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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 2/16/18
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Philadelphia District Attorney takes 'unique approach' with lawsuit against opioid makers
Feb 15, 2018 | Philadelphia Business Journal (PA)
By John George
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, in a move he described as a “somewhat unique approach,” filed a lawsuit Thursday against a group of pharmaceutical companies and their subsidiaries that manufacture opioids. The lawsuit alleges the drug makers are in violation of the state's unfair trade practices and consumer protection laws. -
Philly D.A.'s lawsuit tries new tack against opioid drug makers
Feb 15, 2018 | PhillyVoice (PA)
By John Kopp
Municipal officials from 16 Pennsylvania counties have filed separate lawsuits against opioid manufacturers as the national epidemic shows little signs of letting up. -
Krasner joins city in suing opioid manufacturers
Feb 16, 2018 | The Philadelphia Tribune (PA)
By John N. Mitchell
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced on Thursday the filing of a lawsuit against 10 pharmaceutical companies, under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Laws, for their role in creating the city’s opioid epidemic. -
Krasner, feds announce initiatives to combat opioid crisis
Feb 15, 2018 | The Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
By Aubrey Whelan & Mensah M. Dean
On the heels of a lawsuit filed Jan. 17 by Philadelphia city officials against 10 pharmaceutical companies claiming that misleading marketing methods have fueled the city’s opioid crisis, District Attorney Larry Krasner announced Thursday that he had filed his own lawsuit against the companies Feb. 2. -
Krasner Files Consumer Protection Suit Over Opioid Crisis
Feb 15, 2018 | The Legal Intelligencer
By Max Mitchell
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has sued several opioid manufacturers seeking to recover costs that the city has shouldered as a result of the growing opioid crisis. -
Philly DA Alleges 10 Drug Companies Behind City Opioid Crisis
Feb 15, 2018 | CBS Philly (PA)
By Mark Abrams
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is going after 10 big pharmaceutical companies alleging their marketing practices have contributed to the opioid crisis. -
Philadelphia DA files second lawsuit against opioid makers
Feb 16, 2018 | WPVI (PA)
By Staff
Philadelphia's district attorney says he has filed a lawsuit against 10 different pharmaceutical companies, claiming the companies have helped fuel the city's opioid crisis through deceptive marketing. -
Indiana gears up for opioid litigation by hiring Cohen Milstein
Feb 15, 2018 | Reuters / Westlaw Practitioner Insights
By Nate Raymond
Indiana’s attorney general on Thursday announced steps to become the latest state to pursue litigation against opioid manufacturers, saying he had retained a law firm to represent it in a potential lawsuit. -
AG’s office contracts with national firm to consider opioid litigation
Feb 15, 2018 | The Indiana Lawyer (IN)
By Olivia Covington
As numerous government agencies continue to fight the state’s growing opioid crisis, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office has contracted with a national law firm to help determine whether to pursue legal action against opioid manufacturers. -
Attorney Gen. Curtis Hill Expands Opioid Legal Team
Feb 16, 2018 | Indianapolis Patch (IN)
By Rebecca Bream
The Office of the Attorney General says Attorney General Curtis Hill announced Thursday that he's expanded his opioid legal team, which is investigating several options under consideration by the State of Indiana, including areas of accountability in the ongoing opioid crisis. Officials report Attorney General Hill says the national law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll PLLC will strengthen our state's litigation and legal analysis experience in what he calls this "complex area of opioid accountability." -
Health Science One small town, two drug companies and 12.3 million doses of opioids
Feb 15, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Lenny Bernstein & Katie Zezima
Two of the nation’s biggest drug distributors shipped 12.3 million doses of powerful opioids to a single pharmacy in a tiny West Virginia town over an eight-year period, a congressional committee revealed Thursday. -
Aberdeen, Schroders and Hermes question US pharma giants over opioid abuse
Feb 16, 2018 | Evening Standard
By Michael Bow
Aberdeen Standard Investments, Schroders and Hermes Investment Management are among UK firms raising questions with New York-listed pharma groups ahead of AGM season in America. -
Big Pharma Turned Patient Advocacy Groups Into Opioid Cheerleaders, Senate Says
Feb 16, 2018 | The Fix
By Kelly Burch
A Senate investigation revealed that some patient advocate groups were "totally dependent" on funding from Big Pharma. -
'Defies common sense' to blame opioid distributors, responds industry official to possible Holyoke lawsuit
Feb 16, 2018 | MassLive.com (MA)
By Mike Plaisance
Lawsuits that municipalities like Holyoke are considering joining to recover costs of opioid addictions and fighting the drug problem are the wrong way to deal with the issue, said pharmaceutical industry officials. -
More letters sent in congressional investigation into alleged pill dumping
Feb 16, 2018 | The Herald Dispatch (WV)
By Courtney Hessler
A small Mingo County town with a population of 406 residents received an average of about 6,200 pills daily by just one company in 2006 at the height of pill distribution in the state, according to letters sent Thursday by a congressional committee investigating the state’s opioid epidemic. -
HEALTH & MEDICINE REPORT: You’re Wrong, Pain Is Not a Vital Sign
Feb 16, 2018 | Space Coast Daily (FL)
By Myles Gart, MD
After years of exaggeration, misinformation and a national epidemic of opioid and heroin abuse, the nation is finally coming to terms with the fact that pain is not the fifth vital sign. -
Big Pharma is profiting from both opioids and overdose treatments
Feb 15, 2018 | Vice News
By Chris Arsenault
Some of the pharmaceutical companies selling prescription opioids that have caused thousands of deaths are looking to profit from the antidote for overdoses, according to a VICE News analysis of drug approval records from Health Canada. -
MO Sen. Claire McCaskill Issues Report On Opioid Investigation
Feb 16, 2018 | St. Charles Patch (IL)
By J. Ryne Danielson
Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has issued a sweeping report on ties between opioid manufacturers, doctors and advocacy groups. The report, which was produced by the committee's Democratic minority, alleges those payments may have influenced groups like the U.S. Pain Foundation, Academy of Integrative Pain Management, and the American Cancer Society''s Cancer Action Network to minimize the risks of chronic opioid use. -
Opioid-afflicted cities take on Big Pharma (OPINION)
Feb 15, 2018 | The Berkshire Eagle (MA)
By Editorial Board
Over the past several years, opioid addiction has grown into one of the great scourges in American history. Many have died from overdoses; for others, misuse of the painkillers has destroyed the lives of individuals and families and worn holes in the fabric of our society. And then there are those — the pharmaceutical manufacturers and their stockholders — who have made a great deal of money from booming sales of the drugs. -
Tackling the opioid crisis in Philadelphia (OPINION)
Feb 16, 2018 | The Philadelphia Tribune
By Jim Kenney & Larry Krasner
As public officials, the opioid epidemic has come to impact nearly everything we touch. Last year, it claimed the lives of about 1,200 people — four times the number of homicides and exceeding deaths from the AIDS epidemic by over 200 people in its worst year. -
More Resources Needed in Fight Against Drug Abuse (OPINION)
Feb 15, 2018 | St. Louis. Business Journal (MO)
By Editorial Board
With opioid abuse out of control, Express Scripts and Saint Louis University are working to make things better. Five opioid manufacturers are making things worse. -
City may join opioid class action suit
Feb 15, 2018 | The News & Reporter (SC)
By Travis Jenkins
The City of Chester is at least exploring the possibility of joining a national class action lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of opioids. -
Commissioners agree to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors
Feb 15, 2018 | Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
By Fran Daniel
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday to address the opioid crisis in Forsyth County by suing opioid manufacturers and distributors. -
La Crosse County to join wave of opioid lawsuits
Feb 16, 2018 | La Crosse Tribune (WI)
By Randy Erickson
La Crosse County will join the vast majority of Wisconsin’s counties in a wave of lawsuits against drug makers and distributors over their role in triggering the nation’s opioid drug crisis. -
Pendleton join class action opioid lawsuit
Feb 15, 2018 | Pendleton Times-Post (IN)
By Scott Slade
Pendleton voted unanimously to join a class action lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of opioid pain medications. -
County bringing lawsuit against opioid companies
Feb 16, 2018 | OA Online (TX)
By Paul Wedding
Ector County will be joining a long list of Texas counties bringing forth lawsuits against various pharmaceutical companies manufacturing or supplying opioid drugs. -
County pondering filing lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Feb 16, 2018 | Reno Gazette Journal (NV)
By Amy Alonzo
Lyon County may join a growing number of cities and counties involved in litigation against opioid manufacturers as commissioners on Thursday directed staff to draft a resolution that would push the county forward in litigation. -
Commissioners mull lawsuit against drug makers
Feb 15, 2018 | Carroll County Times (MD)
By Jon Kelvey
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners are mulling joining other Maryland jurisdictions in filing suit against opioid drug manufacturers. -
Action News 5PM
Feb 15, 2018 | WPVI (ABC)
By Philadelphia, PA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768769?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc -
Fox 29 News at 10
Feb 16, 2018 | WTFX (FOX)
By Philadelphia, PA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768764?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc -
KING 5 Morning News on KONG
Feb 16, 2018 | KONG (KONG)
By Seatlle, WA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768727?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc -
FOX8 News at 6:00A
Feb 16, 2018 | WGHP (Fox)
By Greensboro, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768750?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc -
FOX 24 News at 9
Feb 15, 2018 | KFTA (Fox)
By Ft. Smith, AR
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768765?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc -
Varney & Company
Feb 16, 2018 | Fox News
By National Programming
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768743?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc
Philadelphia, PA DA Suit
Indiana OAG
Commentary and FYIs
Southeast (SC, NC)
Midwest (WI, IN)
Southwest (TX, NV)
Northeast (MD)
Broadcast Media Coverage
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Philadelphia District Attorney takes 'unique approach' with lawsuit against opioid makers
Feb 15, 2018 | Philadelphia Business Journal (PA)
By John George
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, in a move he described as a “somewhat unique approach,” filed a lawsuit Thursday against a group of pharmaceutical companies and their subsidiaries that manufacture opioids. The lawsuit alleges the drug makers are in violation of the state's unfair trade practices and consumer protection laws.
"Based on the information we have, we believe this action is unique," said Krasner, noting the lawsuit is filed on behalf of all 1.6 million Philadelphia residents and has mechanisms so the money from any fines or damages awarded goes directly to those harmed by the companies' actions.
That's a difference from the multibillion-dollar settlement achieved in the litigation filed against the tobacco industry two decades ago by several states, Krasner said, because in that case the bulk of the money ended up being used by states to fill budget gaps.
The Consumer Protection Act gives a state or local district attorney the right to file a lawsuit if they believe a manufacturer is using, or planning to use, unfair or deceptive practices prohibited by law. Krasner said his lawsuit accuses the drug companies — three of which have local ties — of "systematically distracting the public from knowing the true dangers of opioid use as they reap billions of dollars in profits.… Let me just say this. Big Pharma we are coming for you."
Krasner, who took took over as the city's district attorney this year, accused his predecessors of being more interested in "people who wear T-shirts than people who wear white collars" when it came to tackling the city's opioid and heroin addiction problems that resulted in 1,200 overdose deaths in Philadelphia last year. "This is the kind of claim that, frankly, I think should have been made a long time ago," he said.
The District Attorney's Office lawsuit comes nearly a month after the city filed its own lawsuit against many of the same pharmaceutical companies alleging the opioid manufacturers should be held accountable for having a role in the growing addiction epidemic.
In its lawsuit filed in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, the city is seeking a halt to the deceptive marketing practices of drug companies related to opioid pain relief medicines; to force opioid manufacturers to pay for the costs of treatment of city residents suffering from opioid addiction and opioid-use disorder; and to recover costs the city itself has incurred responding to the epidemic.
Philadelphia Health Commissiner Dr. Thomas Farley supported Krasner's actions, saying: "This is a public health crisis. It's time for these companies to help us solve the problem they have in part caused."
Krasner applauded the city's action as well as the effort being led by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, in which attorneys general from 41 states – including Pennsylvania – are working together to explore legal options.
"Philadelphia has been hurt more than any other city in the nation by the scourge of opioids," he said. "The time to act is now."
Named as defendants in the District Attorney Office's lawsuit were: Allergan, Actavis, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and its subsidiary Cephalon, Endo Health Solutions and Endo Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, and Purdue Pharma and the Purdue Frederick Co.
Endo Pharmaceuticals in Malvern, Pa., serves as the U.S. headquarters of Endo International of Dublin, Ireland. Teva is based in Israel and has its North American headquarters in North Wales, Pa. Teva’s Cephalon subsidary is in Chester County. Both Johnson & Johnson and Janssen are based in New Jersey.
During the past two years, nearly 200 civil cases have been filed by local governments — including lawsuits by Delaware County and Bensalem Township — against opioid manufacturers and pharmaceutical distributors in the federal courts, while dozens of other lawsuits have been filed in state courts.
The pharmaceutical companies and distributors have consistently defended their actions with respect to opioids.
They have claimed: the lawsuits are legally and factually unfounded; they have acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding their opioid pain medications; and that they are committed to the appropriate promotion and use of opioid therapies.
Teva, when asked about Krasner's lawsuit, issued a statement that read: "Teva is committed to the appropriate use of opioid medicines, and we recognize the critical public health issues impacting communities across the U.S. as a result of illegal drug use as well as the misuse and abuse of opioids that are available legally by prescription. To that end, we take a multi-faceted approach to this complex issue; we work to educate communities and healthcare providers on appropriate medicine use and prescribing, we comply closely with all relevant federal and state regulations regarding these medicines, and, through our R&D pipeline, we are developing non-opioid treatments that have the potential to bring relief to patients in chronic pain. Teva also collaborates closely with other stakeholders, including providers and prescribers, regulators, public health officials and patient advocates, to understand how to prevent prescription drug abuse without sacrificing patients’ needed access to pain medicine."
Officials at Endo were not immediately available for comment. Endo, responding to the city’s lawsuit, said it is “dedicated to providing safe, quality products to patients in need and we share the public concern regarding opioid abuse and misuse."
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Philly D.A.'s lawsuit tries new tack against opioid drug makers
Feb 15, 2018 | PhillyVoice (PA)
By John Kopp
Municipal officials from 16 Pennsylvania counties have filed separate lawsuits against opioid manufacturers as the national epidemic shows little signs of letting up.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has added another lawsuit to the pile, claiming 10 pharmaceutical companies violated consumer protection laws by engaging in deceptive marketing practices.
The lawsuit, filed in the Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 2, comes just weeks after Philadelphia officials filed a similar suit against opioid manufacturers.
But Krasner's suit marks the first filed by a district attorney under Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection laws.
The Consumer Protection Law allows a county district attorney to sue in the name of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth if he or she believes a manufacturer is using unlawful, deceptive practices.
The lawsuit seeks to recover the expenses the city has incurred in its response to the opioid epidemic, which has hit Philadelphia particularly hard.
Fatal drug overdoses have more than doubled in four years, with the vast majority attributed to opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl.
An official count for 2017 is still being tabulated, but city officials expect the number to reach 1,200 fatalities.
The city has equipped first responders with the overdose antidote Narcan, a powerful tool that has been attributed to saving many lives. Last month, the city officials – including Krasner – announced their support for a safe injection site.
The lawsuit filed by Krasner named the following defendants: Purdue Pharma, L.P.; Purdue Pharma Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company Inc.; Allergan Finance LLC; Cephalon Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.
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Krasner joins city in suing opioid manufacturers
Feb 16, 2018 | The Philadelphia Tribune (PA)
By John N. Mitchell
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced on Thursday the filing of a lawsuit against 10 pharmaceutical companies, under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Laws, for their role in creating the city’s opioid epidemic.
The filing, made in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Please, was filed on Feb. 2.
“The City of Philadelphia has been hurt, more than any other city in the nation, by the scourge of opioids,” Krasner said at an afternoon press conference at the D.A.’s office. “The time to act is now, which is why I’ve taken this unprecedented action, in parallel with the city of Philadelphia suit, to stop these companies from systematically distracting the public from knowing the true dangers of opioid use as they reap billions of dollars in profits.”
The defendants in the lawsuit are: Purdue Pharma, L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Allergan Finance, LLC; Cephalon, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc; Endo Health Solutions, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Jansen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Johnson & Johnson.
Last month Philadelphia joined more than 200 cities around the country in suing opioid manufacturers over their apparent role in the crisis. The city’s Law Department filed a civil lawsuit seeking to stop the companies’ alleged “deceptive marketing practices,” which the city claims play a major role in the local opioid epidemic. In 2016, 907 deaths from drug overdoses were recorded in the city. Officials suspect that close to 1,200 died from overdoses last year.
“The city of Philadelphia certainly needs to address the health and treatment aspects of the opioid crisis, because it is devastating our neighborhoods – especially the residents of Kensington and Fairhill, but it also needs to stop the flow of these addictive drugs in our homes,” said Philadelphia City Councilwoman Maria d. Quinones-Sanchez.
“This lawsuit, and the one filed by the city are a good start, which is why I’m proud to support District Attorney Krasner’s effort today and am happy to stand with him as we work to stop the pipeline of addiction.”
“The lawsuit is designed to recover some of the extraordinary costs that the city and its residents have had to bear due to the opioid epidemic. The Consumer Protection law authorizes either the Pennsylvania attorney general or the state county district attorney to sue in the name of the state if they believe that a manufacturer is using, or planning to use, certain unfair or deceptive practices prohibited by law.
“I have seen first-hand the devastation caused by opioids, and the deadly path that leads users to heroin addiction,” said Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley. “This is a public health crisis. So, it’s time for those companies to help us solve the problem that they have in part caused.
Sixteen separate lawsuits have been filed by different counties in Pennsylvania against opioid manufacturers, including the one recently filed by Philadelphia. Krasner’s lawsuit is unique because it is the first of its kind filed by a county district attorney under the Consumer Protection Law.
“I’d like to think Mayor Kenney’s Opioid Task Force and the team of outside, expert attorney who are working with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on this case,” Krasner said.
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Krasner, feds announce initiatives to combat opioid crisis
Feb 15, 2018 | The Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
By Aubrey Whelan & Mensah M. Dean
On the heels of a lawsuit filed Jan. 17 by Philadelphia city officials against 10 pharmaceutical companies claiming that misleading marketing methods have fueled the city’s opioid crisis, District Attorney Larry Krasner announced Thursday that he had filed his own lawsuit against the companies Feb. 2.
“The city of Philadelphia has been hurt more than any other city in the nation by the scourge of opioids,” Krasner said. “The time for us to act was yesterday, and it is now.”
Meanwhile, at a news conference at the same time just a few blocks away, district attorneys from around the state who are partnering with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a regional Opioid Law Enforcement Task Force suggested they would continue to go after street-level dealers, stressing they have as much to fear from law enforcement as drug traffickers and pill-mill doctors.
Krasner also is participating in the task force, officials there said, but he had a scheduling conflict — his own news conference announcing the Big Pharma lawsuit. When asked why the suit was being announced almost two weeks after it was filed, Krasner spokesman Ben Waxman responded: “Iggles!” The DA’s Office wanted to wait “until people were paying attention,” he said, so the news conference was scheduled for after the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory and parade.
Krasner praised the city’s earlier actions against pharmaceutical companies and said his suit complements them. But he said his predecessors should have taken action: “There was not quite as much interest in going after people who wear white collars as there was in going after people who wear T-shirts when it came to drug enforcement,” he said.
“Make no mistake, it isn’t just going to be the kids on the corner,” he said. “It’s going to be Big Pharma, it’s going to be doctors, it’s going to be pain centers, it’s going to be pharmacies, and to the extent we have an opportunity, it’s going to be distributors who think that money is more important than lives.”
At the other news conference, acting U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen said the Justice Department had ordered him and his counterparts across the country to form regional task forces combating the opioid epidemic, and spoke of seeking mandatory minimum sentences against drug traffickers who cause someone’s death, cracking down on pill mills, and sharing intelligence on drug operations among police departments around the region.
“How do we tame the rough beast that is the opioid epidemic?” asked Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. He stressed the importance of getting people in addiction into treatment and diversion programs. But he also held up a pair of handcuffs and, addressing drug dealers, intoned: “These are for you.”
During his campaign, Krasner emphasized diversion programs for nonviolent drug offenders and advocated “using discretion to avoid unduly harsh sentences,” decrying Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ praise for mandatory minimum sentencing, which fell out of favor during the Obama years. He’s also supported safe injection sites, which Lappen called “safe suicide sites” at Thursday’s news conference.
Earlier this week, Krasner dropped charges in more than 50 marijuana possession cases. He said that about 90 percent of such cases already end in citations rather than arrest, but that his office will drop charges in the 10 percent that do result in arrest. He said studies have shown that opioid overdose deaths have decreased in states that have legalized marijuana.
“There’s a direct relation between reducing opioids and opiate deaths and making marijuana available,” he said.
It’s unclear how those approaches will dovetail with those of other district attorneys on the regional task force, or the federal government, which, under Sessions, have rescinded Obama-era guidance against prosecuting states that legalized marijuana. Waxman, Krasner’s spokesman, declined to comment, saying the DA’s Office hadn’t had time to review everything from the other news conference.
Krasner called the opioid crisis “an obscene situation that must be adjusted,” attributing it “almost entirely to a rapacious pharmaceutical industry.”
“We have three to four Philadelphians dying every single day from fatal drug overdoses, probably 80 percent of them from opioid-related deaths,” he said. He said the suit, a public-enforcement action filed under the state’s consumer protection law, was as thick as a phone book.
The 10 drug companies named in the suit are: Purdue Pharma LP; Purdue Pharma Inc.; Purdue Frederick Co.; Allergan Finance LLC; Cephalon Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and Johnson & Johnson.
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Krasner Files Consumer Protection Suit Over Opioid Crisis
Feb 15, 2018 | The Legal Intelligencer
By Max Mitchell
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has sued several opioid manufacturers seeking to recover costs that the city has shouldered as a result of the growing opioid crisis.
The lawsuit was filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas against 10 drugmakers, including Purdue, Allergan, Teva, Endo and Johnson & Johnson, alleging that the companies violated the state’s Consumer Protection law. The case, Commonwealth v. Purdue, was filed earlier this month.
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Krasner said the action is “parallel” to the lawsuit filed by the city of Philadelphia last month.
“It is a unique approach in trying to make sure the city of Philadelphia is able to bring big pharma under control,” Krasner said.
The city’s lawsuit alleges the companies violated the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law and the city’s nuisance laws and False Claims Act.
That suit was filed against the same drugmakers as the district attorney’s suit, and is also being handled in conjunction with the same lawyers who are assisting Krasner’s administration with his office’s lawsuit. Those firms are Berger & Montague, Dilworth Paxson, Sheller P.C., Sacks Weston Diamond, and Young Ricchiuti Caldwell & Heller. Temple University’s Beasley School of Law professor David Kairys is also involved in the case.
Krasner said his office’s lawsuit is different than the 16 separate suits that Pennsylvania counties have filed against opioid manufacturers because it is a public enforcement action under the the state’s Consumer Protection Law. According to the office, it is the first of its kind in the country.
The claims, however, are similar to those made in the city’s lawsuit.
The crux of the office’s suit is that the drugmakers used false and deceptive practices, and downplayed the addictiveness of opioids when marketing the drugs to doctors. The suit seeks recovery of the cost of medical and emergency services.
The lawsuit also requests that the court order manufacturers to alter their marketing practices, and seeks penalties of up to $1,000 for each willful violation of the consumer protection law, or $3,000 for each violation where the victim is older than 60.
Krasner also endorsed state Attorney General Josh Shapiro for his involvement with another lawsuit numerous states attorneys general have brought against opioid manufacturers. However, he was critical of similar litigation undertaken by several attorneys general years ago that was aimed at the tobacco industry, saying that the money recovered in those cases had gone into filling state budget gaps, rather than going toward prevention efforts.
“That’s not acceptable,” he said. “Big pharma, we’re coming for you, make no mistake.”
A spokeswoman for Teva said in an emailed statement that ”Teva is committed to the appropriate use of opioid medicines, and we recognize the critical public health issues impacting communities across the U.S.”
Press officers for Purdue, J&J, Allergan and Endo did not return requests for comment Thursday afternoon.
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Philly DA Alleges 10 Drug Companies Behind City Opioid Crisis
Feb 15, 2018 | CBS Philly (PA)
By Mark Abrams
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is going after 10 big pharmaceutical companies alleging their marketing practices have contributed to the opioid crisis.
The district attorney says a team of outside lawyers – many of them working for free – did extensive research and helped his office prepare the suit against the big names behind prescription opioids.
“Big pharma, we’re coming for ya! Make no mistake,” Krasner said during a Thursday afternoon news conference at his office. “It isn’t just gonna be the kids on the corners. It’s going to be big pharma, it’s going to be doctors, it’s going to be pain centers, it’s going to be pharmacies, and to the extent we have any opportunity, it’s going to be distributors who think that money is more important than lives.”
Among the companies sued: Purdue Pharma, Cephalon, Teva, Endo Health, and Johnson & Johnson.
Krasner says he’s seeking monetary damages to recover the costs paid by the city to deal with the opioid epidemic.
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Philadelphia DA files second lawsuit against opioid makers
Feb 16, 2018 | WPVI (PA)
By Staff
Philadelphia's district attorney says he has filed a lawsuit against 10 different pharmaceutical companies, claiming the companies have helped fuel the city's opioid crisis through deceptive marketing.
District Attorney Larry Krasner's lawsuit announced Thursday follows a lawsuit filed in January by Philadelphia city officials. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Krasner's lawsuit was filed on Feb. 2, nearly two weeks before Thursday's news conference.
Krasner praised the city's earlier actions against pharmaceutical companies, saying his suit complements the city's lawsuit.
The drug companies named in the lawsuit have previously said in similar lawsuits they don't believe litigation is the answer, but have pledged to help.
A Krasner spokesman says the news conference was scheduled to be held after the Philadelphia Eagles' Super Bowl victory parade to gather more attention. -
Indiana gears up for opioid litigation by hiring Cohen Milstein
Feb 15, 2018 | Reuters / Westlaw Practitioner Insights
By Nate Raymond
Indiana’s attorney general on Thursday announced steps to become the latest state to pursue litigation against opioid manufacturers, saying he had retained a law firm to represent it in a potential lawsuit.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said his office had signed a contract with the plaintiffs’ law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll to represent the state in lawsuits against companies responsible for marketing and selling opioids.
The remainder of this article is under paywall at: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-opioids/indiana-gears-up-for-opioid-litigation-by-hiring-cohen-milstein-idUSL2N1Q602J
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AG’s office contracts with national firm to consider opioid litigation
Feb 15, 2018 | The Indiana Lawyer (IN)
By Olivia Covington
As numerous government agencies continue to fight the state’s growing opioid crisis, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office has contracted with a national law firm to help determine whether to pursue legal action against opioid manufacturers.
Attorney General Curtis Hill’s office announced Thursday the state has entered into a contract with Washington, D.C.-based Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC to “bolster the state’s legal analysis and litigation experience in this complex area of opioid accountability.” The contract is partly contingent upon the firm’s employment of Betsy Miller, a partner and co-chair of the Public Client Practice Group who “represents state attorneys general and municipalities in civil law enforcement investigations and enforcement actions.”
“Adding this firm to support our investigation is the next logical step in the multifaceted approach we have employed over the past several months,” Hill said in a statement.
In an interview with the Indiana Lawyer, Hill said his office has been reviewing “various options” for responding to the opioid crisis, including the possibility of suing prescription painkiller manufacturers for deceptive marketing practices. Nearly a dozen Indiana communities have filed similar lawsuits in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., against opioid manufacturers over the last year.
While Hill said he could not yet discuss all of the options being considered, the office has been trying to assess the damage the drug epidemic has caused “from a legal standpoint and tracing that damage back to particular accountabilities.” The contract with Cohen Milstein contract will strengthen his office’s ability to analyze the implications of the opioid crisis and determine the best course of action, Hill said.
“The magnitude of the problem and the scope as it relates nationally is such that it really requires extraordinary efforts that we don’t have available on a regular basis,” he said.
Under the contingency fee contract, the state will compensate Cohen Milstein as follows:
• 25 percent of any recovery between $2 million and $10 million
• 20 percent of any recovery between $10 million and $15 million
• 15 percent of any recovery between $15 million and $20 million
• 10 percent of any recovery between $20 million and $25 million
• 5 percent of any recovery in excess of $25 million
Spokespeople for Cohen Milstein did not return messages seeking comment on the contract, which runs from Jan. 10, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2024.
Before Thursday’s announcement, Hill said his office had prioritized the drug epidemic through a three-pronged approach: prevention, enforcement and treatment. From a prevention and enforcement perspective, Hill said his staff office has been working with law enforcement to address the interdiction of drugs coming into the state and looking into the possibility of creating localized drug task forces.
Hill has also been promoting his Jail Chemical Addictions Program, which he launched in 2017 in Boone and Dearborn counties. The program is based on the notion that incarceration can be more effective in helping offenders break their addictions than traditional treatment programs.
As its efforts to combat the opioid crisis continue, Hill’s office could add to its opioid legal team again in the future, he said.
“I think it’s important to note this is just a phase in our overall legal strategy,” he said. “…With patience we’ll reach a conclusion, or at least an approach, that will be in the best interests of all Hoosiers.”
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Attorney Gen. Curtis Hill Expands Opioid Legal Team
Feb 16, 2018 | Indianapolis Patch (IN)
By Rebecca Bream
The Office of the Attorney General says Attorney General Curtis Hill announced Thursday that he's expanded his opioid legal team, which is investigating several options under consideration by the State of Indiana, including areas of accountability in the ongoing opioid crisis. Officials report Attorney General Hill says the national law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll PLLC will strengthen our state's litigation and legal analysis experience in what he calls this "complex area of opioid accountability."
"Adding this firm to support our investigation is the next logical step in the multifaceted strategic approach we have employed over the past several months," Attorney General Hill said, in a release. "From my first day in office, we have prioritized much of our attention, energy and resources toward fighting this opioid crisis that is destroying Hoosier lives and devastating Indiana communities. These efforts include a deliberative and diligent commitment to holding all parties accountable for actions detrimental to our state. We will continue to evaluate our best avenue for securing and investing resources from those responsible to help addicted Hoosiers overcome substance abuse and rebuild their lives."
Officials say the agreement with Cohen Milstein, which has several offices across the U.S., calls for the firm to be compensated depending on an award of damages, adding that the Attorney General will continue to manage the opioid legal team as it investigates whether to pursue litigation.
"As we prepare for the next potential phase, I fully anticipate further enhancing our team as necessary for maximum effectiveness," said Attorney General Hill, in a release.
Staff from the Office of the Attorney General's Mobile Operations Center recently joined community members in Fishers for a Prescription Drug Takeback Event, in other efforts to combat this ongoing opioid crisis.
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Health Science One small town, two drug companies and 12.3 million doses of opioids
Feb 15, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Lenny Bernstein & Katie Zezima
Two of the nation’s biggest drug distributors shipped 12.3 million doses of powerful opioids to a single pharmacy in a tiny West Virginia town over an eight-year period, a congressional committee revealed Thursday.
The Family Discount Pharmacy in Mount Gay-Shamrock received the drugs from McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health between 2006 and 2014, according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The committee is investigating the sale of pills in West Virginia by wholesale drug distributors, which are required by law to monitor and report to the Drug Enforcement Administration suspicious purchase orders for opioids. When they do not, millions of pills can be diverted to users and dealers from a single pharmacy.
The new data is included in letters sent by the committee Thursday to the “Big Three” drug distributors — McKesson, Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen — demanding more information on the steps they took during those years to keep drugs off the black market.
The committee said it had analyzed data provided by the DEA to determine that Cardinal Health sent Family Discount more than 6.5 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills between 2008 and 2012. It said McKesson sent the pharmacy 5.8 million pills between 2006 and 2014. Smaller distributors also sold narcotics to the drugstore — in a rural town with 1,779 residents in 2010 — bringing the total to nearly 16.6 million by 2016.
McKesson is the fifth-largest company in the United States, with revenue of more than $192 billion, according to the Fortune 500 list. Cardinal ranked 15th on the list, with $121 billion in revenue.
West Virginia has by far the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States, at 52 people per 100,000 in 2016.
“We need detailed answers and documents from these national distributors as to why large volumes of opioids were distributed to certain areas of the state,” the committee’s chairman, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), and ranking Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said in a statement. “West Virginians and families devastated by the opioid crisis all over the country deserve answers.”
On Jan. 26, in letters to two smaller distributors, the committee cited data showing that wholesalers collectively sent 20.8 million doses of the painkillers to two pharmacies four blocks apart in Williamson, W.Va., a town of 2,900 people.
Cardinal Health said in an email that “we can confirm that we received a letter from the House Energy & Commerce Committee, and we look forward to cooperating with them in the future.” AmerisourceBergen spokesman Gabe Weissman said in a statement that the company anticipates an “ongoing conversation with the committee while continuing our work with regulators, enforcement agencies and other participants in the health care system to do our part in combating prescription drug abuse.”
McKesson Corp. did not reply to a request for comment.
In a separate report this week, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) showed that five drug manufacturers paid more than $10 million to patient advocacy groups and doctors who promoted painkillers, potentially exacerbating the nation’s opioid crisis.
The report shows how the pharmaceutical industry funneled money to organizations that, in some cases, downplayed the risks of opioid use and promoted their use. Some of the groups criticized guidelines on opioid prescribing issued in 2016 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and attempted to limit accountability for overprescribing by lobbying against laws. They also minimized the risk of addiction.
That alignment of medicine and industry “may have played a significant role in creating the necessary conditions for the U.S. opioids epidemic, ” McCaskill’s report said.
According to the report, five manufacturers — Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Depomed, Insys Therapeutics and Mylan — gave the money to more than a dozen groups focused on pain. Purdue, which manufactures OxyContin, gave about half the contributions, including more than $1 million to the Academy of Integrative Pain Management and more than $700,000 to the American Academy of Pain Medicine.
Purdue, in a statement, said it has supported third-party organizations “that are interested in helping patients receive appropriate care and share our commitment toward addressing the opioid crisis.”
Bob Twillman, executive director of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, said his organization has tried to improve access to non-opioid pain relief while ensuring that patients who desperately need narcotics are able to obtain them. The American Academy of Pain Medicine said its policies do not allow “our education and advocacy positions to be compromised by outside influences.”
Insys, whose founder was charged with a “nationwide conspiracy” to illegally distribute the powerful painkiller fentanyl, gave $2.5 million to the U.S. Pain Foundation. Both said the donation was made to a fund for cancer patients.
The report’s authors say it probably reveals only a fraction of the money opioid manufacturers have spent to lobby on behalf of their products.
In statements, Depomed said it believes it acted responsibly, while Janssen said it stopped developing and promoting opioid products in 2015. Mylan said that it has cooperated with McCaskill’s investigation and that the company has played a “minuscule” role in manufacturing and marketing opioids.
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Aberdeen, Schroders and Hermes question US pharma giants over opioid abuse
Feb 16, 2018 | Evening Standard
By Michael Bow
Aberdeen Standard Investments, Schroders and Hermes Investment Management are among UK firms raising questions with New York-listed pharma groups ahead of AGM season in America.
The move comes in response to fears about the economic and social toll of opioid abuse — which kills more in the US than car crashes and gun deaths combined — after a string of lawsuits against listed drugmakers over claims they mis-sold pills.
“It’s a social tragedy with severe economic consequences. We’re using our power to engage with companies to encourage them to address the issue,” said Aberdeen Standard Investments’ Andrew Mason.
Aberdeen and Schroders are speaking privately with company boards that they own stocks and bonds in to explore the fallout from the epidemic. They are working on the issue separately.
“The investment implications could potentially be huge and it’s important to look past the manufacturers in the pharma sector because it has such a significant impact elsewhere,” said Schroders’ Seema Suchak.
UK shareholders in opioid-linked companies will be asked to take a view after a US shareholder group, the Investors for Opioid Accountability, said it would table a string of demands at drugmaker meetings asking boards to beef up their response to the crisis.
The IOA has identified seven New York-listed opioid makers including Johnson & Johnson, Mylan, and Insys for action.
Demand for more scrutiny of opioid distributor AmerisourceBergen, part-owned by UK chemist Boots and Walgreens, has already won the support of influential voting groups ISS and Glass Lewis.
Hermes also plans to support the motion and is examining a number of other proposals.
Hermes equity ownership service director Tim Goodman said: “Shareholders can’t turn their back on this, particularly when there are levers we can pull which can make a degree of difference. Aside from the social cost, the financial and legal risks are huge.”
Protests have been widespread and there are hundreds of legal cases, leading many to compare the opiates issue with the big tobacco lawsuits of the late nineties.
The crisis hit the headlines in the UK last year over its links to OxyContin firm Purdue Pharma and owners the Sackler family, who are big art donors in London.
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Big Pharma Turned Patient Advocacy Groups Into Opioid Cheerleaders, Senate Says
Feb 16, 2018 | The Fix
By Kelly Burch
A Senate investigation revealed that some patient advocate groups were "totally dependent" on funding from Big Pharma.
According to a new investigation, the five largest manufacturers of opioid pain medications gave more than $10 million to patient advocacy groups, which then lobbied for fewer restrictions on opioid prescribing and the right for access to powerful pain medications.
The advocacy groups—which on the surface are meant to support patients with chronic pain—“echoed and amplified” messages from Big Pharma, according to a Senate committee investigation reported on by USA Today.
"I think these groups were cheerleaders too often... cheerleaders for opioids," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
McCaskill had her staff collect information from the five largest opioid manufacturers: Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Mylan, Depomed and Insys Therapeutics. That information revealed that the U.S. Pain Foundation, the National Pain Foundation, the Academy of Integrative Pain Management and other organizations all received funding from the companies.
Some of the patient organizations were legitimate, while others were "totally dependent” on drug companies, McCaskill said.
"Our report indicates that in some instances they are merely fronting for these manufacturers, especially if you look at the lobbying they’ve done against restricting prescribing levels of opioids," she said.
Both the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Pain Society have downplayed the risk of addiction from opioids, the report found.
"We now know that’s not true and [to] use these medications with more respect and more caution,” Army Col. Chester Buckenmaier, an anesthesiologist and professor at the Uniformed Services University, told USA Today.
The American Academy of Pain Medicine and the Center for Practical Bioethics both spoke publicly against the Centers for Disease Control’s efforts to institute federal limits on opioid prescriptions.
The Senate report found that Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, contributed the most money to patient advocacy groups.
However, this isn’t the first time that the connection between pharmaceutical companies and patient advocacy groups has been revealed.
In 2016, an Associated Press report found that opioid manufacturers had spent $880 million on lobbying and campaign contributions between 2006 and 2015. The drug companies also connected with groups including the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, a group of doctors that was known until recently as the American Academy of Pain Management. There, seven of the nine council members had ties to opioid manufacturers.
Still, Executive Director Bob Twillman said that does not sway the academy’s interests. "We don't always do the things they want us to do," he said.
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Feb 16, 2018 | MassLive.com (MA)
By Mike Plaisance
Lawsuits that municipalities like Holyoke are considering joining to recover costs of opioid addictions and fighting the drug problem are the wrong way to deal with the issue, said pharmaceutical industry officials.
"There is a focus on manufacturers and distributors but the opioid epidemic is a systemic problem," Clare Krusing said on behalf of the Healthcare Distribution Alliance in a phone interview Wednesday.
The alliance, a national trade association, contacted The Republican after a report about the city of Holyoke considering joining lawsuits against opioid manufacturers.
It "defies common sense" to hold distributors responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions issued, said a statement the alliance emailed from Senior Vice President John E. Parker. He said the misuse of presciption opioids is a complex challenge that requires a response from numerous parties.
"Given our role, the idea that distributors are responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written defies common sense and lacks understanding of how the pharmaceutical supply chain actually works and is regulated. Those bringing lawsuits would be better served addressing the root causes, rather than trying to redirect blame through litigation," Parker said in the statement.
The alliance issued a similar statement after The Republican and MassLive.com did stories on the city of Springfield hiring a law firm to file suit against pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors for costs related to the opioid crisis.
Addiction to opioid painkillers such as OxyContin and the subsequent need to keep taking the drug after the prescription expires leads many people to take heroin as a substitute.
The Holyoke City Council has asked Mayor Alex B. Morse and the Law Department to consider having the city join such lawsuits and Morse said he is considering it.
Holyoke Councilor Michael J. Sullivan, who filed the order calling for the city to join the lawsuits, said the litigation could be a way for the city to recoup costs related to the opioid addictions and related crimes that have slammed the city.
"The opioid epidemic has put a strain on our police and fire departments. It has burdened the building, health, public works and the quality of life in our city. Other cities and towns as well as the (Department of Justice) are seeking recourse and we should too," he said.
Opioids are medications that relieve pain by reducing the intensity of pain signals reaching the brain. Opioids have similar properties to the opium from which they are derived. Drugs in this class include Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Heroin is an opioid synthesized from morphine, a substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant, the NIDA said.
Parker's statement said other factors to consider are that:
- distributors are logistics experts who deliver medicines to pharmacies and healthcare providers
- distributors do not manufacture, prescribe, dispense "or in any way, drive demand."
- The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for setting the annual production of controlled substances in the market, approving and regulating entities that are permitted to prescribe and handle opioids and sharing data with those in the supply chain "regarding potential cases of diversion."
- Distributors report ever opioid order to the DEA "whether it is suspicious or not. "Greater communication and coordination with the DEA will help support real-time response against abuse and diversion where it occurs."
The Republican emailed questions to the Healthcare Distribution Alliance to clarify points in the organization's prepared statement and Senior Vice President John E. Parker provided responses:
1. If your organization is saying municipalities like Holyoke shouldn't file lawsuits, to recover money spent on fighting opioid-related crime & treatment for opioid addicts, what would you recommend they do instead?
"We agree that there needs to be a broader discussion about funding for treatment and additional support to combat the epidemic, but it's important to recognize that litigation against one sector of the supply chain is not going to deliver the long-term solutions and approach that we need to prevent this epidemic. There is broad recognition that the opioid crisis reflects a systemic problem. Distributors have an important, but limited role, in the supply chain. Importantly, our members don't manufacture, prescribe, promote, or dispense these medicines to patients, nor do we have an impact on the demand of opioids in the market. Our members operate in one of the most highly regulated sectors of the country, and ultimately, the Drug Enforcement Administration plays a critical role in tracking the supply and flow of controlled substances in the market."Ultimately, if we're going to truly address the crisis, it will require us to address those root factors - the prevalence of overprescribing, lack of knowledge around disposal and safe use of these medicines."
2. Regarding the "don't scapegoat us" comment: Given that your organization represents companies that distribute opioids, & thus have a role in opioids getting into multiple locations, why shouldn't people see you as bearing some responsibility for what police, public officials & others have called an epidemic, devastation to communities, etc. in reference to opioid availability & use?
"We recognize the impact the opioid epidemic has had on communities. Like many others, we have family members and friends who have suffered from opioid addiction - so our focus is on doing everything we can as an industry to prevent abuse and misuse. That said, the opioid epidemic is a systemic problem, one that was driven by a confluence of factors that starts with how we as a country treat pain. Again, our members are solely responsible for the safe delivery and transport of medicines to medical providers, and we report every order to the DEA. Moving forward, we need to have far more transparency and coordination from the DEA to allow real-time tracking and monitoring of controlled substances throughout the supply chain."
3. Please explain what you mean, in your third bullet point above, by "potential cases of diversion."
"The DEA is the only entity that has the full picture of the flow of controlled substances through the supply chain. While distributors report every order to the agency, an individual distributor only knows what it ships to a particular pharmacy or provider - not the totality of orders received. While distributors have sophisticated tracking and monitoring systems in place, the information from the DEA is critical to assessing the full scope and scale of potential diversion - and that information and communication from the agency has been lacking in the past."
4. How many distribution companies in how many states does your organization represent?
"We represent 35 distributors across all 50 states."
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More letters sent in congressional investigation into alleged pill dumping
Feb 16, 2018 | The Herald Dispatch (WV)
By Courtney Hessler
A small Mingo County town with a population of 406 residents received an average of about 6,200 pills daily by just one company in 2006 at the height of pill distribution in the state, according to letters sent Thursday by a congressional committee investigating the state’s opioid epidemic.
The U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce revealed Thursday it had sent several follow-up letters to drug distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen to expand its ongoing investigation into the alleged pill dumping into the state.
The combined letters pose more than 70 questions with 40 requests for documents about the distributors’ efforts to curb the epidemic. The letters point to their involvement with 10 of the largest pharmacy customers in West Virginia, based on the total hydrocodone and oxycodone dosage units sent from 2006 to 2017.
The information requested in the three letters asks for a range of material, including board meeting minutes, the results of internal or external investigations related to suspicious order monitoring, customer order accounts and actions taken by each company in response to a series of letters sent by the DEA in 2006 and 2007.
The letters are at least the second batch sent this year ahead of congressional committee meetings slated for Feb. 26 to find out what caused the epidemic and create measures to better understand and fight the crisis through future preventative measures.
Nationwide, opioids killed a record number -- 42,000 people -- in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In six years, drug wholesalers sent the state more than 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills, equaling about 433 per citizen, while 1,728 West Virginians fatally overdosed on those two painkillers.
The situation created the House inquiry and about 200 lawsuits from state and local governments across the country, which allege the wholesalers, manufacturers, pharmacies and others were responsible for the nationwide opioid epidemic.
In January, drug wholesalers Miami-Luken and H.D. Smith were sent similar letters requesting additional information about their practices. The committee also has requested better cooperation from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Justice, which Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said had “all but stonewalled the investigation.”
Walden and Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J, said cooperation is key to the investigation.
“We need detailed answers and documents from these national distributors as to why large volumes of opioids were distributed to certain areas of the state,” they said. “West Virginians and families devastated by the opioid crisis all over the country deserve answers.”
The Family Discount Pharmacy, Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia – population of 1,779 – allegedly received more than 16.5 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone between 2006 and 2016 and its nearby location in Stollings – population of 316 – received an additional $3.69 million more in the same time person, a letter sent to McKesson said.
The two pharmacies are about three miles apart.
McKesson was a top supplier of the pharmacy. Between 2006 and 2014, McKesson allegedly supplied 5.1 million hydrocodone pills and 695,100 oxycodone pills, totaling 5.8 million pills. Its Stollings location received 2.1 million hydrocodone pills and 272,680 oxycodone pills, totaling 2.37 million.
Between 2008 and 2012, Cardinal Health supplied over 6.5 million opioids at an average of 3,561 per day.
The letter sent to McKesson also says nearly five million opioids were shipped to Sav-Rite Pharmacy No. 1 in Kermit, which has a population of 406.
In 2006, the pharmacy received 2.2 million hydrocodone pills, an average of 184,303 monthly and 78,500 oxycodone pills. The committee says when applying DEA data, McKesson accounted for just 76 percent of the pharmacy’s 2006 hydrocodone pill orders.
In 2007, McKesson shipped the pharmacy 2.6 million hydrocodone, an average of about 218,723, and 40,900 oxycodone pills.
McKesson did not supply the pharmacy opioids from 2008 to 2010, but later resumed supplying the pills, even after federal authorities began investigating the pharmacy and media publicized law enforcement raids at the pharmacy, the committee letters said.
The letters were sent by full committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.), full committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-Co.), and Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.).
The Healthcare Distribution Alliance, the national trade association representing the drug distributors previously said the distributors understand the impact of the opioid epidemic, are deeply engaged in the issue and dedicated to finding a solution, but they aren't willing to be scapegoats.
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HEALTH & MEDICINE REPORT: You’re Wrong, Pain Is Not a Vital Sign
Feb 16, 2018 | Space Coast Daily (FL)
By Myles Gart, MD
After years of exaggeration, misinformation and a national epidemic of opioid and heroin abuse, the nation is finally coming to terms with the fact that pain is not the fifth vital sign.
This heresy, as I understand it, has existed for close to three decades and, in my opinion, has been directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of patients and lethal drug overdoses of hundreds of thousands of American citizens. The misguided acceptance of pain as the fifth vital sign has been and still is the single biggest mistake in the history of modern medical pain management.
In the early 1990s, the American Pain Society opined that there was a national epidemic of untreated pain in our nation’s hospitals and announced that pain should be classified as the “fifth vital sign.” This assertion is riddled with many problems. Vital signs are clinical measurements, specifically: pulse rate, temperature, respiration rate and blood pressure, that indicate the state of a patient’s essential body functions. These clinical measures are very objective in character and include an assortment of relevant numerical values.
Pain is a subjective feeling that is impossible to accurately and consistently quantify across patient populations.
Therefore, for providers to assess pain as a vital sign, they must ascribe a numerical value for it, such as zero to ten based on the Universal Numeric Pain Scale. As a result of equating pain as a vital sign, medical practitioners must come up with a reliable and effective treatment if and when a patient subjectively rates their pain high on the scale.
In 1998, the Federation of American Medical Boards issued a policy reassuring physicians that “in the course of treatment,” large doses of opioids were acceptable. In 2001, the Joint Commission mandated that hospitals across the country assess pain on each patient they treat.
While not stating how facilities should assess pain, the nation relied on what the prevailing thought that pain should be considered the fifth vital sign and treated on the zero-to-ten pain scale. With the support of the Joint Commission, The Federation of American Medical Boards urged individual state medical societies to make the under treatment of pain punishable for the first time.
With misinformation and external pressure by state and national oversight agencies, American hospitals and medical professionals were “steered” to overtreat acute and chronic pain. Failure to comply was tantamount to patient abuse and battery, punishable by citations from medical boards and Joint Commission.
Thus, this “virtual” national epidemic of untreated pain and subsequent adoption of pain as the fifth vital sign has, in my view and the view of many clinicians, resulted in the brutal, harsh reality of a national opioid and heroin crisis. As evidence, since pain became the “fifth vital sign,” the number of prescriptions for opioids have escalated from around 76 million in 1991 to nearly 220 million in 2011.
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Big Pharma is profiting from both opioids and overdose treatments
Feb 15, 2018 | Vice News
By Chris Arsenault
Some of the pharmaceutical companies selling prescription opioids that have caused thousands of deaths are looking to profit from the antidote for overdoses, according to a VICE News analysis of drug approval records from Health Canada.
One emergency room doctor in Toronto who regularly reverses opioid overdoses with naloxone said the revelations show “companies [are] cynically profiting from both ends of the crisis” that claimed an estimated 4,000 lives in Canada last year.
“The companies who over-marketed the opioids like Purdue Pharma have largely gotten away without having to pay significant penalties,” said Joel Lexchin, a health policy professor at York University who also works in Toronto emergency rooms.
“This is an example of companies choosing to make money in whatever way they can,” Lexchin told VICE News. He compared the opioid situation to tobacco companies selling both cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapy.
VICIOUS CYCLE
Purdue Pharma Canada, the privately held maker of OxyContin, the world’s top selling prescription opioid painkiller, is developing its own version of naloxone and hoping to market it in Canada. Purdue Pharma Canada is a separate legal entity from the company’s U.S. operations.
“KL-00514 (Naloxone Buccal Film) ... is designed for use in non-healthcare settings by laypersons to rescue patients experiencing life-threatening effects of an accidental or intentional opioid overdose while awaiting emergency medical attention,” Purdue Canada spokesperson Sarah Manley Robertson told VICE News in an email.
The drug is “early in its development” and discussions with regulators on approving it are ongoing, Robertson said.
When asked about a possible conflict of interest in trying to market both prescription opioids and naloxone, Manley said: “The appropriate management of pain and addressing the effects of misuse, abuse and diversion of prescription pain medications are both serious public health problems.” She would not elaborate further.
Purdue Pharma Canada paid $20 million dollars in 2017 to settle following a national class action lawsuit that accused the company of “over marketing” OxyContin and helping to stoke addictions. Purdue made no admission of liability, a company spokesperson told reporters at the time.
The U.S. division of the company has faced similar costly litigation south of the border after being accused public health officials of over-promoting opioid use, leading to skyrocketing rates of addictions and overdoses.
The state of New Jersey sued Purdue in October arguing there is a “direct link” between the company’s marketing strategy for OxyContin and the state’s opioid crisis. Similar lawsuits have been launched in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio and other U.S. states.
Since its release in 1995, OxyContin has reportedly generated about $35 billion in revenue for Purdue, the New Yorker reported.
Having the same companies selling both opioids and the overdose antidote can lead to a vicious cycle where firms have an economic interest to sell more opioids in order to increase naloxone sales, said Lexchin.
‘I NEVER THOUGHT I’D SEE SO MANY DIE’
Generic drug company Mylan Pharmaceuticals also sells both naloxone and opioids in the U.S., although health advocates say the company hasn’t promoted opioid sales nearly as aggressively as Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies. It also sells medications, including life-saving naloxone, at lower prices than other companies.
In 2016, Mylan manufactured approximately one percent of opioids sold in the U.S., “which placed Mylan 17th among pharmaceutical companies,” company spokesperson Lauren Kashtan told VICE News in an email. “Despite being a small manufacturer in the U.S. opioid marketplace, Mylan is firmly committed to helping in the fight against opioid abuse and misuse.”
Mylan has government approval to sell prescription naloxone injections in Canada, although Kashtan says the company doesn’t sell the product in the Canadian market.
While the opioid epidemic largely began with the over-prescription of painkillers produced by major companies, many overdose deaths are linked to bootleg versions of highly potent opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil tainting the illicit supply, as opposed to prescriptions.
“Right now the biggest existential threat to people who use drugs aren't prescription opioids but street fentanyl,” Jordan Westfall from the Canadian Association of People who use Drugs (CAPUD) told VICE News in an email. “I never thought I'd see so many people die.”
‘APPROPRIATE PRESCRIBING’
It is legal for companies to sell both opioid drugs and naloxone used to treat opioid overdoses in Canada and the U.S. and regulators say there is nothing problematic about firms profiting on both ends.
“Health Canada is of the view that it should not be considered a conflict of interest for companies that sell approved opioid products to also sell approved naloxone products,” Rebecca Purdy, a spokesperson for federal department, told VICE News.
“Access to naloxone is generally considered an added safety measure, and is unlikely to result in additional prescription opioid sales for the companies who market them.”
Federal and provincial health authorities say one of their priorities is making sure naloxone is accessible and affordable for people who use drugs and health professionals and they have provided funding to make this happen.
“I see this problem (with opioid overdoses) continuing to get worse,” Lexchin said. “This means the need for naloxone is going to continue to grow.”
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MO Sen. Claire McCaskill Issues Report On Opioid Investigation
Feb 16, 2018 | St. Charles Patch (IL)
By J. Ryne Danielson
Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has issued a sweeping report on ties between opioid manufacturers, doctors and advocacy groups. The report, which was produced by the committee's Democratic minority, alleges those payments may have influenced groups like the U.S. Pain Foundation, Academy of Integrative Pain Management, and the American Cancer Society''s Cancer Action Network to minimize the risks of chronic opioid use.
"The pharmaceutical industry spent a generation downplaying the risks of opioid addiction and trying to expand their customer base for these incredibly dangerous medications and this report makes clear they made investments in third-party organizations that could further those goals," McCaskill said. "These financial relationships were insidious, lacked transparency, and are one of many factors that have resulted in arguably the most deadly drug epidemic in American history."
McCaskill's report is the first detailed look at the monetary connections between the pharmaceutical industry, medical community and health advocacy groups related to opioids and how those connections may have influenced public policy and contributed to a national opioid crisis.
The report found that five leading opioid manufacturers — including Purdue, Janssen, Depomed, Insys and Mylan — contributed nearly $9 million to physicians and advocacy groups over five years. Those same groups then lobbied against laws directed at curbing abuse and against holding physicians and industry executives accountable for opioid over-prescription and off-label use.
For example, the American Academy of Pain Medicine issued guidance to patients in 2009 that said "opioids are rarely addictive when used properly." That group took $1.2 million for opioid manufacturers during the period the report examined. The report mentions several other examples of similar incidents.
"The fact that these same manufacturers provided millions of dollars to the groups described [in this report] suggests, at the very least, a direct link between corporate donations and the advancement of opioids-friendly messaging," the report claims. "By aligning medical culture with industry goals in this way, many of the groups described in this report may have played a significant role in creating the necessary conditions for the U.S. opioids epidemic."
The report criticized health advocacy groups for their lack of transparency. Because of the way they are treated by U.S. tax laws, such groups have no obligation to publicly disclose their donors.
"The financial relationships between these groups and opioid manufacturers should be clear to the general public," McCaskill said. "We passed a law ensuring the public had information on payments to doctors by pharmaceutical companies, and I can't imagine why the same shouldn't be done in this space."
The senator has called for a crackdown on opioid manufacturers and distributors suspected of wrongdoing.
President Donald Trump has spoken often of the opioid crisis, declaring in a public health emergency last year. A bipartisan budget deal passed this month includes $6 billion to fight the opioid crisis over two years, which experts say falls short of the amount required, but is better than nothing. The president's recent budget proposal, if passed, would dedicate even more money to fighting opioid addiction, but it would also repeal the Affordable Care Act and slash Medicare and Medicaid, kicking many off the insurance they use to get addiction treatment.
More than 42,000 Americans die from opioid overdoses every year, and 40 percent of those deaths involve a prescription drug, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Opioid-afflicted cities take on Big Pharma (OPINION)
Feb 15, 2018 | The Berkshire Eagle (MA)
By Editorial Board
Over the past several years, opioid addiction has grown into one of the great scourges in American history. Many have died from overdoses; for others, misuse of the painkillers has destroyed the lives of individuals and families and worn holes in the fabric of our society. And then there are those — the pharmaceutical manufacturers and their stockholders — who have made a great deal of money from booming sales of the drugs.
Local and state governments, which have been left to deal with myriad ramifications of opioid addiction among their populations, among them rising property and violent crime, broken homes, medical emergencies, and children who have effectively lost their parents to the drugs' demonic grasp cannot even accurately compile figures on the cost of confronting these problems, so widespread are the effects.
Opioids do hold a legitimate place in the menu of medical options for pain management, and the development of an effective product ought to be allowed to make a profit for its creators. That said, there is evidence that the manufacturers of these highly dangerous substances may have intentionally misrepresented their benefits and drawbacks when marketing them to physicians. In Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey has already obtained a half-million-dollar settlement from Insys Therapeutics, Inc. (a manufacturer of fentanyl) for slipping kickbacks to doctors in return for prescribing the drug for mild pain relief use, which is far from its intended purpose of alleviating cancer pain. Ms. Healey has joined her counterparts in other states to investigate whether other painkiller manufacturers have misrepresented the dangers of their products, as well.
Pittsfield suffers more than its per-capita share of opioid addiction, an affliction that has been ascribed to joblessness, despair and a raft of social ills often associated with a bleak economic landscape, and it is right that a city so beleaguered should join forces with others — among them, Lowell and Greenfield and possibly Boston — in exploring legal remedies for the financial and societal suffering it has had to endure as a result of this epidemic (Eagle, February 15). Since pharmaceutical companies have displayed little in the way of corporate consciences, hitting them in the bottom line is the only way to achieve redress. Already, Purdue Pharma, which makes the popular painkiller OxyContin and a selection of other opioids, has agreed to stop marketing those drugs to physicians and is axing half of its sales force. It is doubtful that Purdue's leaders had a sudden moral epiphany that caused them to turn away from their jingling cash registers; more likely it is the hundreds of civil suits the company faces over marketing practices that the courts may decide warrant restitution to victims — among those victims being local governmental entities across this country — that prompted the change in strategy.
Pittsfield's potential inclusion as a plaintiff in these suits costs it nothing but a 25 percent contingency fee for the attorneys arguing its case. North Adams, another city hit hard by the opioid crisis, has no reason not to join Pittsfield in this action, and we urge it to do so. The funds cities may or may not collect as a result will be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the battle so far, but any relief would be welcome — and justified. -
Tackling the opioid crisis in Philadelphia (OPINION)
Feb 16, 2018 | The Philadelphia Tribune
By Jim Kenney & Larry Krasner
As public officials, the opioid epidemic has come to impact nearly everything we touch. Last year, it claimed the lives of about 1,200 people — four times the number of homicides and exceeding deaths from the AIDS epidemic by over 200 people in its worst year.
With no end in sight, opioid addiction continues to destroy lives. It drives much of the city’s violence and has stressed our EMS system to the brink. Addiction has created ongoing challenges within our prison system and it contributes to the number of people forced to sleep outdoors every night.
Entire neighborhoods are under siege by those suffering from opioid addiction and by those who prey on the addicted.
But, to many Philadelphians, this crisis is nothing new.
Thirty years ago, crack cocaine invaded our city. With it came addiction and violence, and government responded with a so-called “War on Drugs” across the country, particularly in large cities like Philadelphia with a majority-minority population and a historically high poverty rate.
As a society, we failed many people during the crack epidemic by treating it solely as a law enforcement problem rather than a health problem. Many people spent time in jail when they should have spent time in treatment. No doubt, criminalizing addiction happened in part because the people affected were mainly African American, Latino and poor. Race determined how the country, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia, responded to the devastating crisis. These “tough on crime” policies resulted in Philadelphia having the highest incarceration rate of any large jurisdiction in the country.
That was a big mistake. Tragically, too many families, loved ones and neighborhoods still suffer the consequences of not only addiction, but the policies that tore families apart and decimated communities.
We now know that addiction is a disease. It is well past time to remove the stigma of addiction and help those who cannot help themselves.
While we can’t undo years of regressive policy, we can take an intentional approach to treating addiction and drug-related law offenses with that history in mind.
As city councilman, Mayor Jim Kenney sponsored and passed legislation that decriminalized the possession of a small amount of marijuana in 2014, in part to address the racial disparity found in those arrested for marijuana possession. Since becoming mayor, he’s created an opioid task force that is to create an action plan and recommendations that the city is using to seek long-term solutions to end this opioid crisis. And in 2016 Philadelphia was awarded $3.5 million from the MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge to invest in strategies that will safely reduce the average daily jail population over the next three years by over a third, and particularly mitigate the incarceration of individuals with low-level drug offenses or with addiction disorders.
District Attorney Larry Krasner believes that the solution to drug addiction is treatment, not incarceration. In his new role, the DA has pledged to build up Philadelphia’s drug court capacity and increase opportunities for diversion, allowing those arrested for drug possession or for minor offenses due to addiction to get the treatment they need instead of incarceration.
The city recently filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers to hold them accountable for their role in this crisis. The goal is to end deceptive marketing practices used by these companies and help residents suffering from opioid addiction cover treatment costs. The District Attorney’s Office has also filed a lawsuit against several pharmaceutical companies under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law to hold them responsible for their role in the opioid epidemic.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has expressed his intent to respond to the opioid epidemic with a law enforcement-centric focus, reverting the nation back to the divisive tactics used during the ”War on Drugs” response to the crack cocaine epidemic. It’s important that we resist this and focus on saving lives in a way that research has shown is successful.
The city’s response is multifaceted. The Health Department is working with doctors and insurance companies to reduce the likelihood that people will become addicted. The Department of Behavioral Health has added treatment slots and is directing resources to the most effective treatments. Homeless Services is working toward providing low-barrier shelter to get those who are addicted off our streets and out of our neighborhoods. The city is expanding programs to clean up needles, encampments and trash that are directly related to opioid users. Local law enforcement has partnered with our federal and state partners to arrest drug dealers and distributors.
Opioid addiction affects all of us. While more whites are dying from overdose these days, we know that Black and brown lives are being taken by opioids, as well. In both 2016 and 2017 more African Americans died of overdoses than of homicide in Philadelphia. In 2016, the Medical Examiner’s Office reports that, of the 907 overdose deaths recorded, 398 were Black non-Hispanic, Hispanic or other.
These are unprecedented times and we are taking unprecedented steps. That is why the city is actively encouraging the philanthropic and non-profit community to establish and support Comprehensive User Engagement Sites (CUES).
A CUES would be a facility that engages injection drug users who are not yet in treatment, offering them help to get into treatment and, at the same time, helping them stay alive until they begin treatment. Furthermore, these sites are expected to take some people off the streets, where their active addiction impacts the safety and environment of the rest of the neighborhood.
At a CUES, drug users would be given sterile medical supplies for injection, and allowed to inject on site. If an individual has an overdose, trained staff members can immediately provide life-saving Naloxone. We cannot emphasize enough, however, that a CUES is more than a place where people in addiction will use drugs under supervision — the sites will also provide a direct link to treatment, resources for housing and meals and, most importantly, save lives.
CUES are just one part of a multi-component strategy to deal with the opioid crisis, along with efforts to prevent drug abuse, help drug users get into treatment, and help the homeless obtain housing.
This crisis is bigger than us all and we know that we need community support to make progress. Learn more about the comprehensive plan developed by the Mayor’s Opioid Task Force to prevent drug abuse and help those experiencing homelessness in the city by visiting www.phila.gov/opioids.
Jim Kenney is the mayor of Philadelphia. Lary Krasner is the district attorney of Philadelphia.
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More Resources Needed in Fight Against Drug Abuse (OPINION)
Feb 15, 2018 | St. Louis. Business Journal (MO)
By Editorial Board
With opioid abuse out of control, Express Scripts and Saint Louis University are working to make things better. Five opioid manufacturers are making things worse.
The problem is staggering. In 2016, 921 lives were lost in Missouri to opioid overdose — nearly three people each day. The state’s economic cost for that was $12.1 billion, “with an additional $519 million associated with nonfatal opioid use disorder,” according to data from the Missouri Hospital Association.
Drug-related deaths have surpassed car accidents as a cause of death. Businesses are losing productive workers, and the state is incurring hefty costs.
Making matters worse, five manufacturers of opioids gave $9 million to pain treatment advocacy groups, which “may have played a significant role in creating the necessary conditions for the U.S. opioids epidemic,” according to a newly released report from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.
From 2012 to 2017, the drug companies — Purdue Pharma, Mylan NV, DepomedInc., Insys Therapeutics and Janssen Pharmaceuticals — made the payments to 14 groups working on chronic pain and other opioid-related problems, according to the report. In addition, doctors affiliated with these groups accepted more than $1.6 million in payment from the manufacturers during the past five years.
All that needs to stop.
On the other side of the ledger, Express Scripts, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the country, started a program that has led to a 60 percent reduction in the average days supply for patients receiving first-time opioid prescriptions — from 18.6 days supply to 7.5 days. Company officials say an assessment of the program after its first 90 days showed significant promise in limiting the prescribing and use of opioids.
At Saint Louis University, researchers are finding that patients with chronic opioid use and depression who adhered to anti-depressant medications were more likely to stop taking opioids.
Let’s continue what’s productive and end what’s not.
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City may join opioid class action suit
Feb 15, 2018 | The News & Reporter (SC)
By Travis Jenkins
The City of Chester is at least exploring the possibility of joining a national class action lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of opioids.
Cities across the country are dealing with an epidemic of addiction to opioids, the powerful drugs that include everything from opium and morphine to synthetic drugs like hydrocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl.
“The opioid epidemic has reached Chester,” said City Councilwoman Angela Douglas on Monday. “We need to stay ahead of it if we can.”
Douglas said there is a huge toll in terms of lives affected by the crisis, but there is also a financial toll being carried by cities like Chester.
“We have to pay for supplies and training and other things,” she said.
Douglas then introduced attorney (and former state senator) Creighton Coleman, who had information about a lawsuit Chester could potentially join.
“A lot of states are joining a class action suit and South Carolina is going to be one of them,” said Coleman, who said a national law firm out of Baltimore had approached him about informing communities on the particulars of the suit.
Coleman said the suit would be targeted towards everyone from manufacturers of opioids down to distributors.
“The cost of this is huge, from EMS and fire to police, judicial administration, incarceration costs, school system damages, child protective services…this is far reaching,” he said.
Also speaking on the suit was former S.C. House member Boyd Brown.
“This epidemic has hit every demographic, the old and the young,” he said.
Brown said the problem starts when people, often ones who have suffered a painful injury, are prescribed opioids. He said they quickly become addicted.
“They are prescribed this as medication but when it runs out they continue to want their fix,” said Brown, who said when people can’t find their opioid pills, they frequently turn to heroin.
Brown said deaths from opioids have increased every year recently both nationally and in South Carolina, including a 27.5 percent jump from 2015 to 2016. He said three opioid-addicted babies were born in Chester County last year. The number of addicted adults is obviously much higher than that, he said.
On top of all the other costs, Brown said many police departments and EMS units are now having to stock up on Narcan, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids and is frequently used in cases of overdoses. He said the medication expires quickly and is expensive, just like incarceration of inmates, drug treatment for addicts and other ripple effects from opioids. He mentioned a small town in West Virginia that has 2,800 residents in which 21 million opioid pills a year were sold.
Councilwoman Linda Tinker said many people who are addicted can’t afford hospital care or addiction treatment.
“We as taxpayers are going to have to pay for their care,” she said.
Brown said if the city was interested, a more detailed plan included the city’s specific costs associated with opioids (including “future costs”) and contract could be drawn up quickly and presented to the council for consideration at its next scheduled meeting. He said there was no cost attached to the lawsuit and that the city would only owe the firm involved money if they won the suit. The council agreed to have Brown return with that detailed plan late this month.
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Commissioners agree to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors
Feb 15, 2018 | Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
By Fran Daniel
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday to address the opioid crisis in Forsyth County by suing opioid manufacturers and distributors.
The board chose the legal team of Greene Ketchum Farrell Bailey & Tweel LLP; Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor P.A.; Baron & Budd P.C.; Hill Peterson Carper Bee & Deitzler PLLC; Powell & Majestro; McHugh Fuller Law Group; Paul D. Coates; Donald R. Vaughan and Associates; and Garry Whitaker to represent Forsyth County in the lawsuit.
“They have agreed to represent the county for a contingency fee of 25 percent of any monetary recovery that the county receives,” Forsyth County Attorney Davida Martin said to the board.
The’ resolution on the matter gave two reasons for pursuing legal action against opioid manufacturers and distributors:”The health and safety of the residents of Forsyth County have been negatively impacted and continue to be threatened by the opioid crisis.””Forsyth County has expended considerable county resources and manpower in responding to the serious public health and safety crisis involving opioid abuse and addiction.”
Last month, when the commissioners made plans to sue, Forsyth County Manager Dudley Watts said: “It is apparent that part of the pharmaceutical industry, we believe, engaged in practices that were responsible for the excessive amounts of those drugs being used and that the impact of that has been an incredible detriment and cost to the EMS system, the child welfare system, to the law enforcement community. The sense is that those folks ought to be held accountable for it.”
In other business, the board agreed to give Bunzl Distribution Southeast LLC $228,065 in incentives over a five-year period.
Bunzl operates two distribution facilities in Guilford County that it wants to consolidate into one building in Forsyth County.
The agreement between the county and Bunzl is contingent upon several things, including a capital investment by Bunzl of at least $12.3 million in building construction and $500,000 in machinery and equipment over two years.
The building, machinery and equipment would go in a $200,000-square-foot facility in Union Cross Business Park. Bunzl would also be required to retain at least 66 existing full-time or full-time equivalent jobs in the facility over two years with an average wage of $37,000 a year with benefits.
The Winston-Salem City Council previously approved up to $182,500 in economic development incentives to encourage Bunzl to move to Forsyth County.
The commissioners also received a briefing about a proposed $179,038 in incentives for The Clearing House Payments Co.
The Clearing House is considering an expansion of either its Winston-Salem or New York facility.
The company currently leases and operates a facility in Union Cross Business Park, where it has 177 employees with an average salary of $99,740. The company employs 164 people in its facility in New York.
The City of Winston-Salem staff is recommending $147,834 over five years.
Kyle Haney, an economic development specialist for Forsyth County, told the commissioners that the county approved an incentive agreement with The Clearing House in 2007.
That agreement was completed in fiscal year 2014, and the company exceeded its capital investment and jobs goals. Previous incentives paid to The Clearing House were $257,405.
Commissioners will take up the issue at a later date.
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La Crosse County to join wave of opioid lawsuits
Feb 16, 2018 | La Crosse Tribune (WI)
By Randy Erickson
La Crosse County will join the vast majority of Wisconsin’s counties in a wave of lawsuits against drug makers and distributors over their role in triggering the nation’s opioid drug crisis.
The La Crosse County Board voted unanimously to the join in filing suit through a litigation team recommended by the Wisconsin Counties Association. There is no cost to the county to join the lawsuit and no cost if the litigation is unsuccessful. The legal team will recover its costs and take 25 percent of any damages awarded as part of a settlement or trial, if it comes to that.
More than 400 cases, including the more than 60 filed by Wisconsin counties, have been consolidated in U.S. District Court under the jurisdiction of Judge Dan Polster, who in court proceedings in January indicated he will strongly push for a negotiated settlement. The next session of settlement talks will come before him in his Cleveland, Ohio, courtroom on March 6.
States, counties and local governments have filed suits against Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and other companies accusing them of misleading doctors and consumers about the addictive nature of prescription opioids like OxyContin. The hundreds of lawsuits allege that drug manufacturers overstated the benefits and downplayed the risks of addiction when treating pain with opioids, and that distributors failed to properly monitor suspicious orders of prescription painkillers.
The county board began discussion of the potential litigation in December and the main cause for concern involved the potential for county staff to be bogged down complying with requests for information from the defendants’ legal team during the discovery process.
Megan DeVore, the county’s corporation counsel, said she has been assured by the legal team that discovery wouldn’t become a burden to the county. “Firms we spoke with were clear that if more detailed discovery becomes necessary … they contract with third-party firms whose job it is to provide discovery assistance,” she said.
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Pendleton join class action opioid lawsuit
Feb 15, 2018 | Pendleton Times-Post (IN)
By Scott Slade
Pendleton voted unanimously to join a class action lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of opioid pain medications.
“We do have a problem here, we’re not different than anywhere else,” Pendleton Town Council President Bob Jones said during the Thursday, Feb. 8 meeting.
The council has talked previously about doing what other communities, including Alexandria, Elwood and Madison County, have done — pursue a legal fix from drug companies for the costs associated with opioid use and abuse, and thereby fight what is widely regarded major problem across the country.
The town met in executive session prior to Thursday’s meeting for further discussion. Jones said there are several class action lawsuits under way, and he signed off Tuesday, Feb. 13, on Pendleton joining the suit with Indianapolis and several other communities.
The prime motivation in taking legal action is not money, Jones said during the council meeting, but rather to try and fight the problem on whatever levels possible.
“It’s, I guess you could say, maybe a statement,” Jones later said. “We feel litigation is a step forward as a community to take a stance against the distribution system.”
If the town does receive any money, it would help pay for costs and educational opportunities associated with opioids.
Town attorney Alex Intermill said the types of costs towns are seeking to recover include the expense of EMS responses to overdoses, training EMS staff on how to respond and court costs associated with opioid cases.
“The list is pretty extensive,” Intermill said.
Intermill said he would help the town get in contact with Indianapolis law firm Cohen & Malad, LLP, which has been working on similar efforts with other government entities.
Cohen & Malad, which according to its website was hired by the City of Indianapolis to pursue a case against drugmakers, describes the basis for that lawsuit: “Hoosiers are more likely to die from a drug overdose than an automobile accident. A recent dramatic increase in use of prescription opioid pain medications … is the cause of this sobering statement,” the website reads. “Drug manufacturers … knew that opioids are too addictive for long-term use for chronic pain yet engaged in deceptive marketing practices in order to make a profit.
“Counties, cities and towns across Indiana spend millions of dollars each year on services for law enforcement, health services, social services and expenses related to the criminal justice process in their battle against the opioid addiction epidemic.”
Intermill said joining the lawsuit will not cost the town any money, as it will be handled on a contingency basis; Cohen & Malad will receive about a third of any settlement, with the plaintiff’s sharing the remainder, he said.
Intermill said he is not involved in the class action effort and won’t be charging the town for any work related to the suit.
In other business, Pendleton also voted unanimously for an amendment to its animal control ordinance related to “temperatures and weather.”
The ordinance targets dogs confined in a yard, garage, shed or barn without heating or air conditioning.
The ordinance requires dogs confined outside on days where the temperature is lower than 40 degrees or higher than 80 degrees must have a shelter that protects them from the elements.
It has further stipulations that when temperatures are below 20 degrees and above 90 degrees (or when there’s a chill warning or heat advisory), dogs must be brought into a temperature-controlled facility. An exception is “when the dog (is) in visual range of a competent adult who is outside with the dog.”
The ordinance also includes an exception on the cold end of the spectrum for “double-coated” dog breeds, such as Siberian Huskies and Alaskan malamutes, which can tolerate extreme cold.
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County bringing lawsuit against opioid companies
Feb 16, 2018 | OA Online (TX)
By Paul Wedding
Ector County will be joining a long list of Texas counties bringing forth lawsuits against various pharmaceutical companies manufacturing or supplying opioid drugs.
Opioids, which are classified as painkillers, including prescription drugs such as morphine and hydrocodone, and illegal drugs such as heroin, have recently been considered a health crisis nationwide. President Donald Trump even declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency last October.
Opioid abuse hits closer to home than some may think. A study from Castlight Health ranks Odessa as having the 15th highest opioid abuse rate in the United States at 8 percent. At an estimated population of 117,871, that means more than 9,400 Odessans are abusing opioid drugs.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Greg Simmons clarified that this isn’t really Ector County pushing for a lawsuit, but that there are a number of lawsuits against the opioid companies forming among several counties in Texas, and Ector County is joining the push to ensure they receive part of the settlement, should there be one.
“We do have a lot of cases in the Permian Basin,” Simmons said, referring to opioid abuse. “We felt like we needed to be represented in the lawsuit.”
Simmons also acknowledged that opioid abuse is a problem in the county, one that is a financial burden on the county due to the cost of prosecuting and housing opioid abusers.
Upshur County was the first Texas county to bring forth a lawsuit last October, and a number of counties across Texas, including Dallas County and Harris County, have joined since then.
The law firm who filed that first suit, Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, PC, will also be representing Ector County in their case, with attorney Robert White acting as local counsel.
Commissioners passed the decision Monday to bring forth the lawsuit and hire the firm with two votes of 4-0. Eckert abstained from both votes due to having attended law school with Jeffrey Simon, one of the lawyers hired. Simon first pled his case for a lawsuit to county commissioners last November.
“Unfortunately, Ector County is in the midst of an opioid overuse epidemic, and that epidemic has cost the county an enormous amount of money to try to deal with all of the economic fallout created by the human misery which was created by opioids,” Simon said.
Simon said the epidemic was started by certain members of the pharmaceutical industry who promoted opioid drugs as being less addictive than they really are, while over-promoting their use for treating chronic pain.
The problem with opioids, Simon said, is that a tolerance to the drugs develops very quickly in people, requiring them to take larger amounts as time goes on in order to receive the pain-numbing effect, which increases the risk of addiction and accidental overdose.
“The risk of people taking larger than helpful doses of prescription opioids is very high,” Simon said. “But that is an inherent feature of the drug.”
The specific targets in the lawsuit would be a number of manufacturers, such as Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson, as well as several distributing companies.
Simon said there is no exact date yet as to when the county’s claim will be filed against the pharmaceutical companies. The rest of their claims are also still in their introductory phases.
Kayla Fishbeck, Regional Evaluator at the Permian Basin Regional Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said opioids are a huge problem throughout this region. She said the council has begun trying to educate the community more on the dangers of opioids in their presentations on substance abuse.
“We’re trying to include opioids in that. Because people don’t see it as necessarily such a problem,” Fishbeck said. “Opioids are different from other drugs in terms of how addictive they are. It affects everyone. It’s not targeted to a certain population or a certain demographic. Everyone is prescribed drugs at some point in their life.”
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County pondering filing lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Feb 16, 2018 | Reno Gazette Journal (NV)
By Amy Alonzo
Lyon County may join a growing number of cities and counties involved in litigation against opioid manufacturers as commissioners on Thursday directed staff to draft a resolution that would push the county forward in litigation.
The board was approached by Las Vegas-based personal injury law firm Eglet Prince, which is representing Clark County in a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers. The city of Reno has committed to filing a suit and and Sparks city councils and Washoe County commissioners have also been approached by attorneys regarding litigation.
According to attorney Robert Eglet, opiates are the most commonly prescribed prescription in the United States and the nation has seen a 45 percent increase in opioid sales since 1999. There are about two million people in the nation addicted to them. About 175 Americans die each day from some type of opioid overdose, totaling about 340,000 deaths since 2000.
Nevada has the fourth-highest drug mortality rate in the nation, and has seen the number of drug-related deaths spike 80 percent since 1999, Eglet said.
“The drug company knew their marketing … was contrary to the scientific and medical evidence,” Eglet told the commissioners. “Each Nevada county would be wise to bring its own case to Nevada state courts.”
County Manager Jeff Page cautioned the board that there are numerous entities in the county that are impacted by opioid overdoses, such as South Lyon Medical Center and Mason Valley Fire Protection District, that would be involved in any potential settlement.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in December that more than 150 civil cases against opioid manufacturers and distributors had already been filed in federal court, according to Eglet.
Recent notable settlements include a $20 million 2017 settlement by Cardinal Health, Inc. with West Virginia regarding the company’s distribution of opioids to the state. The year before, the same company reached a $44 million settlement with the United States that it violated the Controlled Substances Act in Maryland, New York and Florida.
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Commissioners mull lawsuit against drug makers
Feb 15, 2018 | Carroll County Times (MD)
By Jon Kelvey
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners are mulling joining other Maryland jurisdictions in filing suit against opioid drug manufacturers.
Carroll would be the seventh jurisdiction to either file suit or consider filing suit against drug makers, along with Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Howard and Montgomery counties, along with Baltimore. Alleging deceptive marketing practices on the part of drug makers such as Purdue Pharma, maker of the popular OxyContin medication, these lawsuits seek damages to recompense jurisdictions for the cost of responding to the opioid addiction epidemic.
“I think we should instruct our staff to look at what the surrounding jurisdictions are doing,” Commissioner Stephen Wantz, R-District 1, said at the meeting. “I am afraid if we don’t become involved in this, we could miss out on some funding that could come back to us to help with the opioid situation.”
In Carroll County, there were 41 deaths tied to legal or illegal opioid drugs in 2017, according to Carroll County Sheriff’s Office statistics. There were also 371 non-fatal opioid related overdoses, 45 of which were reversed by law enforcement using the opioid antidote naloxone, a statistic that does not include such reversals by emergency medical staff from the county’s fire companies.
Wantz suggested at the meeting that while lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies could take years to resolve, they could end up in a settlement like that between states and tobacco companies in 1998.
“I think you all remember that, there were billions of dollars that came back to state and local jurisdiction to be used for health initiatives as it pertained to those who had been either smokers or what have you,” Wantz said. “I suspect we will see something very similar with these lawsuits.”
While he said he wasn’t certain Carroll County should definitely proceed with a lawsuit, Wantz suggested that county staff at least look into the possibility.
Commissioner Richard Rothschild, R-District 4, was willing to go that far at least.
“I am willing to look at it with on open mind,” he said at the meeting. “But I have concerns.”
Rothschild said he worried about unintended consequences of suing the makers of drugs that, when used properly, are important in medicine, as well as noting that it was doctors who ultimately placed opioid medications in the hands of patients.
“If there is evidence that some particular drug company has misrepresented their drug, recommend a dosage that was higher and there is some evidence of subterfuge, an attempt to deliberately promote addiction, then that would certainly morally justify the lawsuit,” Rothschild said. “But if it’s just a matter of ‘we can get them’ and they manufactured it, I would not consider that sufficient moral grounds.”
Anne Arundel County’s lawsuit does allege that Purdue Pharma knew that its OxyContin, a time-release version of generic oxycodone, did not provide 12-hours of pain relief on a single dose, as reported by the Capital Gazette. That suit also targets doctors and practices noted by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office as having improper prescribing practices.
“You bring up valid points,” Wantz told Rothschild. “I am not suggesting that we jump here, I am only suggesting we get the details so that if we see that it’s a legitimate way in which to go”
The board ultimately decided to research the idea, without committing to joining any lawsuits.
“We’ll have staff look into this and then give a report back to us,” said Commissioner President Dennis Frazier, R-District 3.
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Feb 15, 2018 | WPVI (ABC)
By Philadelphia, PA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768769?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc
Rough Transcript: in other news philadelphia's new district attorney took a stand against the city's opioid crisis today. he announced that he is joining mayor jim kenney in the push to hold accountable for health and welfare. six pennsylvania counties. filed separate lawsuits against the manufacturers of opioids and join the team of philadelphia officials trying to make sure that funds from lawsuits against big farma come back to the city of philadelphia and it's paid to the city of philadelphia. >> the numbers are not final yet but estimated there were 1200 deaths from drug overdoses in philadelphia in 2017 the highest rate by far in any major city.
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Feb 16, 2018 | WTFX (FOX)
By Philadelphia, PA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768764?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc
Rough Transcript: philadelphia district attorney larry krasner is taking action, he announced he's suing ten pharmaceutical companies for their role. he's helping the lawsuit recover tosome some of the cost philadelphia has occurred. krasner said philly's hurt is greater than any other city. >> we have three to four philadelphians dying every single day from fatal drug overdoses probably 80% from opioid related deaths. it is a bigger epidemic in terms of volume of death than aids at its height nationally. >> few weeks ago other philadelphia leaders filed a similar lawsuit against drug manufacturers
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Feb 16, 2018 | KONG (KONG)
By Seatlle, WA
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768727?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc
Rough Transcript: lawmakers are looking to combat the opioid epidemic. they introduced new legislation yesterday. the comprehensive addiction reform education and safety act, otherwise known as cares, would hold drug manufacturers accountable for misleading advertising and negligent decrease practices. more than 300,000 americans died at opioid or heroin overdoses since 2000, including more than 1,000 people in our state in one year alone.
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Feb 16, 2018 | WGHP (Fox)
By Greensboro, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768750?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc
Rough Transcript: another local government taking action against opioid manufacturers and distributors. forsyth county commissioners unanimously approved a new lawsuit against those companies during its meeting last night, according to the journal. commissioners say the health and safety of people who live in forsyth county has been impacted by the opioid cris ... and the county has had to spend a lot of money fighting it. several other counties and towns have filed similar lawsuits.
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Feb 15, 2018 | KFTA (Fox)
By Ft. Smith, AR
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768765?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc
Rough Transcript: allen spoke in front of a joint subcommittee on congress about the opioid epidemic and the implications for america's workplaces. allen says opioidaddiction has lead to high turnover, absenteeism crime are other problems that negatively impact workplaces and communities. she hopes her testimony helps lawmakers find solutions to the drug problem. lisa allen, president of ziegenfelder company what i would really like to see come out of this is the awareness that there really is no silver bullet or easy way to solve this problem. ((hilary)) at least 70 counties in arkansas have signed onto the opioid lawsuit. benton county ranks higher than the national average when it comes to opioid prescription rates. arkansas ranks first in the nation for misuse of prescription opioids by kids and teenagers.
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Feb 16, 2018 | Fox News
By National Programming
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32768743?token=06b451a9-9f89-4fdb-8e28-03bfcc527bfc
Rough Transcript: i want to bring to viewers attention, you, sir, are suing the opioid manufacturer perdue farmer, you claim that the company uses deceptive trade practices. is this your answer to the opioid crisis, get the opioid maker out of business? >> no, that's not it at all. in fact, this is not -- the central piece of strategy to do with opioid and nation, we just recently completed through governor's task force a 27 point plan going forward on how it is 9:18 AMwe can address the growing problem in our state. one of the things that we recognize as part of that report that opioid play important in pain management and we want to make sure we preserve the right. stuart: that's the problem, people in some stages of pain and as you say at the end of their lives, they need opioids and a place in medicine but if you -- >> absolutely. >> stuart: if you sue them you might win and might raise the costs of opioids, wouldn't it? >> we don't know that would be the case. one of the things as a result of the litigation is that we filed two weeks ago and within a week perdue pharma announced that they were no longer going to directly market drugs to physicians. that's a positive step going forward and one of the things that cases provide is to regulate and be able to use their own mechanisms and controls to be ensure that we are doing this correctly throughout our country. stuart: will you take a lot of money off of them if you win? >> don't plan on taking a lot of money. what we are concern is that alabama spent resources in treatment to provide courts and be able to provide prescription management program that we need to fill the void that we spent there and to invest any resource that is we have obtained for that purpose and that purpose alone.
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