a standardized parity compliance tool.
Moreover, the Commission found that MHPAEA continues to be ineffective in achieving parity throughout insurance plans on account of insufficient enforcement. Currently, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is responsible for enforcing MHPAEA; however, DOL is permitted to enforce the act only against the employer that bought the insurance plan, not against the insurance company responsible for administering the benefits. And even this enforcement is hampered, because the sole means of enforcement under the act is equitable relief.
The Commission recommended an amendment to MHPAEA, for which DOL Secretary Alexander Acosta advocated, which would provide DOL increased authority to levy monetary penalties on insurers and funders and permit DOL to launch investigations of insurers independently for parity violations. As a result of these potential federal legislative amendments, private health insurers should make sincere efforts to revamp their policies on parity compliance or face possible new severe penalties.
Pharmaceutical Companies
In its recitation of the history of the opioid crisis, the Commission catalogued the pharmaceutical industry’s undeniably pivotal role in contributing to the epidemic. However, the Commission also recognized that, in order to fully combat the crisis, the industry must embrace its role of researching and developing new solutions. The Commission played a key role in establishing a public-private partnership between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and pharmaceutical companies in order to coordinate research and development efforts to respond to the crisis. The partnership’s primary goals are to develop non-addictive pain medications and new treatments for addiction and overdose.
Following Congressional appropriations, NIH looks to provide resources and clear as much bureaucratic red tape as possible for those pharmaceutical companies that focus their efforts on these initiatives. NIH hopes their combined efforts will accelerate the development of new treatments and therapies while reducing the cost of developing them.
Traditionally, medications for substance use disorders were classified as non-profitable; however, in light of the greater need for these drugs, such definitions are no longer accurate. Pharmaceutical companies should therefore recognize that this partnership could allow them to expand into a robust segment of the health market, by developing critically needed new prevention and treatment options.
Conclusion
The likely impact of the Commission has only become more assured since its conclusion. In December, President Trump assembled a number of senior officials to form an “opioids cabinet” led by Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, who acted as primary liaison between the Commission and the White House, for the purpose of implementing the recommendations of the Commission. Therefore, as 2018 begins, business leaders need to adequately prepare for potentially significant changes to their industries as our nation responds to this escalating health crisis.
Marella, an associate in the Corporate Department of Gibbons P.C., in Newark, served in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in support of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.
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Gov. Haslam announces $30M plan to fight opioid epidemic in Tennessee
Jan 22, 2018 | WJHL (TN)
By Staff
Governor Bill Haslam announced Monday a plan to end the opioid epidemic in Tennessee.
The plan called TN Together is, according to a release from Haslam’s office, a “multi-faceted initiative” to address opioid addiction through legislation, proposed funding in Haslam’s 2018-19 budget, and executive actions.
The three components of the plan include legislation to limit the supply and dosage of opioid prescriptions, with reasonable exception and emphasis on new patients. Initial prescriptions will be limited to a five-day supply and daily dosage limits of 40 MME (morphine milligram equivalent.) TennCare enrollees would be limited to an initial five-day supply with daily dosage limits.
The plan also includes increasing prevention education in grades K-12 through revisions to the state’s health education standards.
An executive order issued Monday will establish a special commission to formulate evidence based pain and addiction medicine competencies to adoptions by the state’s medical and health care practitioner schools.
The plan would identify women of childbearing ages who are chronic opioid users and provide target outreach about risks and treatment to avoid neonatal abstinence syndrome births.
The plan includes a $25 million investment for treatment and recovery services for those addicted to opioids and would improve the state’s data systems to better and more timely identify hot spots for targeting resources.
TN Together includes legislation to expand residential treatment and services for opioid dependence within the criminal justice system.
The plan would attack the illicit sale and trafficking of opioids by providing extra resources to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for rapid response teams and, through legislation, penalizing the use and unlawful distribution of dangerous and addictive drugs, including those that mimic the use of fentanyl. It would also provide every state trooper with naloxone for the emergency treatment of opioid overdose.
In total, Haslam’s budget proposal includes a $30 million investment in state and federal funds to support TN Together.
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Jan 23, 2018 | WFXT (Fox)
By Boston, MA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189573?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: opioid drugs saturate the market and pharmaceutical companies behind them are part of the problem in boston is looking at the possibility of suing the company's. the attorney general of 41 others states banded together to explore similar legal options. the mayor said he's putting the pharmaceutical companies on notice he might do the same. it's part of a plan which if successful could recoup the cost of dealing with the opioidepidemic. they believe companies that flooded the market should bear a portion of the responsibility for what they have done. the mayor will use every tool available to fight the crisis and consider this one before moving forward.>> we get information on what a lawsuit would look like and what the mitigation would be for people not necessarily on loss of life but loss of resources in boston and some cities and towns across america have done this. we are looking at information to see what action if any we will take moving forward. >> the cost of the crisis has impacted emergency response and the impact of family members losing loved ones. the mayor said they will work with private attorneys to pursue the case on a swift timeline.
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Jan 23, 2018 | KTVX (ABC)
By Salt Lake City, UT
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189581?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: the legiature is now in full swing. education and infrastructure bills aron the docket. a major announcement causing confusion. the topic of possible lawsuit against drug companies. during the opening speech glenn hughes said his conversations with the attorney general made it appear utah would move forward with a lawsuit against drug companies manufacture and sell opioid painkillers for several utah counties have already said they plan to file lawsuits against drugmakers. during the open remarks, they say it appeared the statement to go forward and he said he supports us but the comments confuse the attorney general. he says that this is still part of a multistate investigation looking into a possible settlement.
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Jan 23, 2018 | NECN (NEWSENG)
By Boston, MA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189599?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: boston mayor marty walsh considering a lawsuit at drug companies that make 8:11 AMopioids. walsh's office says the litigation would be directed against companies that quote "irresponsibl saturated the market with opiates, knowingly putting consumers at risk for addiction." the mayor also released a request for information from law firms, researchers and others interested in helping in litigation. already - quincy, greenfield, fall river and springfield have filed similar suits - or announced their intention to do so.
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7 Action News This Morning on TV20 Detroit
Jan 23, 2018 | WMYD (MNT)
By Detroit, MI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189602?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: the war on drugs is heating up on the sport -- on the streets of detroit. they say that they will each have designated members to fight the opioid cris. and, they say that they are going after the suppliers and that they will be charged with murder they are charges opioid overdoses last year. other communities are now suing drug manufacturers for flooding them with opioids.
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Jan 23, 2018 | WNBC (NBC)
By New York, NY
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189612?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: with a revealing look at the opioid crisis. >> the statistics are grim. more than 300,000 american lives have been lost to opioids in the last 18 years. a baby is born dependent, get this, every 25 minutes. and for the second year in a row, the life expectancy in the u.s. went down. >> nbc's senior investigative and legal correspondent, cynthia mcfadden, has been looking in the fda's role in the crisis for the past six months. >> there's no shortage of blame 7:42 AMto go around. the drug companies, the doctors and the dea have come under fire. but some believe the food and drug administration could have and should have stopped it from becoming a national health crisis. we begin with the two words west virginia senator joe manchin uses to sum up the fda's regulation of opioids. >> absolutely criminal. >> reporter: stinging criticism also comes from a top doctor in the field, andrew coldny. >> this may be the best example in history of a regulation failure leading to a ka ta catastrophe. >> reporter: could the fda have stopped this? >> i don't know if we could have stopped it. a lot of people didn't do what they needed to do in the past or we wouldn't be in the situation we're in right now. >> reporter: the problem started 7:43 AMback in 1995, when the fda approved oxycontin, allowing it to be promoted as safe and effective for chronic pain, like back problems. >> fda failed to insist there was adequate before allowing the marketing. >> the rate of pain patients that are treated by doctor is less than 1%. >> reporter: oxycontin's manufacturer said that when it promoted the drug as less add addictive as other painkillers, they knew it wasn't true. by the time the company paid a fine in 2007, a staggering number of americans were hooked, some on the road to heroin. he lays some of the blame on how cozy the fda has been with drug companies over the years. >> this is a revolving door problem. >> reporter: he points to big phar pharma's influence in decisionmaking, including a 7:44 AMmeeting in 2002, where many of the experts the agency brought in to advise them had ties to the industry. >> they could have changed the rules so we wouldn't get a steady stream of new opioids hitting the market, each one pouring fuel on a fire. >> reporter: as the opioid epidemic ravaged the country, in 2014, the fda approved another powerful opioid called zohydro. this time, over the objections of a panel of experts, who strovoted 11-2 against it. >> why did the fda continue to allow more of the opiate drugs on the market. >> reporter: opioid painkillers were flooding his state. >> they were everywhere. 1 community had 9 million pills coming into it. >> reporter: determined to tighten controls on prescriptions, he headed to the fda. >> i go up and i testified 7:45 AMbefore their advisory committee, should have been a shlam-dunk, right? >> reporter: it wasn't. it took a year for the fda to take action. and a year after that for a policy to be in effect. the following year, a billion less pills were described. >> there is no bona fide justifiable reason to allow this to linger on. >> reporter: the fda told nbc, it did take action over the years like strengthening labels. but dr. gottlieb said his actions will go further. when he was nominated, some said he had too many ties to the agency he's regular lating. since dr. gottlieb has took over, the fda has gotten one opioid off of the market, after raising concerns of risk of abuse. >> i don't think this will be a five-year effort. but it will take a year, maybe two to get to the optimal place here. >> reporter: you say a year or more, that's more people becoming addicted and a lot more people dying. just this month the fda put limits on opioids in cough medicines for children. >> i look to the past to try to understand what we did wrong, to inform what we can do right going forward. i don't want to look back five years and say i wish i had done more. >> reporter: dr. gottlieb told us about several more aggressive new measures he's instituting at the fda. the agency has notified 74 manufacturers and the most common lly prescribed painkille they will have to provide more training for doctors. he repackaging pills in smaller quantities so a trip to the dentist doesn't become a month-long supply.
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Jan 23, 2018 | WLNE (ABC)
By Providence, RI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189760?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: the governor plans to discuss the progess massachusetts has made in combatting the opioid epidemic. baker also plans to talk about efforts to increase the state's reliance on renewable energy... his push to create 135-thousand new housing units in the state. 6:17 AMhe'll also offer details on transportation plans. we'll have more on the governors speech... tonight on abc 6 news at 11. rhode island lawmakers are taking a new approach at fighting the opioid cris. lieutenant governor dan mckee... organized a group of local communities to file a lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors. opioid cris>> it's part of a nationwide effort to try and combat the source of the epidemic and get back some money. pawtucket.. warwick... johnston... central falls and north providence are among the cities and towns to sign on so far. mayors for these communities... say enough is enough. mayor charlie lombardi>> "while we bear this burde multi-billion dollar companies are turning a profit and turning a blind eye to the cris they are causing. it is unacceptable." mayor joe polisena>> "we must send a message to th drug companies that they need to pay for what they have done." fourteen communities in rhode the lieutenant governor expects more to join in the coming weeks.
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Jan 23, 2018 | WVLA (NBC)
By Baton Rouge, LA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189773?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: baton rouge, mayor president sharon weston broome is set to announce her office's involvement in the fight against opioid distributors and manufacturesrs. our smacker miles is live to tell us more about that meeting today.. smacker.. 6:07 AMgoodmorning carly and gerron. i am here at the metro council chambers where mayor-president sharon weston broome will meet with east baton rouge parish coroner beau clark and baton rouge police cheif murphy paul. this has been as on going battle mayor broome has taken to since she began in office in january of last year. today is going to be about joing against opioid distributors and manufacturers after last turning to the crimetracker...
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Jan 22, 2018 | WNAC (Fox)
By Providence, RI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32189791?token=6d9a71e9-3e2b-44c7-aaf4-e03ddd0f049e
Rough Transcript: fourteen cities and towns in rhode island.. have filed a public nuisance lawsuit against---- opioid distributors and manufacturers. (he) the suit blames them for fueling the opioid cris in the state. eyewitness news reporter steph machado is in the newsroom ... ... with more details. hundreds of cities and towns across the country are suing opiate drug manufacturers and distributers, arguing they knowingly sent deadly prescription drugs into local communities. now, 14 of rhode island's cities and towns have joined the lawsuit. rhode island, like all states--has grappled with the prescription opiate cris for years. : over the last 5 years, rhode island has lost more than a thousand people to drug overdoses. most of rhode island's mayors...from warwick to north providence joining police chiefs and lt. governor dan mckee to announce they will be suing this list of drug manufacturers and distributors.. asking for damages to cover the costs of enforcement, treatment and prevention of the opiate epidemic. ladies and gentleman as i speak, many here are dying from a product that those drug companies are putting out there each and every day. this lawsuit is going to send a message that we will no longer sit idly by as these overdoses continue to rise the federal lawsuit's state purpose.... "to recoup monies that have been spent because of defendants' false, deceoptive and unfair marketing and/or unlawful diversion of prescription opioids." we're holding them accountable for poisoning the communities and addicting people and destroying lives, that they knew when they sent that pill...that they were going to addict people and ruin their lives. many of the pharmaceutical companies named in the lawsuit have previusly denied any wrongdoing. this is not a class-action lawsuit...each city and town is filing its own claim based on how the opiate epidemic has affected its residents.
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