Preview Newsletter
Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 2/26/18
-
The war on opioids moves to the courtroom
Feb 25, 2018 | CBS Sunday Morning
By Lee Cowan
WHO'S TO BLAME for this nation's opioid crisis? If anyone is qualified to point an accusing finger, it may be the man who led the fight against another scourge years ago. Our Cover Story is reported by Lee Cowan: Full Segment: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32956412?token=71194929-886e-49bf-847b-1ce9d8efbcc7 -
Opioid MDL Attys Clash With DEA Over Drug Data
Feb 23, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff Overley
Attorneys targeting drug manufacturers and distributors in multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis are clashing with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regarding access to vast amounts of government data on painkiller sales, according to filings in Ohio federal court on Friday. -
Opioid Lawsuit Plaintiffs Want Access To DEA Drug Database Data
Feb 23, 2018 | Ideastream
By Nick Castele
The cities and counties suing drug makers over the opioid crisis want the federal government to turn over data on prescription drug transactions. -
The Health 202: States are going after opioid makers
Feb 26, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Paige Winfield Cunningham
To understand how states are going on the offensive against opioid makers and distributors for the devastation their pills have caused, look no further than Kentucky, where about as many people die of overdoses every year as from car accidents and gunshots combined. -
OXYCONTIN MAKER QUIETLY WORKED TO WEAKEN LEGAL DOCTRINE THAT COULD LEAD TO JAIL TIME FOR EXECUTIVES
Feb 26, 2018 | The Intercept
By Lee Fang
PURDUE PHARMA, THE maker of Oxycontin, revolutionized the opioid industry through aggressive marketing tactics that encouraged the widespread use of prescription painkillers. -
A South Texas county drags PBMs into nationwide lawsuit over opioids
Feb 26, 2018 | STAT News
By Casey Ross
A massive lawsuit in Ohio over the nation’s opioid crisis has largely ignored an influential group of companies in the prescription drug business — the financial middlemen that brokered access to the powerful pills that got so many people hooked. -
Trump’s Plan to Solve the Opioid Crisis Might Involve Executing Drug Dealers
Feb 26, 2018 | New York Magazine
By Margaret Harmann
While signing a bill that aims to combat the opioid crisis last month, President Trump hinted that he’d come up with the solution to the complex problem, but couldn’t talk about it. -
F.D.A. to Expand Medication-Assisted Therapy for Opioid Addicts
Feb 25, 2018 | New York Times
By Sheila Kaplan
In an effort to encourage new treatments for opioid addiction, the Food and Drug Administration plans to begin permitting pharmaceutical companies to sell medications that help temper cravings, even if they don’t fully stop addiction. -
Pay attention to pain management (Letter to the Editor)
Feb 24, 2018 | The Columbian (WA)
By Mike Burton
While I was pleased to see the Clark County Council join a lawsuit aimed at curbing pharmaceutical companies from “pushing” opioids, I feel that is only one part of the issue. Doctors and patients also must assume responsibility for the epidemic. -
Problem won’t be solved by government alone (Opinion)
Feb 24, 2018 | Peninsula Clarion (AK)
By Staff
hough a number of steps have been taken at the state and federal level to combat the nation’s opioid crisis, comments from Alaska State Troopers made clear that it is a problem that will not be solved by government alone. -
Opioids issue gains traction outside DC (Opinion)
Feb 24, 2018 | St. Louis Post Dispatch (MO)
By Staff
For most of the past 20 years, prescription opioid abuse was treated like the weather: Everyone complained about it but no one ever did anything about it. As a result, it exploded into a national epidemic that killed 17,000 Americans in 2016. Add to that about 35,000 overdose deaths from heroin and synthetic opioids — often used by addicts when they can’t get prescription drugs any more — and you’re approaching a Vietnam War death toll every year. -
Penalizing doctors for pharma ties is a misguided overreach of power (Opinion)
Feb 25, 2018 | Medical Economics
By Keith L. Martin
Sometimes when trying to fix one problem, you end up creating many, many more. -
Franklin County joins opioid suit
Feb 24, 2018 | Adirondack Daily Enterprise (NY)
By Glynis Hart
The Franklin County legislature voted Thursday to hire the Napoli Shkolnik PLLC law firm to represent the county in a suit against pharmaceutical companies whom many believe caused the national opioid epidemic through aggressive marketing practices. -
Wyoming joins growing list of counties suing pharmaceutical companies over opiates
Feb 24, 2018 | The Daily News (NY)
By Scott Desmit
Wyoming has become the latest county in New York to join a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies and doctors against the marketing of opioid-based painkillers. -
Schuyler County (NY) Opioid Lawsuit Fight Continues Forward
Feb 23, 2018 | Pharmaceutical Investing News
By Gabrielle Lakusta
Schuyler County will hold a public hearing on March 12 to review a proposed local law declaring the opioid epidemic and its effects on the County a public nuisance. According to Schuyler County Attorney Steven Getman, the draft local law is the next step in the County’s lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of opioid pain killers. -
County Joins Mass Federal Lawsuit Against Pharmaceutical Companies That Contributed To Opioid Epidemic
Feb 26, 2018 | WCBC (MD)
By Staff
The Allegany County Commissioners voted unanimously last week to allow a Florida-based law firm to represent the county in a mass federal lawsuit against large pharmaceutical companies that allegedly contributed to the opioid epidemic. -
Hopkinton TC considers opioid lawsuit
Feb 24, 2018 | The Chariho Times (RI)
By Lauren Vella
On Tuesday, the Hopkinton Town Council was given an opportunity to join a group of Rhode Island municipalities as plaintiffs to confront and rectify the state-wide opioid crisis. During the town council meeting, Rhode Island Attorney Eva-Marie Mancuso presented the case as a national and local public health concern. Her firm would help Rhode Island municipalities seek monetary compensation from three major opioid drug distributors and manufacturers. The council moved to consider the information presented to them and vote on a decision whether or not to join their peer municipalities on a later date. -
Kent County takes aim at ‘Big Pharma’
Feb 24, 2018 | Delaware State News (DE)
By Ian Gronau
Kent County Levy Court commissioners agreed to bring a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry, alleging it has played a major role in the current opioid epidemic. -
City takes aim at opioid addiction
Feb 24, 2018 | Rome News-Tribune (GA)
By Diane Wagner
Doctors at Floyd and Redmond Regional medical centers aren’t objecting to the lawsuit against opioid manufacturers that local attorneys could file as early as this week. -
Catoosa County recognizes opioid crisis, joins lawsuit against drug-makers
Feb 23, 2018 | Walker County Messenger (GA)
By Adam Cook
Catoosa County commissioners have agreed to pass a resolution acknowledging the current opioid crisis in the area and to join a class-action lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors. -
W.Va. county commissions suing over opioid epidemic win court battle
Feb 25, 2018 | WV News (WV)
By Matt Harvey
A defendants' bid has failed to permanently move to federal court a lawsuit against multiple companies and drugstores over West Virginia's opioid epidemic. -
Selma, Dallas County to join opioid lawsuit
Feb 24, 2018 | The Selma Times Journal (AL)
By Adam Dodson
Both the city of Selma and Dallas County are expected to file lawsuits against a conglomeration of pharmacies that are accused of fueling Alabama’s opioid crisis. This comes after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state, while multiple cities and counties have agreed to enter their own suits as well. -
Polk to investigate filing suit against opioid makers
Feb 23, 2018 | The Ledger (FL)
By John Chambliss
Polk County is joining other counties and cities across the state in a potential lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies to address the opioid epidemic. -
Opioid lawsuits: Attorney urges Clarksville to join in
Feb 25, 2018 | The Leaf Chronicle (TN)
By Chris Smith
National lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that pushed opioid medications on the American public have been joined by about 100 cities, about 500 counties and over 30 states. Now, Clarksville is being asked to enter the fray. -
Amid Opioid Crisis, Portland Joins the Hundreds of U.S. Governments Suing Drug Companies
Feb 26, 2018 | Governing.com
By Brad Schmidt
The city of Portland will join a national movement by suing drug companies behind America's opioid crisis. -
CBS News Sunday Morning
Feb 25, 2018 | National Programming
By CBS News
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32956412?token=71194929-886e-49bf-847b-1ce9d8efbcc7 -
Matter of Fact With Soledad O'Brien
Feb 26, 2018 | National Programming
By NBC News
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976130?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a -
Eyewitness News Daybreak 5:00
Feb 26, 2018 | Charlotte, NC
By WSOC (ABC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32975609?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a -
11 News at 10 PM
Feb 26, 2018 | Colorado Springs, CO
By KKTV (CBS)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976097?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a -
This Week in Louisiana Politics
Feb 25, 2018 | Baton Rouge, LA
By WVLA (NBC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976103?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a -
Fox 31 News at Ten
Feb 26, 2018 | Albany, GA
By WFXL (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976115?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a -
Spectrum News All Day
Feb 26, 2018 | Buffalo, NY
By SPNB (Spectrum News)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976144?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a
CBS Sunday Morning - Opioid Litigation
MDL
Commentary and FYIs
Northeast (NY, MD, RI, DE)
Southeast (GA, WV, AL, FL, TN)
Northwest (OR)
Broadcast Media Coverage
-
The war on opioids moves to the courtroom
Feb 25, 2018 | CBS Sunday Morning
By Lee Cowan
WHO'S TO BLAME for this nation's opioid crisis? If anyone is qualified to point an accusing finger, it may be the man who led the fight against another scourge years ago. Our Cover Story is reported by Lee Cowan:
Full Segment: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32956412?token=71194929-886e-49bf-847b-1ce9d8efbcc7
"We will bring this industry to their knees right here in Mississippi, and I'm proud of that," said Mike Moore.
When Moore -- a self-described country lawyer -- first stood up against "Big Tobacco," everyone thought he was crazy.
"Let me tell you something: When I filed the case in 1994, my mom thought I was crazy!" he told Cowan. "She called me and said, 'It might be time for you to come home now.'"
They weren't laughing for long, though. Just four years later, as Mississippi's Attorney General, he negotiated the largest civil litigation settlement in U.S. history, forcing Big Tobacco to shell out more than $200 billion to help states recoup the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses.
But Moore also wanted something else: to make sure the tobacco companies pay to educate people about the dangers of their products. He made sure that nearly $2 billion of the tobacco settlement was set aside to fund The Truth Initiative, a public health campaign widely credited with reducing the teen smoking rate with sometimes shocking ad campaigns, like one in which body bags are deposited on the front steps of Phillip Morris' corporate office.
Now, some 20 years later, Moore has another health crisis on his mind -- and another corporate target: the makers of opioids.
"Tobacco, somebody smokes a cigarette, it might be 30 years, 40 years before the disease process works and kills them," Moore said. "You take too many opioids, they'll kill you today."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids killed more than 42,000 people in 2016.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that just in 2015, the cost associated with the opioid crisis topped $500 billion.
So Moore, now in private practice, is now taking his skills on the road again -- encouraging cities, counties, even entire states to come together and sue the drug makers the same way states coalesced to sue Big Tobacco.
"Tobacco [companies] told us that nicotine was not an addictive drug. They told us that smoking did not cause cancer," he said. "These companies told us that there was a less than 1% chance of getting addicted to these opioids, and that they're absolutely proven to be effective for chronic pain. Both of those turn out to be really big lies."
The nation's drug makers vigorously deny these allegations, but agree there is an opiate addiction problem. However, they suggest blaming them for the entire crisis is, in the words of one drug maker, a "stunning oversimplification."
They dismiss any comparison to tobacco, pointing out all their opiate products are approved by the FDA, and say many of those who are dying of overdoses are abusing street opioids, not legal prescriptions.
"There's plenty of fault," Moore said. "The federal government is at fault. For God's sake, the FDA should never have approved some of these drugs. The states are at fault. The companies are at fault, individuals are at fault, doctors are at fault. There's plenty of fault. We can point our fingers all day long."
"But with all those places to point the finger, why just go after the drug companies?" Cowan asked.
"Well, you can't sue the federal government, you can't sue all the individuals for taking the drugs. Trying to sue all the doctors in the country wouldn't work very well, so what I say is if there's 100% fault out there amongst many, many players, at least go to the people who made the billions of dollars on this."
So what started as a trickle has turned into a flood of litigation. There are now hundreds of city and county lawsuits being filed, as well as cases brought by at least 15 states so far -- including one of the biggest, Ohio, one of Moore's clients.
"We knew when we filed the lawsuit we weren't going to get them to the table to negotiate until we had some sort of critical mass with other states filing lawsuits," said Ohio's Attorney General Mike DeWine, who's also running for governor.
"We think if we get enough states in there, the drug companies will have no choice but to come to the table and start talking with us."
Cowan asked, "So you're not looking at this as much as punishing the drug companies, as you are holding them accountable?"
"We believe that 80% of the people who are addicts today, 80% of the people we've lost in Ohio, started with pain meds."
"You think it's their fault? No one else's?"
"Look, I think a great deal of the fault lies at the feet of the drug companies. You have to go back to these drug companies because they're the ones who misled the physicians. We firmly believe that we're gonna win. And we believe that the amount of money that the jury will come back [with] is going to be very, very high."
When asked if taking drug companies to court will do anything to help the problem, University of Kentucky law professor Richard Ausness said, "Probably not." He is concerned that money may be the driving motive behind all this litigation.
Trial attorneys, he says, stand to make millions off pooling their resources and forcing the drug companies to settle -- which also makes him wary of the precedent that these kinds of cases may set.
"Other lawsuits of this nature might be brought against other manufacturers," Ausness said. "I saw something recently about, 'We ought to sue Big Sugar -- you know, sugar does all sorts of bad things for people.' So, I don't see any end in sight. I mean, if it works for the plaintiffs, if they get something out of it, and of course the trial lawyers are doing pretty well, too, why stop?"
It may come down to a public relations battle. Drug makers don't want to be tied to images of overflowing morgues.
But that's just what's been happening in Dayton, Ohio, where the county coroner Kent Harshbarger had to build another freezer just to accommodate all the bodies of opiate overdose victims being sent his way.
"Nobody has seen anything like this," Harshbarger said. "The opioid crisis is a whole new death investigation problem."
What's different, he says, beyond the size of the epidemic is its victims. Many are from upper middle class families with no history of drug abuse … people like 27-year-old Sean Herman, who got hooked on OxyContin in college.
His mom, Sharon Parsons, didn't know it at the time, but as the pills became harder and harder to get, Sean turned to street opioids, like heroin.
"I don't think the majority of people who've become addicted, say to heroin, go out and say, 'You know what? Today I'm gonna try heroin. Let's see what that's like,'" Parsons told Cowan. "The majority start with pills."
He ended up overdosing on fentanyl, the same drug that killed Prince and Tom Petty.
"I would say from the time he first became addicted until the time he died was about five years," Parson said.
Street fentanyl is up to 100 times more potent than morphine, an illicit opiate that law enforcement can't get off the streets fast enough, says Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer.
Last year in Montgomery County there were 3,637 overdoses, he said: "It almost doubled from the year before."
One of his deputies, Walter Bender, has seen all manner of addicts on patrol. But he's never seen an epidemic on this scale. He knows many of the addicts, and he tries when he can to get them into treatment. But he can't keep them there.
"We took one guy three different times to treatment," Deputy Bender said. "And each time he walked out, and we told him, 'We don't want to find you out here dead.' And the next time we had contact with him, he was found dead in the woods."
Like Sharon Parsons, Paul and Ellen Shoonover lost their 21-year-old son Matt to an opioid overdose six years ago.
"Never forget: It could be your child," said Paul. "Don't think that it's not going to happen to you because the three of us sitting here never expected it to happen to us, and it did. And the consequences were deadly.
"He was a big person in life, but maybe even bigger after he lost his life. He may have greater influence on those who need his help than he could ever had."
They've since established the Matthew B. Shoonover Educational Center, where the message is clear: Even if all the opiate pills disappeared, the millions who are addicted today will still need help for decades.
Mike Moore believes the lawsuits against Big Tobacco all those years ago led to fewer people dying of smoking-related diseases. If he can have the same effect with opioids, he says he'll be satisfied.
Cowan asked Moore, "Does it feel a little bit like deja vu for you?"
"It does," he replied. "You can't stop. You have to do something about the problem, especially if you have the talent and the connections and you're involved in this process. Why would you stop?"
-
Opioid MDL Attys Clash With DEA Over Drug Data
Feb 23, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff Overley
Attorneys targeting drug manufacturers and distributors in multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis are clashing with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regarding access to vast amounts of government data on painkiller sales, according to filings in Ohio federal court on Friday.
The showdown was described in status reports submitted by the DEA and attorneys for local governments that are suing drug companies over allegedly reckless opioid sales. At issue is the extent to which the attorneys can access a federal database known as ARCOS that contains a trove of information about sales of prescription painkillers — including what, where and when drugs were sold.
The two sides met on Thursday to seek common ground and succeeded in some respects, but extensive disagreements remain. U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster has set a court hearing for Monday afternoon to address the dispute and potentially decide how it should be sorted out.
“He very well could rule on Monday,” Peter J. Mougey, a Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor PA attorney who represents the local governments, told Law360 on Friday.
According to the status reports, the DEA has agreed to provide nationwide data on specific drugs, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and fentanyl. But the parties are at loggerheads on many other issues, including how many years of data will be divulged, the format in which data should be provided, whether National Drug Codes should be supplied, what types of geographic details should be revealed and whether a broad protective order should shield the data from release to the media.
In an order on Feb. 2, Judge Polster appeared sympathetic to positions advocated by both sides in the dispute, which has been building up behind the scenes for several months.
“There is a legitimate need for plaintiffs to obtain this data,” Judge Polster wrote. “But the court believes that production must be tailored — perhaps through a protective order — in a way to address the DEA’s concerns regarding breadth, years in question, potential interference in investigations and enforcement actions, and divulging the location of warehouses where opioids are stored.”
The data is important to the MDL for a variety of reasons. Among other things, it could affect which companies are brought into the litigation, how much companies pay in damages and how damages are allocated among different cities and counties.
“It’s just mind-boggling to me that the government is not jumping in and doing everything it can to help, and instead seems insistent on slowing it down and not producing the information,” Mougey said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Ohio, which represents the DEA, declined to comment on Friday.
The case is In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, case number 1:17-md-02804, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. -
Opioid Lawsuit Plaintiffs Want Access To DEA Drug Database Data
Feb 23, 2018 | Ideastream
By Nick Castele
The cities and counties suing drug makers over the opioid crisis want the federal government to turn over data on prescription drug transactions.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs and the Drug Enforcement Administration met on Thursday, but could not iron out an agreement, according to court filings.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster had ordered the two sides to work out their differences, scheduling a hearing on Monday afternoon if they reached an impasse.
The plaintiffs said they want access to records of transactions among manufacturers, distributors and retailers. They’ve asked for sale dates, names of sellers and buyers and all data on opioids. The information requested, contained in the DEA’s Automated Records and Consolidated Orders System/Diversion Analysis and Detection System database, spans nine years from 2006 to 2015.
Justice Department attorneys wrote in a court filing that the DEA offered to produce two years of anonymous transaction records to protect privacy and “law-enforcement-sensitive information.”
The agency also offered to provide a list of major opioid manufacturers in each state.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys called that proposal “problematic,” writing, “the limited data would not allow the MDL Plaintiffs or the Court to identify the specific manufacturers and distributors that sold and/or distributed the prescription opioids into specific communities.”
DEA attorneys wrote that the cities and counties’ lawyers wouldn’t agree to a protective order for the data, “but rather acknowledged that any produced data eventually would reach Plaintiffs’ clients, state and local governmental entities, and the news media.”
The plaintiffs wrote that they would leave up to the judge how much to disclose to the media and others.
-
The Health 202: States are going after opioid makers
Feb 26, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Paige Winfield Cunningham
To understand how states are going on the offensive against opioid makers and distributors for the devastation their pills have caused, look no further than Kentucky, where about as many people die of overdoses every year as from car accidents and gunshots combined.
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) filed a third lawsuit last week aimed at recouping damages from the opioid epidemic -- the latest one is against Cardinal Health, which holds about 20 percent of the state’s market share. And he says he’s not stopping there.
Here's what Beshear said when I asked him whether he's planning further litigation: "Absolutely."
“I’m committed to suing every single opioid manufacturer or distributor that knew how dangerous how these drugs were but irresponsibly marketed them or profited from them and haven’t taken responsibility to help us repair the devastation they caused,” he said.
Beshear says Kentucky has been too damaged by the harmful effects of opioid abuse to shy away from the issue. The state has the fifth-highest rate of death from drug overdoses, and opioids are so prevalent in some areas that there’s a ratio of hundreds of pills to each person.
“You don’t meet a Kentuckian anymore who hasn’t lost a friend, a family member or a neighbor,” Beshear said. “It’s our single-biggest threat to economic job growth in Kentucky. We have more kids in foster care and kinship care than ever before, and the driving force behind all this is the opioid addiction crisis.”
Beshear sued Endo Pharmaceuticals in November, and in January went after the McKesson Corporation — which has nearly one-third market share in Kentucky — charging that the company failed to report to state and federal authorities large quantities of opioid shipments to the state’s eastern region.
Kentucky is just one of dozens of states, counties and cities suing opioid makers for the ways they marketed opioids to consumers and allegedly fell short in reporting high levels of demand in certain parts of the country, especially in the Appalachian region hit hardest by the abuse epidemic. It's just another front in the government's rapidly evolving approach to an epidemic that President Trump has declared a public health emergency.
Congress has taken some action to fund anti-opioid efforts, recently providing $6 billion over two years as part of a broader budget bill. And in its recent budget proposal, the White House outlined a series of steps and policy changes aimed at helping states combat the problem. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar spoke about the crisis to the National Governors' Association winter meeting on Saturday.
"President Trump and this administration recognize that it is not the federal government that’s on the front lines of this battle—it’s all of you and your law enforcement officers; your community leaders; your teachers and school counselors; your doctors, EMTs and nurses; your faith-based partners," Azar said. "We are dedicated to empowering you and your allies in this fight."
Indeed, states and localities have set out on their own to force opioid makers and distributors to dish out their own funding to help mitigate the widespread effects of addiction.
Besides Beshear, attorneys general in West Virginia, Ohio, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania — five of the 10 states with the highest overdose death rates — are also suing opioid makers. Forty-one states have joined an investigation into several opioid-involved companies, including Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Industries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, AmerisourceBergen and Purdue Pharma, which makes the widely used painkiller OxyContin.
Stakeholders call the action the biggest set of lawsuits over a public health and safety issue since the tobacco litigation back in the 1990s, when 46 states and the District of Columbia reached a settlement with the five largest tobacco companies requiring the industry to pay billions annually for antismoking programs and setting rules for the sale and marketing of cigarettes.
Although there are similarities, some legal experts say it could be a longer legal reach to convince courts that opioid makers can be held responsible for the abuse of their products. Cigarettes, after all, were being used as intended while those abusing opioids are using the medications outside the Food and Drug Administration's guidance.
“Did the manufacturers understate the addictive nature of the drugs?” said Jodi Avergun, a former chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration and now a defense lawyer with Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft. “That’s entirely possible, but to say everything that ensued from that point on is the fiscal responsibility of the manufacturer I think is a very questionable proposition.”
But Beshear and other attorneys general insist they have a strong case to make based on advertising promoted by the opioid makers themselves. These companies knew their prescription painkillers were deeply addictive and that many of the medications didn’t work a full 12 hours, yet they marketed the pills as safe, effective and long-lasting, anyway.
In his state's lawsuit against Purdue, Endo, Teva, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) cites a 2009 example from a website sponsored by Endo that claimed “people who take opioids as prescribed usually do not become addicted.” Beshear is also focusing on arguments that opioid makers recommended their highly addictive painkillers be used to treat ailments as benign as headaches — even though for years doctors usually prescribed such strong medications for only the terminally ill or cancer patients.
“These manufacturers advertised very dangerous products for uses they never should have been advertised for,” Beshear said.
In response to the rising criticism — and the mounting legal challenges — Purdue announced this month that it would stop promoting opioids to physicians and would instead direct any doctors with questions about OxyContin or other prescription painkillers to the company’s medical affairs department instead of sales representatives. My colleague Katie Mettler has an interesting visual story on past ads that played down the negative effects of OxyContin.
The shockingly fast rise of opioid abuse — the rate of death from opioids was five times higher in 2016 than in 1999 — combined with intensifying public attention make the drugs prime legal fodder for states facing the problem on the ground. Michael Canty, a partner at the law firm Labaton Sucharow in New York, said he and his colleagues have met with about 25 attorneys general to consult on whether to bring lawsuits over opioids.
“Democrats and Republicans alike, they are both passionate about solving the issue,” Canty said. “We have whole communities that can’t work, that can’t prosper. It has sucked the life out of their states in so many ways.”
--In his remarks Saturday to the NGA, Azar homed in on medication-assisted treatment, which the medical community stresses is crucial in helping people back away from their drug addictions. "This is a particular aspect of the epidemic that demands leadership—leadership that is willing to work to overcome any stigma associated with addiction and addiction treatment, and to treat the opioid epidemic not as a moral failing, but as a moral challenge for every single American," Azar told the crowd.
Azar told the governors the administration is "dedicated to empowering you and your allies in this fight" and said his agency has identified a five-point strategy focused on data, research, pain, overdoses and access.
A few actions Azar said HHS is taking include:
--Working with states and other stakeholders "to support more timely, specific public health data and reporting," particularly through the Centers for Disease Control.
--Supporting research on pain and addiction, in part through the National Institutes of Health.
--Making sure health-care payments, prescribing guidelines and best practices promote healthy, evidence-based methods of pain management through the federal Interagency Pain Management Task Force.
--Making available HHS grants, research and technical assistance to improve access to overdose-reversing drugs.
-
OXYCONTIN MAKER QUIETLY WORKED TO WEAKEN LEGAL DOCTRINE THAT COULD LEAD TO JAIL TIME FOR EXECUTIVES
Feb 26, 2018 | The Intercept
By Lee Fang
PURDUE PHARMA, THE maker of Oxycontin, revolutionized the opioid industry through aggressive marketing tactics that encouraged the widespread use of prescription painkillers.
That part, by now, is well known, as an out-of-control opioid epidemic ravages a generation of young people with such potency that it has dragged down the overall life expectancy of the American people. What has not been previously revealed is that as the death toll mounted, officials at the company attempted to work behind-the-scenes to make it less likely that they could ever be successfully prosecuted for the carnage opioids were unleashing.
Executives in multiple industries have long been kept up at night by knowledge of the looming power of the Responsible Corporate Office, or RCO doctrine, also known as the Park doctrine, a legal liability standard used largely to prosecute executives at companies responsible for affecting public health and safety. Under the Park doctrine, federal prosecutors could target senior executives and board members of opioid pharmaceutical companies for their role in the sprawling epidemic if violations of criminal law were proved true, regardless of whether they could prove knowledge or motivation.
Purdue helped to quietly finance an effort to unravel that doctrine, according to people with knowledge of the company’s activity.
Executives at Purdue were once charged using the corporate office doctrine in 2007, in a case that found that the company had “misbranded” its drugs as less likely to be abused than other narcotics. The company agreed to pay a settlement of $634.5 million. A growing number of state and local prosecutors, however, believe that the company simply shifted tactics after the settlement, and could again face liability for continuing to downplay the dangers of its opioid products using sophisticated marketing campaigns that targeted the medical community and patient advocacy groups.
Purdue didn’t attach its name to the recent effort to weaken the responsible corporate officer doctrine. Instead, the company provided funding to the Washington Legal Foundation, a legal nonprofit that litigates in support of business interests, to petition the Supreme Court last year to accept a case that would give it the opportunity to weaken the RCO doctrine. The foundation closely protects the names of its donors and the drugmakers’ ties to the group were unclear until recently.
The legal strategy was confirmed by former staffers at the Washington Legal Foundation who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity. The foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
The effort revolved around a case known as DeCoster v. United States, one of the most significant challenges to the responsible corporate officer doctrine in four decades.
The lawsuit challenged the conviction of executives at Quality Egg LCC, an Iowa-based company, who were found guilty for shipping salmonella-tainted eggs that sickened 56,000 people. The federal prosecution shocked the business community because it represented a rare case of corporate executives held criminally responsible for actions committed by subordinates. The Department of Justice prosecutors relied on the RCO doctrine, which has historically been used for food and drug related offenses in cases where companies have caused widespread health problems, to sentence executives at Quality Egg to three months in jail.
Business interest groups watched the case with interest and the foundation filed a brief to overturn the decision after the case was upheld by an appellate court.
In its petition to the Supreme Court to take up the Quality Egg case, the Washington Legal Foundation called the responsible corporate officer doctrine “a peculiar anomaly in criminal law” that allows imprisonment of corporate executives “based on little more than his supervisory role in the company.” The foundation urged the Supreme Court to take up the case as an “opportunity to revisit the very notion of Park doctrine liability.”
In other words, the foundation urged the court to use the egg case as a chance to chip away or even repeal the legal doctrine used to prosecute senior executives at drug and food companies. The Supreme Court ultimately declined to hear the challenge to the DeCoster decision, leaving the RCO doctrine in tact.
According to a former Washington Legal Foundation official, an attorney with Purdue Pharma reached out to thank them for the work being done on the RCO doctrine. Another former foundation employee noted that the Washington Legal Foundation has long worked to weaken the doctrine, and that Purdue Pharma was one of several donors that had supported the effort.
While the foundation says all of its funding comes in the form of unrestricted grants, former employees told The Intercept that donors had effectively influenced briefs and others filings made by the Washington Legal Foundation. Connie Larcher, the president of the foundation, has long coordinated the nonprofit’s legal strategy in close coordination with donors, the sources said. Some of the Purdue Pharma money was intended to promote the legal strategy around the RCO doctrine.
Asked for comment, Purdue Pharma did not speak directly to the relationship with the Washington Legal Foundation.
“We have supported third-party organizations, including with annual dues and unrestricted grants, that are interested in helping patients receive appropriate care and share our commitment toward addressing the opioid crisis,” said Bob Josephson, a spokesperson for the company, in a statement to The Intercept.
IT’S NOT THE first time the foundation backed Purdue Pharma in court. In 2014, the Washington Legal Foundation petitioned the Supreme Court to support Purdue Pharma in a lawsuit to limit the the conditions under which corporate whistleblower cases that can be brought under the False Claims Act.
Officials at the Department of Justice in both the Obama and Trump administrations have indicated that they are reviewing potential opioid-related cases. In a speech two years ago, then-assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said that the agency would soon prioritize prosecuting health care executives, with an eye toward the opioid crisis.
“Companies that skate at the outer edge of the law, flirting with criminal charges as a major element of their ability to do business, have much to gain if they can persuade the higher federal courts to disavow the responsible corporate officer doctrine,” said Rena Steinzor, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.
“The doctrine is judge-made law, created and ratified by two Supreme Court opinions issued decades ago,” said Setinzor. “It means that corporate executives presiding over illegal activities are appropriate targets. Any decision to dump the doctrine would be the rough equivalent of a get out of jail free card in such cases.”
Ties between Washington Legal Foundation and Purdue Pharma were reported by The Intercept in 2015 in a story detailing how the foundation had helped Purdue Pharma attempt to block the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from issuing voluntary guidelines to discourage the over-prescription of opioid narcotics.
Last week, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., confirmed the prior relationship and released a report revealing that Purdue Pharma had donated $500,000to the Washington Legal Foundation. The report noted that the foundation had taken the unusual step of lashing out at the CDC opioid guidelines.
But the work to undermine the prescription guidelines was only one aspect of the Purdue Pharma money provided to the foundation. The attempt to weaken the RCO doctrine has not been reported until now.
A growing number of law enforcement officials have taken aim at the role of opioid manufacturers and distributors in fueling America’s opioid crisis. Lawsuits filed by several cities and state attorneys general charge that Purdue Pharma funded third party patient advocacy groups and prominent doctors to downplay the addiction risk and exaggerate the benefits of prescription painkillers, including its most famous narcotic, Oxycontin.
Andrew Kolodny, director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University, said that the previous 2007 prosecution of Purdue Pharma “missed the worst of what Purdue had done.” That case narrowly focused on how Purdue Pharma had branded Oxycontin, but prosecutors failed to look at the overarching ways the firm rebranded opioids as a class of drugs.
Since 1996, when Purdue released Oxycontin, the firm has fueled rising opioid sales through a marketing campaign focused on increasing prescribing of opioids.
Investigative reports have detailed in recent years how Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies financed physician training programs, prescribing guidelines, patient advocacy groups, and other nonprofits designed to encourage the widespread use of opioids painkillers.
The resulting market has generously enriched pharmaceutical companies. In 2012, drug companies generated $8 billion in revenue from opioids. That year, Purdue Pharma reportedly earned over $3.1 billion from Oxycontin-related sales alone.
The incredibly high rates of opioid drug use in America is one testament to the industry’s outreach efforts. Americans consume about 81 percent of the global supply of oxycodone products, the active ingredient in OxyContin, and nearly 100 percent of hydrocodone, the active ingredient used in brands such as Vicodin.
On February 9, Purdue Pharma announced that it would “no longer promote opioids to prescribers.” But many say the company has acted too slowly. “They’re 20 years late to the game,” Noah Nesin, a family physician and vice president of medical affairs at Penobscot Community Health Care, told NPR.
The boom in opioid drug sales corresponds closely to the rising heroin deaths. Many heroin addicts begin using the drug after abusing prescription opioid painkillers, which have an almost indistinguishable effect on the brain as heroin.
Over 42,000 Americans died of opioid-related deaths in 2016. Academic researchers told STAT, a public health news site, that if current trends continue to rise, opioid deaths could claim as many as 650,000 lives over the next decade.
THE WASHINGTON LEGAL Foundation has long faced accusations in the past that the nonprofit operates as a legal front for corporations to undercut public health and safety standards.
The group figured prominently in the tobacco wars that raged throughout the ’90s. The group routinely filed briefs supporting the tobacco industry’s lawsuits challenging government regulations on tobacco products. A 1994 memo by Philip Morris executive Roy Marden noted that he was “[w]orking with the Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) in the development of a strategy to counteract and attack the efforts of the antis,” a reference to public health advocates. The group also sponsored advertisements criticizing “anti-smoking zealots in government” without disclosing that the group was being funded by several major tobacco firms.
The tobacco industry, however, could not win all of its battles, and eventually conceded to greater restrictions on cigarette marketing, indoor smoking, and other rules favored by public health advocates.
Like the tobacco industry, opioid drug firms stand accused to manufacturing an addiction crisis by concealing and downplaying the risks of its products. But will drug company executives ever face a criminal prosecution?
“In my opinion,” said Kolodny, “the actions taken by senior executives at Purdue have led to millions of people becoming opioid addicted and has led to tens of thousands of deaths. So I can’t imagine how a just legal system would not find them guilty of criminal charges.”
-
A South Texas county drags PBMs into nationwide lawsuit over opioids
Feb 26, 2018 | STAT News
By Casey Ross
A massive lawsuit in Ohio over the nation’s opioid crisis has largely ignored an influential group of companies in the prescription drug business — the financial middlemen that brokered access to the powerful pills that got so many people hooked.Perhaps that’s because their role is simply harder to see. Known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), these companies secretly make the rules that determine the availability of drugs, and how much patients must pay out of pocket to get them.
But now a community in South Texas is calling PBMs into the fight, filing what its lawyers believe is the first case in the country to name these companies as defendants in a municipal opioid lawsuit.
The complaint in Webb County — which has a population of about 270,000 near the border with Mexico — was filed in January. And earlier this month it was absorbed into the lawsuit in Ohio that aggregates claims from cities and states across the country. That, in turn, could put these companies on the hook nationwide for settlement dollars and court orders meant to change the way the drug industry operates.Related Story: Washington is taking aim at drug industry middlemen. But can it break their grip on a captive market?
Joanne Cicala, a lawyer who represents Webb County, said PBMs enabled the opioid crisis and profited from the sale of the drugs that fueled it. “We see them as an absolutely essential part of this scheme,” Cicala said. “They made sure these drugs were dispensed and they controlled their flow out into the communities.”
The county’s suit includes claims against three PBMs that control most of the U.S. market — Express Scripts, CVS Health, and OptumRx — along with two smaller companies that also operate in South Texas, Prime Therapeutics and Navitus Health Solutions.
It also includes fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering charges against major drug manufacturers and wholesale distributors, as do many other complaints filed across the country. But Webb County’s case is unusual because of the legal claims and language directed at PBMs, entities the suit calls “the gatekeepers to the vast majority of opioid prescriptions filled in the United States.”The role of the middlemen
Some legal experts said the behind-the-scenes role of PBMs might make it difficult to prove they are liable for the overdose deaths and other consequences of the crisis.
“They are far more removed than manufacturers and distributors,” said Jodi Avergun, a former chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration and now a defense lawyer with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. “PBMs play a less significant role and one that’s harder to ascribe liability to under traditional tort principles.”
But other experts said legal discovery could be particularly bruising for PBMs, especially since they possess records on the number of opioids dispensed in communities hit with huge increases in overdoses.
“It’s hard for these companies to [argue] that in certain locales the volume of pills was for a legitimate medical purpose,” said Rebecca Haffajee, a professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “The paper trail of prescriptions makes it more compelling, and those records should be disclosable.”
-
Trump’s Plan to Solve the Opioid Crisis Might Involve Executing Drug Dealers
Feb 26, 2018 | New York Magazine
By Margaret Harmann
While signing a bill that aims to combat the opioid crisis last month, President Trump hinted that he’d come up with the solution to the complex problem, but couldn’t talk about it.
“There is an answer. I think I actually know the answer, but I’m not sure the country is ready for it yet,” Trump said. “Does anybody know what I mean? I think so.”
No one knew what he meant. “Yeah, I wondered about that,” saidRepublican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who was at the signing. “I didn’t follow up and ask.”
Many dismissed the comment as more of Trump’s regular, incoherent ramblings. However, now it seems the president may actually have a secret plan to fight the opioid epidemic, beyond hiring a 24-year-old ingenue as his deputy drug czar and an ad campaign that was supposed to launch during the Super Bowl but didn’t come together in time. Axios’s Jonathan Swan reports that he’s been telling friends for months that drug dealers should face the death penalty, citing policies in Singapore and the Philippines.
“He says that a lot,” said a source. “He says, ‘When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty’.”
Trump is reportedly convinced that the key to ending America’s drug problems is making dealers fear for their lives and kids fear that even trying drugs will kill them — but he’s also acknowledged that the U.S. probably won’t pass a law mandating that all drug dealers be executed.
Kellyanne Conway, who is leading the administration’s anti-drug efforts, told Swan that Trump’s plan is more nuanced. “The president makes a distinction between those that are languishing in prison for low-level drug offenses and the kingpins hauling thousands of lethal doses of fentanyl into communities, that are responsible for many casualties in a single weekend,” she said.
In lieu of mass executions, the White House may push to toughen drug-sentencing laws. Per Axios:
Trump may back legislation requiring a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for traffickers who deal as little as two grams of fentanyl. Currently, you have to deal forty grams to trigger the mandatory five-year sentence. (The DEA estimates that as little as two milligrams is enough to kill people.)
Singapore has some of the strictest drug laws in the world. Police can perform random drug tests and those who test positive can face years-long sentences. Those caught with more than a few grams of certain drugs are presumed to be trafficking, and in higher quantities offenders are sentenced to death. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte instituted a brutal crackdown on both drug dealers and drug users in 2016. While the government claims that fewer than 4,000 suspects have been killed, Human Rights Watch puts the number at more than 12,000.
Trump has made it clear that unlike his predecessor, he has a cosy relationship with Duterte. He invited him to visit the White House, ignored questions about human-rights abuses during their first meeting in the Philippines, and congratulated him for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem” during a phone call. It was assumed that this was all part of Trump’s general admiration for authoritarian leaders, but perhaps he’s been taking more specific policy inspiration.
-
F.D.A. to Expand Medication-Assisted Therapy for Opioid Addicts
Feb 25, 2018 | New York Times
By Sheila Kaplan
In an effort to encourage new treatments for opioid addiction, the Food and Drug Administration plans to begin permitting pharmaceutical companies to sell medications that help temper cravings, even if they don’t fully stop addiction.
The change is part of a wider effort to expand access to so-called medication-assisted treatment, or MAT. The agency will issue draft guidelines in the next few weeks. A senior agency official provided details of the proposal to The New York Times.
The new approach was signaled Saturday by the health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, in remarks to the National Governors Association. Mr. Azar said the agency intended “to correct a misconception that patients must achieve total abstinence in order for MAT to be considered effective.”
While the Trump administration has generally supported medication-assisted treatment, Mr. Azar’s predecessor, Tom Price, was not completely on board with it. Mr. Price caused an uproar among treatment experts when he dismissed some medications that reduce cravings through synthetic opioids last spring as substituting one opioid for another. He subsequently walked back those comments, saying officials should be open to a broad range of treatment options.
Mr. Azar, who took office late last month, said he would work to reduce the stigma associated with addiction and addiction therapy, and would not treat it as a moral failing.
The opioid epidemic is considered the most unrelenting drug crisis in United States history. In 2016, roughly 64,000 people were killed by opioid-related overdoses, including from prescription painkillers and heroin.
Noting federal data showing that only one-third of specialty substance abuse treatment programs offer medication-assisted treatment, Mr. Azar said, “We want to raise that number — in fact, it will be nigh impossible to turn the tide on this epidemic without doing so.”
Mr. Azar’s comments echo those of the F.D.A. chief, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has made battling opioid abuse a priority for his agency. Dr. Gottlieb has moved to reduce opioid prescriptions by doctors and dentists and to promote more medication-assisted treatment, defined as drugs used to stabilize brain chemistry, reduce or block the euphoric effects of opioids, relieve physiological cravings, and normalize body functions.
The F.D.A. has approved three drugs for opioid treatment — buprenorphine (often known by the brand name Suboxone), methadone and naltrexone (known by the brand name Vivitrol) — and says they are safe and effective combined with counseling and other support. But the agency said it would soon publish two guidances, recommendations for drugmakers, on the issue.
One encourages the development of new, longer-acting formulations of existing drugs for opioid treatment. The other, which was described in detail to The Times, said new drugs would be eligible for approval that don’t end addiction but help with aspects of it, such as cravings, or overdoses, with the goal remaining complete abstinence.
“We will permit an endpoint that shows substantial reductions but does not require the patient to be totally clean at every visit if the measurements are fairly frequent,” a senior F.D.A. official said.
The official also said the F.D.A. was seeking medications that can help patients function better and can be helpful when used in combination with therapy and other social support, even if on their own the medications don’t completely end addiction. Under the new guidelines, patients and their families will have input in assessing how useful a drug is.
“You could envision different MATs where the different treatments are addressing different aspects of what underlies the addiction, and helping people lead productive lives free from addiction to opioids, even in situations where they still might require replacement therapy,” the official said.
Addiction experts were cautious in their praise of the plan, which should be released in March.
“The F.D.A. should keep companies focused on major clinical improvement for patients,” said Yngvild Olsen,medical director of the Institutes for Behavior Resources in Baltimore. “A more thoughtful approach to measuring meaningful clinical improvement could expand treatment options, but there is a danger; subjective outcomes that are neither here nor there could encourage the development of products of questionable value.”
And Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University, said that the F.D.A. was smart to look for new treatments but that the biggest problem now in treatment wasn’t lack of effective medication, but lack of access.
“We already have an effective treatment that people aren’t getting access to,” he said. “The primary challenge is getting it to people.”
-
Pay attention to pain management (Letter to the Editor)
Feb 24, 2018 | The Columbian (WA)
By Mike Burton
While I was pleased to see the Clark County Council join a lawsuit aimed at curbing pharmaceutical companies from “pushing” opioids, I feel that is only one part of the issue. Doctors and patients also must assume responsibility for the epidemic.
These are Schedule 2 drugs, the use of which is highly restrictive. I was dependent on opioids for pain for years due to injuries I suffered 50 years ago. I went through a 14-month rehab program with the VA to break that habit. Doctors need to learn to prescribe these drugs as they were intended and not use them as a “fall back” fix. In fact, opioids do not “fix” anything, they only mask the pain, and all patients should discuss a pain-management plan with their physicians before any procedure.
I now state that I am allergic to opioids on any medical forms I fill out; that usually gets the discussion going.
-
Problem won’t be solved by government alone (Opinion)
Feb 24, 2018 | Peninsula Clarion (AK)
By Staff
hough a number of steps have been taken at the state and federal level to combat the nation’s opioid crisis, comments from Alaska State Troopers made clear that it is a problem that will not be solved by government alone.
In a Feb. 13 briefing to media, Michael Duxbury, commander of the troopers Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit, said drug enforcement agents are working to develop non-traditional partnerships with public health agencies, private businesses and individuals to tackle the public health crisis.
“Private partnerships are going to be the next level of what we need to do as a community in Alaska to really go after this problem that is getting worse,” he told reporters.
Indeed, we’re seeing symptoms of the problems he described right here on the central Kenai Peninsula on a regular basis. We’ve seen a number of deaths due to overdose, including overdoses involving fentanyl, a synthetic opioid with 1,000 times the strength of a dose of Oxycodone.
Beyond the dangers of overdose, we’re seeing other social impacts Duxbury described, including burglaries, person-on-person crime, auto theft, and other crimes related to drug trafficking. A 2017 report prepared for the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority estimated that drug abuse in Alaska cost the economy $1.22 billion in 2015.
And because of the extent of the issue of addiction, it is no longer a problem that just affects a few people. With the impact on public resources, from law enforcement to public education to health care, it has become an issue that affects the entire community.
So, what can we do about it?
First and foremost, we need to acknowledge just how big the problem is. This is something that is happening here, in our community, not is some far away big city. Any one of us may have family members, friends, neighbors, or coworkers are coping with opioid addiction.
At this time last year, Gov. Bill Walker declared the opioid crisis a public health disaster and signed an executive order directing state agencies to pursue grant funding to help fight opioid abuse across the state. There have been steps taken here on the peninsula, including the increased availability of Naloxone, a drug that can be used to counteract an overdose, as well as a number of outreach efforts to make the public more aware of the signs of addiction.
Likewise, measures are being pursued to put restrictions on opioid prescriptions as the medical community rethinks how it addresses pain. And Alaska has joined a lawsuit filed against opioid manufacturers.
But, as a community, we also need to make sure that we don’t stop with what’s been done. As Duxbury noted, more and more powerful opioids are coming into Alaska. We need to continue to support all efforts to fight the problem, because this is a community crisis that won’t be solved by government alone.
-
Opioids issue gains traction outside DC (Opinion)
Feb 24, 2018 | St. Louis Post Dispatch (MO)
By Staff
For most of the past 20 years, prescription opioid abuse was treated like the weather: Everyone complained about it but no one ever did anything about it. As a result, it exploded into a national epidemic that killed 17,000 Americans in 2016. Add to that about 35,000 overdose deaths from heroin and synthetic opioids — often used by addicts when they can’t get prescription drugs any more — and you’re approaching a Vietnam War death toll every year.
Public awareness and outrage are starting to change things. In that regard, a Senate Homeland Security Committee investigation led by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, has been helpful, even though most of Congress hasn’t been. The committee’s latest report, released Feb. 12, detailed how opioid manufacturers spent almost $9 million between 2012 and 2017 supporting pain treatment advocacy groups that promoted use of the manufacturers’ products.
“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,” McCaskill’s report states. The advocacy groups defended the objectivity of their work.
McCaskill’s findings amplify earlier studies that detailed how manufacturers marketed their drugs to doctors as an effective, low-risk way to control short-term and chronic pain.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, drug firms, doctors, advocates and lobbyists formed a kind of Pain Inc. Often with good intentions, sometimes in pursuit of bigger profits, Big Pain inadvertently turned prescription opioids into a poor man’s heroin. Mexican drug cartels, seeking to exploit an expanding addiction market, have flooded the streets with cheap heroin.
The negative attention is prompting action. State and local lawsuits have surged against big opioid manufacturers and distributors, many brought by the mass-tort law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy of Alton. Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., a frequent target of those lawsuits, announced this month that it would stop marketing the time-release opioid Oxycontin to physicians. Purdue sold $1.94 billion worth of Oxycontin in 2017, down about $1 billion from its record high in 2013.
In addition, some states have passed laws limiting the number of days for which opioid painkillers can be prescribed without an authorized refill. Express Scripts of St. Louis, and CVS Caremark, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers, have imposed a seven-day limit on opioid prescriptions without prior approval from a doctor.
All of this could reduce the number of new addicts, but it does little for the 2.1 million Americans who already have what the government calls an “opioid use disorder.” For them, Congress authorized $6 billion in new spending in the recently passed budget bills, roughly 6 percent of what a presidential commission recommended. But Congress had to pay for tax cuts first.
Some people just like to talk about the weather.
-
Penalizing doctors for pharma ties is a misguided overreach of power (Opinion)
Feb 25, 2018 | Medical Economics
By Keith L. Martin
Sometimes when trying to fix one problem, you end up creating many, many more.
Such is the case in one state that could set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the country. As of January 16, prescribing physicians in New Jersey can accept no more than $10,000 annually from pharmaceutical companies and can accept a meal valued only at $15 or less. It is the boldest attempt by state legislators to crack down on the relationships between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry to avoid what is perceived as improper prescribing practices in return for payment or other perks.
[The regulation also bans gifts of pens, note pads, clipboards, mugs and other items with a pharma company logo that haven’t been distributed for more than a decade, but that’s not the most misguided part of this issue.]
The action makes the Garden State the first in the nation to strictly handcuff physician income and penalize doctors—but not pharma—for what it feels are inappropriate ties. Violation of the rule is also reported to the state’s licensure boards, which can impose disciplinary action or possibly a fine. It’s a dangerous precedent to set for other state legislatures.
But here’s where New Jersey’s intent gets as congested as its highways. When announced late last year, then-Governor Chris Christie and former Attorney General Christopher Porrino said the goal of the rule was to address the state’s opioid crisis. In a press conference announcing the rule, Porrino said it prohibits doctors from forming “unsavory financial relationships” with opioid manufacturers.
Porrino would later shift on that stance, noting that the rule applies to “all prescription medications” to ensure the “unbiased, best judgement of the treating prescriber.”
The bottom line is that the law is simply regulatory nonsense that painted former state officials as tough on opioids and heroes for cracking down on pill mills and corrupt doctors as the answer to a growing epidemic. Instead, Christie and Porrino have created an atmosphere that not only hurts physician compensation for assisting pharma in new scientific endeavors and shuns pharma interactions at the threat of medical board punishment, but also harms patients.
Fear of racking up a $15.01 tab for a meal means no more “lunch and learns” on new prescriptions and likely a reduction in samples for patients who cannot afford medications or simply want to test out its effectiveness before arm wrestling with their insurance company for coverage of a 30-day supply.
I support any and all endeavors aimed at curbing the nation’s opioid crisis, but what New Jersey has created is a huge chasm between doctors and pharma. That was intentional, but what they neglected to consider was how many patients would suffer as a result.
-
Franklin County joins opioid suit
Feb 24, 2018 | Adirondack Daily Enterprise (NY)
By Glynis Hart
The Franklin County legislature voted Thursday to hire the Napoli Shkolnik PLLC law firm to represent the county in a suit against pharmaceutical companies whom many believe caused the national opioid epidemic through aggressive marketing practices.
The lawyers will argue that the companies purposely lied to doctors and the public, saying opioid pain medications were not addictive and were safe for long-term use. Many patients prescribed pain medications for short-term injuries or post-surgery recovery became addicted to synthetic opioids such as Vicodin and Oxycontin. When their prescriptions ran out or they tried to stop, these patients faced withdrawal on par with heroin withdrawal.
Symptoms of withdrawal from Vicodin, for instance, begin between six to 12 hours of stopping the pills. Agitation, anxiety, sweating, muscle aches, yawning, insomnia and a runny nose may precede harsher reactions such as vomiting, diarrhea and nausea. Cold sweats and convulsions add to psychological symptoms such as confusion and delirium. Recovering addicts report difficulty sleeping and dreaming about getting high that may persist for years.
Although Napoli Shkolnik is not the only firm suing the pharmaceutical companies, legislators voted to go with it for several reasons. The firm takes its fee from the net result of a settlement, not the gross.
“The previous company’s fee was on the gross amount,” said county Manager Donna Kissane.
The firm represents 120 counties, including 25 in New York state. In a presentation to county legislators last week, lawyers explained that suing in New York rather than federal court gives the counties the advantage of speed. A federal suit is being filed in Ohio, and that suit is being put on hold for a year. Not every state has local defendant addresses, the lawyers explained, so counties from other states must sue in federal court.
In New York state, the suit will be heard in Suffolk County court.
Should there be a monetary settlement of the lawsuit, Franklin County would be able to decide how to use the money.
“A good outcome would be a settlement that offsets the significant increasing costs we are facing,” said Kissane. “When it comes to drug addiction, there’s multiple factors. It’s not a disease that’s fixed, most of the time, with the first treatment. We’d like to put some money into additional treatment options, and into law enforcement.”
-
Wyoming joins growing list of counties suing pharmaceutical companies over opiates
Feb 24, 2018 | The Daily News (NY)
By Scott Desmit
Wyoming has become the latest county in New York to join a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies and doctors against the marketing of opioid-based painkillers.
Simmons Hanley Conroy law firm, one of the nation’s largest mass tort firms, filed the suit Thursday on behalf of the county.
“Wyoming County, like many others across the state, is facing a serious drug epidemic,” said James Wujcik, Wyoming County attorney. “The county continues to suffer unimaginable loss due to the defendants’ recklessness and negligence about the long-term effects of opioid use. We must hold pharmaceutical companies and physicians responsible for misleading the public. They have targeted our residents and now we seek justice for the damages caused by their reckless behavior.”
The complaint claims that at least 17 Wyoming County residents have died as a result of opiates between 2003 and 2014. In 2014, there were 62 opiod-related emergency department admissions, a 46 percent increase since 2010.
The suit also shows 91 inpatient hospital admissions and more than 131 residents being admitted to drug treatment programs in 2015 and more the following year.
The lawsuit seeks damages from the “millions of dollars it spends each year to combat the public nuisance created by the drug companies,” the complaint says.
Simmons represents nine other counties in New York: Broome, Dutchess, Erie, Orange, Oswego, Schenectady, Seneca, Suffolk and Sullivan counties.
-
Schuyler County (NY) Opioid Lawsuit Fight Continues Forward
Feb 23, 2018 | Pharmaceutical Investing News
By Gabrielle Lakusta
Schuyler County will hold a public hearing on March 12 to review a proposed local law declaring the opioid epidemic and its effects on the County a public nuisance. According to Schuyler County Attorney Steven Getman, the draft local law is the next step in the County’s lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of opioid pain killers.
As quoted in the press release:
“The purpose and intent of this legislation is to allow the County to recover costs related to healthcare, family and social services, criminal justice, addiction and rehabilitation, and many other areas have significantly increased,” Getman explained. “Many of these costs are paid by the County.”
-
Feb 26, 2018 | WCBC (MD)
By Staff
The Allegany County Commissioners voted unanimously last week to allow a Florida-based law firm to represent the county in a mass federal lawsuit against large pharmaceutical companies that allegedly contributed to the opioid epidemic.
The action is known as a mass tort or multi district tort litigation which is similar to a class action lawsuit. According to county attorney Bill Rudd, Allegany County has the largest per capita OxyContin prescription rate in the state of Maryland. The litigation, he says, is based on “stopping the deceptive and improper marketing ploys of the manufacturer”…
-
Hopkinton TC considers opioid lawsuit
Feb 24, 2018 | The Chariho Times (RI)
By Lauren Vella
On Tuesday, the Hopkinton Town Council was given an opportunity to join a group of Rhode Island municipalities as plaintiffs to confront and rectify the state-wide opioid crisis. During the town council meeting, Rhode Island Attorney Eva-Marie Mancuso presented the case as a national and local public health concern. Her firm would help Rhode Island municipalities seek monetary compensation from three major opioid drug distributors and manufacturers. The council moved to consider the information presented to them and vote on a decision whether or not to join their peer municipalities on a later date.
According to Mancuso, lawyers representing various cities nation-wide have sufficient evidence to prove that three major opioid distributers (McKesson, Cardinal, and Amrisol) have been circumventing their responsibilities as gatekeepers of these harmful drugs. Instead of acting as moderators to their manufacturers, these distributors have been preying on communities effected by opioid addiction and selling more drugs to them in order to turn a large profit, she said.
“Distributors had one job, and that was to monitor the manufacturers and sound the alarms when a community, or a physician, or a pharmacy had unusual activity,” Mancuso said. “Well, what we know from the law, and what has happened so far is that not only did they not sound the alarms, but they colluded together with the manufacturers so that when there was an uptake, they went and marketed to the area where there was an uptake…In 2016 the big three distributors—in one year—$460 billion in revenue… That is an eye-opener to everybody.”
Should the town council vote to hire Attorney Mancuso’s firm, the lawsuit would be filed under the town of Hopkinton. The firm would then assess the damages that the town and its people have endured because of the sale of opioids. The money won in the case would fund what Mancuso calls three “buckets” or preventative measures to better educate and prepare the community to combat opioid addiction head-on.
“[The first] bucket would be the past amount for law enforcement, for first responders…for all of the tools that have been paid up to this point,” said Mancuso. She also underscored the importance of having the proper funding for a treatment facility for those who have fallen prey to opioid addiction. “The second bucket is for the treatment end… It is a disease that lasts for a long period of time, and we [Rhode Islanders] just don’t right now have the money to do it [rehabilitation and recovery] the way it should be done on the treatment end.”
The third rehabilitative effort would be focused on developing and funding programs to educate the community youth about opioid substance abuse.
“We need to start training kids in the middle schools and in the high schools that the prescription drugs in [their parents’] closet are just as dangerous as the heroin that’s on the street,” she said.
Shortly after Mancuso detailed her case, she fielded questions and concerns from the Town Council about a countersuit. Mancuso quickly responded noting that she has not seen counter suits in the past when municipalities have sued tobacco companies and distributors of other harmful products.
“I can tell you that I have never seen—and I mean never—any case like this where the manufacturers would ever have the gaul to sue against a town for the injuries that are happening like this. While this is America and for $200 you can sue anybody, I can’t guarantee anything, but we have never seen it.”
Currently, there are about 400 cities nation-wide that have filed a lawsuit against the aforementioned opioid distributors and manufacturers. Out of these 400 cities in litigation, Mancuso and her colleagues represent 250 of them. In Rhode Island, Mancuso has been traveling from town to town presenting this evidence to communities and municipalities. Out of the 26 towns that Mancuso has offered her firm’s legal services to, 25 have agreed to enter into multi-district litigation including North Kingstown and South Kingstown.
The expenses for legal services provided by Mancuso’s firm would not be paid with the town’s money. According to Mancuso, her firm would be paid with a percentage of the settlement that the town would win. In addition, the attorney noted that there is a significant advantage to joining with other municipalities in order to split costs for legal services.
To conclude her time, Mancuso said, “This is a very local problem. It’s a local problem because it hits our cities and towns in lots of different ways…In Washington County—where we are, right?—for every 100 residents there were 63 prescriptions written. In Kent County 72 prescriptions for every 100 people…all we are doing is seeing the direct results of no [drug] regulation.
The town council meeting concluded with no decision reached on whether or not to join the other municipalities in litigation. The council agreed to consider the details presented to them, and vote on a later date.
-
Kent County takes aim at ‘Big Pharma’
Feb 24, 2018 | Delaware State News (DE)
By Ian Gronau
Kent County Levy Court commissioners agreed to bring a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry, alleging it has played a major role in the current opioid epidemic.
The decision to retain legal representation was made in a 5-1 vote at the county’s Tuesday meeting.
It was noted during the meeting that Kent County first responders were dispatched to almost 700 overdose incidents last year.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 115 Americans die from opioids every day.
Commissioners retained Delaware law firm Parkowski Guerke & Swayze P.A. and Marc J. Bern & Partners, a New York-based fi rm that has been involved in previous opioid-related suits. The litigation will be brought at no cost to the county unless a settlement in the case is reached or the lawsuit is won.
Dover City Council announced its plan to do the same earlier in February — retaining the same legal team. Kent County and Dover join the state in the national trend of municipalities, counties and states bringing suits against large pharmaceutical companies.
The amount of claimants in the country is growing rapidly, noted James Nutter, an attorney with Parkowski Guerke & Swayze P.A. He said his firm has plans to talk to several more local municipalities and file the lawsuit on their behalf in the coming months.
“We have several more presentations to make to other municipalities over the next week,” he said. “We’re willing to work with any local governments that are interested. It seems like every single day there is a new local government or state in the country filing a suit or announcing that they’ve retained counsel.”
Mr. Nutter claimed the suit is important to help combat the ongoing “opioid crisis.”
“There’s an opioid epidemic that’s really reached a crisis point,” he said. “We believe that it’s a man-made one. Aggressive marketing has flooded the state with highly addictive drugs under a false pretense that the risk was very low.”
Although optimistic about the chances of the claimants, Mr. Nutter said the lawsuit has value regardless.
“Even if there’s no financial recovery, we believe this litigation has value because it’s already changing drug manufacturer practice, insurance coverage policies and pharmacy practice,” he said.
“Just this month Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, has announced that it will no longer directly market to doctors. The insurer Highmark also just announced this month that it would not fill a prescription for anything more than a seven day supply for new, first-time using patients.
“That’s significant. When you give someone a 30-day supply when they only really need seven pills, you raise the risk for diversion or misuse.”
Some disagree.
Sixth District commissioner Glen Howell, the only no-vote on the motion Tuesday night, said the lawsuit isn’t properly focused. He believes greater emphasis should be placed on the medical community and “personal responsibility.”
“The pharmaceutical industry produced these drugs and distributed them, but there they sit until something happens — a doctor has to give a prescription,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think my doctor wants to see me get addicted to anything.
“I cannot, for the life of me, understand how professional physicians could induce this addiction the way so many have. The medical community needs to be examined. These companies are producing drugs according to demand. Recipients trust their doctors and expect proper care, but this is out of hand.”
Mr. Howell also believes that individuals need to be held accountable for their actions.
“The reason why there is a demand for legal and illegal drugs is because of individuals,” he said. “Very little emphasis is being put on personal responsibility and I think that’s where the problem we should hit head on is. This lawsuit is like suing breweries for DUIs. There is a lot more to this picture.”
State lawsuit
Attorney General Matt Denn announced the state’s plan in mid-January. The attorney general’s complaint alleges that some of the nation’s largest manufacturers, distributors,and retailers of prescription opioid drugs have failed to meet their legal obligations and have fueled an opioid addiction epidemic that is devastating individuals, families and communities across Delaware.
“Opioid manufacturers misrepresented the addictive nature of their products,” Mr. Denn insisted in a statement. “They, along with national opioid distributors and national pharmacies, knew that they were shipping quantities of opioids around the country so enormous that they could not possibly all be for legitimate medical purposes, but they failed to take basic steps to ensure that those drugs were going only to legitimate patients.”
The manufacturer defendants named in the state’s lawsuit are Purdue Pharma and Endo Pharmaceuticals. The distributor defendants named in the lawsuit are McKesson, Cardinal Health, Amerisource Bergen, Anda Pharmaceuticals, and H.D. Smith. The retailer defendants named in the lawsuit are CVS and Walgreens. Other defendants may be named in the future.
“The filing of this suit is an important step in what will likely be complex and time-intensive litigation against sophisticated national corporations,” Mr. Denn said. “But these defendants must be held accountable for the damage that they have caused to our state and its citizens.”
The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Superior Court’s Complex Commercial Litigation Division.
The Healthcare Distribution Alliance, the national trade association representing distributors, including Amerisource Bergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson claims holding distributors liable isn’t logical.
“The misuse and abuse of prescription opioids is a complex public health challenge that requires a collaborative and systemic response that engages all stakeholders,” said John Parker, the trade association’s senior vice president.
“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.”
The trade association noted that distributors are logistics experts tasked with delivering medicine, rather than manufacturing, prescribing or dispense it.
Further, they say, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for setting the annual production of controlled substances in the market, approving and regulating the entities allowed to prescribe and handle opioids and sharing data with entities in the supply chain regarding potential cases of diversion.
-
City takes aim at opioid addiction
Feb 24, 2018 | Rome News-Tribune (GA)
By Diane Wagner
Doctors at Floyd and Redmond Regional medical centers aren’t objecting to the lawsuit against opioid manufacturers that local attorneys could file as early as this week.
“Knowing we rank very high for opioids in the state is very concerning,” said Dr. Julie Barnes, chief medical officer at Redmond. “We want to contribute to the conversation and contribute to the solution.”
At the heart of the issue is the claim that pharmaceutical companies intentionally marketed the painkillers as desireable and safe while ignoring signs of a growing epidemic of addiction.
“In one county alone they’ve seen over 9,000 prescriptions per person,” Rome attorney Bob Finnell said. “They know what’s happening.”
The Floyd County Commission is expected to join the case Finnell and Andy Davis are preparing to add to the MDL — multijurisdiction litigation — consolidated in a federal district court in Ohio. Rome City Commissioners are already on board.
Finnell said they’ve also been contacted by Chattooga and Whitfield counties, Cartersville, Dalton and other local governments, along with a hospital chain in six states and a Kentucky association of rural healthcare providers.
The Floyd County board acknowledged the opioid crisis as a national public health emergency and local public nuisance in January, but has held off official action pending talks with the medical community.
“The number of deaths are on the rise. The costs to our community, our health care providers, police department and hospitals are all on the rise,” Commission Chair Rhonda Wallace said. “We must all come together and do our part to stop this crisis. We’re just trying to make sure when we say yes … we’re doing the right thing by our partners.”
The board is slated to meet Monday at noon with physicians from Redmond and Harbin Clinic. Commissioners heard Wednesday from Sheila Bennett, chief of patient care services at FMC, who holds a doctorate degree in nursing.
Taking Action
Bennett said Georgia hospitals already are taking action, including a new requirement to check a statewide prescription database before prescribing opioids to patients.
They also talk with surgical patients about the level of pain to expect during recovery and look for non-narcotic alternatives to get them through it. Except in cases such as terminal illness, cancer and chronic pain, prescriptions are for three days at a time.
“A lot of people who get addicted had a legitimate reason to use the medication,” Bennett told the board. “People don’t wake up one day and say ‘I want to be a drug addict.’ They don’t realize how powerful this addiction really is.”
In Georgia, she said, the in-patient group most commonly affected is age 60 and older. For out-patients, it’s the 25 to 45 age group.
Bennett said FMC has seen an increase of involuntary commitments, with more than 1,000 presenting last year. That’s an average of four to seven a day.
“They’re not all related to drug overdoses, but it’s common,” she said.
FMC also has seen a rise in babies born addicted to opioids. Bennett said addicted babies can be cured but should be monitored as they grow up.
“Those babies are inconsolable,” she said. “We have to hold them, get volunteers to come in and just hold them.”
“And then they go into foster care and have long-term effects,” Commissioner Allison Watters added.
Commissioners indicated that settlement money from the lawsuit could be used to establish local programs aimed at addressing the problems. Finnell said the Ohio judge has signaled that he is on the same wavelength.
“We’re not trying to put the medical companies out of business… It’s a multi-faceted problem and the focus is on long-term solutions,” he said.
-
Catoosa County recognizes opioid crisis, joins lawsuit against drug-makers
Feb 23, 2018 | Walker County Messenger (GA)
By Adam Cook
Catoosa County commissioners have agreed to pass a resolution acknowledging the current opioid crisis in the area and to join a class-action lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors.
During the bi-monthly Board of Commissioner's meeting Tuesday night, Feb. 20, County Attorney Chad Young discussed the opioid situation in the area that has evolved to crisis status over the past few years.
"The current state of the opioid crisis that you all read about in the news, and I'm sure the sheriff can attest to how it affects or has affected our county, is a serious health matter," Young said. "There has been some class-action litigation filed by local governments from various states and state governments that's pending against the manufacturers and distributors of these drugs."
Young said that the class-action lawsuit is an attempt for governments to recoup some of the added expense the opioid issue has created.
"The purpose is to try to recover the increased costs that local governments are having to face, whether it be through law enforcement or emergency management responses based on the over-prescription of these drugs," Young said. "For instance, all counties in the state of Georgia are being solicited by big law firms that have expertise in this class-action type of litigation, including Catoosa County. We've had multiple solicitations."
Young said that when the county's data was evaluated, it revealed that prescription numbers for opioids are being written at an alarming rate.
"There are more opioid prescriptions written in Catoosa County than there are people in Catoosa County," Young said.
Commission Chairman Steven Henry clarified that the numbers show there are 116 opioid prescriptions written for every 100 people in the county.
Before voting on whether to join the lawsuit, the board unanimously approved passing a resolution essentially declaring that the opioid crisis has had negative effects on Catoosa County to the extent that it is a public nuisance, which in turn authorizes legal action against fighting that nuisance.
Per the vote, the county will retain the Atlanta-based law firm of Lewis Brisbois Brisgaard & Smith LLC to represent Catoosa County, with Patty & Young to serve as local council.
Young and fellow county attorney Clifton M. "Skip" Patty say there will not be any cost involved for the county unless there's a favorable outcome.
"There is no fee due by the county unless a monetary claim is awarded in the suit," Young said. "If there is a monetary recovery, the fee is the standard contingent fee of one-third of the recovery."
Young added that if won or settled, his and Patty's office would share some of the one-third portion with the bigger firm spearheading the case.
While going after the drug-makers may seem like a tough task, Young compared it to suits against tobacco-makers in the late 1990s.
"This is similar in nature to what state governments did in the tobacco litigation, where they sued the manufacturers to recover the increased health costs and other costs they had to pay," Young said.
Young also said that while offsetting the costs accumulated with battling the opioid epidemic is important, the bigger picture involves the safety of the community.
"It's more than about money. It's about tightening down on the prescriptions," Young said. "It used to be that we could all go into a convenience store at one time and buy as much Sudafed as we wanted before the methamphetamine crisis, and now we all know that's regulated and behind the counter. The hope would be that it's going to address much more than just money."
Commissioner Bobby Winters said he's frustrated with the prescription abuse and wonders how the county got to the point where it now houses four different methadone clinics.
-
W.Va. county commissions suing over opioid epidemic win court battle
Feb 25, 2018 | WV News (WV)
By Matt Harvey
A defendants' bid has failed to permanently move to federal court a lawsuit against multiple companies and drugstores over West Virginia's opioid epidemic.
The county commissions of Harrison, Lewis, Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio, Tyler and Wetzel counties had sued several defendants in Marshall County Circuit Court. A pivot point for filing the lawsuit there was that some of the defendants were sales representatives for drug distributors.
But three of the corporate defendants then moved the case to federal court in West Virginia's Northern District, arguing federal jurisdiction was appropriate. Success on this gambit likely would ultimately have led to transfer of the lawsuit to a multi-district litigation already ongoing in the Northern District of Ohio.
However, U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey ruled late last week that the removal to federal court wouldn't stick. Bailey, citing case law, agreed with the plaintiffs' attorneys that the sales representatives' actions on behalf of their companies doesn't insulate them from personal liability under West Virginia law.
Bailey wrote: "For example, plaintiffs allege that (a former West Virginia district manager for a pharmaceutical company) trained his sales representatives to be 'audible ready' when questioned about street abuse and to misrepresent OxyContin's addictiveness and likelihood of abuse, diversion, and misuse. ... As noted (the sales reps) are not immune from their tortious conduct simply because they were acting within the scope of their employment or agency."
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Joe Shaffer and Sam Madia of Shaffer Madia Law PLLC of Clarksburg; Robert P. Fitzsimmons, Clayton J. Fitzsimmons and Mark A Colantonio of Fitzsimmons Law Firm PLLC of Wheeling; Paul J. Napoli, Hunter J. Shkolnik, Shayne E. Sacks, Salvatore C. Badala of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC of Melville, New York; Jonathan E. Turak of Gold, Khourey & Turak of Moundsville; and Daniel J. Guida of Guida Law Office in Weirton.
The lawsuit, seeking compensatory and punitive damages, alleges the defendants engaged in “false, deceptive and unlawful marketing and/or unlawful diversion of prescription opioids.”
It is one of a growing list of claims filed around the state, and in the nation, in state and federal courts.
Defendants in this lawsuit include: Purdue Pharma LP; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.; Cephalon Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Allergan PLC; Actavis Inc; Watson Pharmaceuticals; McKesson Corp.; Cardinal Health; AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp.; Rite Aid of Maryland Inc.; Kroger Limited Partnership II; CVS Indiana LLC; Walmart Stores East LP; Goodwin Drug Co.; and the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy. Multiple individuals also are named, as are other companies.
“This case is about one thing: Corporate greed,” the lawsuit asserts. “Defendants put their desire for profits above the rights and interests of the counties and the health and well-being of the citizens” of the eight counties, the lawsuit asserts.
The lawsuit asserts the counties have had to pay “exorbitant amounts of money to combat this crisis” due to the creation of the opioid epidemic “as a direct and proximate result of the negligent and reckless actions, conduct and omissions of defendants.”
The filing contends the defendants knew opioids, due to their addictive nature, shouldn’t be used except as a last resort for non-cancer pain lasting three months or longer.
The lawsuit also contends the defendants knew that prolonged use of opioids causes the effectiveness of the drugs to wane, “requiring increases in doses and markedly increasing the risk of significant side effects and addiction.”
The lawsuit contends the defendants used a “highly deceptive and unfair marketing campaign that began in the late 1990s, deepened around 2006, and continues to the present.” The idea was to make prescribing opioids commonplace to treat chronic pain long-term, and that’s what happened, the lawsuit claims.
-
Selma, Dallas County to join opioid lawsuit
Feb 24, 2018 | The Selma Times Journal (AL)
By Adam Dodson
Both the city of Selma and Dallas County are expected to file lawsuits against a conglomeration of pharmacies that are accused of fueling Alabama’s opioid crisis. This comes after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state, while multiple cities and counties have agreed to enter their own suits as well.
The suing parties believe that the state and their individual areas have been severely effected as a result of pharmacies playing fast and loose with the rules and allowing people easy access to opioids, which are highly addictive. A press release sent out by Beasley Allen, a law firm involved in many of the lawsuits, lists a few of the health and financial damages caused as a result of this perceived negligence.
“Damages resulting from the opioid epidemic include costs for providing medical care, therapeutic care and treatment for patients…including overdoses and deaths, public safety and law enforcement expenses and care for children whose parents suffer from opioid-related disability or incapacitation,” the press release says.
The major entity listed in the lawsuits is Purdue Pharma, L.P., who Dallas County Probate Judge Kim Ballard calls the largest manufacturer in the state. The two law firms representing these cases are Beasley Allen out of Montgomery and Prince, Glover & Hayes out of Tuscaloosa.
Beasley Allen is representing at least four separate cases that have been brought against the pharmacies: Greenville, Houston County, Barbour County and the state’s own lawsuit. The Hayes firm will also represent the state.
According to Ballard, Selma will hire the services of Prince, Glover & Hayes, while Dallas County has yet to make a decision but is considering both firms.
Jana Garner, local attorney with Jana Russell Garner Law Offices, brought forth the case to Dallas County representing the Hayes firm. Woody Jones, with Gamble, Gamble, Calame & Jones, appeared with Beasley Allen to present their case as well.
Both the county and the city have made it clear that they believe this is something worthwhile, despite the county not yet hiring a firm.
“We have heard presentations from both firms. States and other localities have been talking about this lawsuit for a year or so now,” Ballard said.
“We need to figure out how much costs are from these opioids. We are doing this not only for money, but for the people. There are 1.2 prescriptions for every person in Alabama.”
While Selma, Dallas County and other parties throughout the state ready up for a legal battle that could allegedly take two years for the cases to be decided, both Ballard and county attorney John Kelly have said that most of the parties involved want the case to result in an early settlement.
According to Kelly, the lawsuits are not meant to act under the same parameters of a class-action lawsuit, because individual cities and counties are hiring their own choice of firms, usually Beasley Allen or Hayes.
However, if the states, counties and cities going after the pharmaceutical companies want an early settlement for their cases, they would likely need to go the route of multi-district litigation.
Kelly describes this as something that “tends to happen” when multiple parties want to see their case settled under the same roof. Under this scenario, one federal district judge would decide the case.
Kelly, who was aware of the opioid problem but not the extent of it, is on board with improving the health and well-being of Alabama residents dealing with this crisis.
“The motivating factor is that the county and city are losing lives. If we could stop manufactures from hurting the lives of so many, we could also help stop the addiction,” Kelly said.
“I was aware the problem was bad, but was skeptical. I have changed my mind. The problem is way worse than I ever realized.”
Other pharmaceutical companies listed in the lawsuits are Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Cephalon, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc., among others.
It is not known the number of parties wishing to go for early settlement. According to Ballard, the law firms only receive payment if the lawsuit is successful.
-
Polk to investigate filing suit against opioid makers
Feb 23, 2018 | The Ledger (FL)
By John Chambliss
Polk County is joining other counties and cities across the state in a potential lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies to address the opioid epidemic.
County commissioners voted 5-0 on Tuesday to hire the Lakeland firm of Campbell, Trohn, Tamayo and Aranda, P.A. to possibly sue the makers of opioids.
County Attorney Michael Craig said some of the law firms involved in the case handled the BP oil spill case.
He said Polk could join other cities and counties as part of a “multi-district litigation” action that involves about 400 additional agencies.
Jonathan Trohn said the county will initially investigate to determine whether there is a case.
“We’re going to do an investigation to see if we have damages and if they are significant enough to advance a claim,” Trohn said.
Trohn said he has been in discussions with Tampa firms representing Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa. Those firms will conduct similar studies.
Polk County is the first Polk government agency to join the lawsuit. Tim McCausland, Lakeland city attorney, said he’s aware of the lawsuits brought by other agencies but city commissioners have not discussed taking any action.
Craig said lawyers plan to investigate overdoses, deaths in the county related to opioids and the costs of overdoses for emergency workers.
Trohn said if there is a lawsuit, it would be filed against the manufacturers and distributors of certain drugs.
He said some of the drugs were initially manufactured for hospice care but over time marketed differently to doctors.
The fee for the firm will be 25 percent after expenses of any amount of money recovered by the county.
If any money is recovered, Craig said there would be a number of ways to use the funds to supplement substance-abuse treatment in the county. He suggested possibly using the money to purchase Naloxone, better known by the brand name Narcan, for first responders.
Naloxone is an anti-opioid drug that can prevent overdose deaths from substances such as prescription pain pills like Oxycodone and Vicodin in addition to street drugs like heroin.
It can be administered by being injected into a muscle under the skin, through an IV or the nasal passages.
There has been a state and national crackdown on pharmaceutical-drug abuse.
According to a 2017 report released by the state Medical Examiner’s Office, 5,725 opioid-related deaths were reported in 2016, which was a 35 percent increase from 2015.
Some abused opioids are codeine, fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, hydrocodone, methadone, oxycodone, morphine and tramadol.
From 1999 to 2016, more than 200,000 people have died nationally from overdoses related to prescription opioids.
-
Opioid lawsuits: Attorney urges Clarksville to join in
Feb 25, 2018 | The Leaf Chronicle (TN)
By Chris Smith
National lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that pushed opioid medications on the American public have been joined by about 100 cities, about 500 counties and over 30 states. Now, Clarksville is being asked to enter the fray.
Attorney Jeffrey E. Friedman, a Birmingham, Alabama, attorney who was raised here in Clarksville, came home last week to explain the lawsuits to the City Council and answer their questions.
Chief among the concerns was the cost, and Friedman explained that his firm, if the city chose his over others, would charge a standard contingency fee, which means that if the suit fails, the city will owe nothing.
If the suit succeeds, the attorneys would collect 30 percent of any damages for ensuring that Clarksville is represented.
"The city would not be on the hook for anything," Friedman said at Thursday's City Council meeting.
Opioid litigation grew dramatically in the last year when hundreds of cities, counties and states sued opioid makers, wholesalers, distributors and marketers. The lawsuits accuse the companies of misleading doctors and the public by marketing opioids as rarely addictive and as a safe substitute for non-addictive pain medications.
The companies deny the claims and say litigation should be halted until Food and Drug Administration-ordered studies on the long-term risks and benefits of opioids are completed, according to USA TODAY.
Purdue Pharma, whose drug OxyContin jump-started the opioid epidemic, is one of the key targets of the litigation.
“We are deeply troubled by the opioid crisis, and we are dedicated to being part of the solution,” Purdue said in a statement to USA TODAY. “We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”Get in or get almost nothing
Many Tennessee municipalities have joined the suits, ranging in size from Maryville to Memphis, and including at least six district attorneys. Montgomery County has also joined.
The opioid "multi-district litigation" is being handled by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster of Cleveland, Ohio, who has pushed for settlement instead of a trial, Friedman said.
If there is a settlement, only those cities that are part of the litigation will receive settlement funds.
"There's going to be damages awarded," Friedman said. "And part of that is going to be money for programs to address the problem."
Cities will likely be awarded damages based on the impact opioid addiction has had.
In Clarksville, for example, opioid prescriptions neared a boiling point in 2014. The FDA has found that the national average of opioid usage is 66.5 prescriptions per 100 people per year. A rate of 100 prescriptions per 100 people is too much.
In 2014, Clarksville had 95.8 prescriptions per 100 people per year. In 2015 it was 88.7, and in 2016 it was 87, Friedman said.
Another factor soon to come into play is that opioids are about to become much harder to get, which will likely increase the need for rehabilitation to keep people from turning to cheaper illegal drugs. That will take money, and money from the settlement can offset those costs, he said.
While the city could stay out of the suit and wait to see if money trickles down from the federal or state governments, Friedman reminded the council that in many states, money from similar tobacco legislation was used to balance state budgets.Council questions
During the discussion, Councilman Wanda Smith asked why there was so much focus on opioids now as opposed to other addictive drugs such as methamphetamine or crack cocaine.
Friedman reminded the council that meth and crack are not FDA-approved prescription drugs created by a major pharmaceutical company. But he emphasized that drug treatment programs that could result from the litigation would help against all addictions, not just addiction to opioids.
Councilman Ron Erb raised a philosophical objection, saying the companies might respond by raising the prices that he and his neighbors pay for prescriptions. "I can't afford to finance the lawsuit," Erb said.
"The lawsuit will proceed anyway," Friedman said. "This just decides whether we want to be part of the recovery."
Councilman Tim Chandler pointed out that everyone in the room probably knows someone who has fallen victim to prescription pill addiction.
"Something's got to be done, and if I have to pay an extra $5 for my diabetes medication," it's worth it, he said.
Councilman Bill Powers asked if there would be any cost to the city to simply do nothing.
"There'd be a price," Friedman said. "You'd be left out of the recovery. You'd have 100 percent of the problem and 0 percent of the solution."
Settlement talks for the litigation have already begun. The City Council will consider joining the lawsuit in upcoming meetings.
-
Amid Opioid Crisis, Portland Joins the Hundreds of U.S. Governments Suing Drug Companies
Feb 26, 2018 | Governing.com
By Brad Schmidt
The city of Portland will join a national movement by suing drug companies behind America's opioid crisis.
On Wednesday, the Portland City Council voted 4-0 to file litigation hoping to recoup millions of dollars spent locally each year dealing with the fallout of opioid addiction.
"This is a much-needed step to help stem the tide of opioid addiction in our community," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said.
Portland will join at least 370 other cities and counties across America suing drug manufacturers or distributors, said Naomi Sheffield, a deputy city attorney. Locally, Multnomah County filed suit against several companies in August while the Clark County Council, in Washington, approved a lawsuit Tuesday.
Portland plans to argue that drug companies created a public nuisance and acted negligently. Sheffield said the city's damages from opioid addition are "a few million dollars annually."
In 2016, city firefighters responded to 3,475 overdose calls. Of those, first responders administered Naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses, about 400 times, Sheffield said. And about half of all drug calls to police are related to opioids.
"Entities we trust with our health are preying on our pain and leaving a wake of ruin, grief and untold costs to families and communities," Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said.
City officials have privately identified a list of companies that could be targeted in a lawsuit. But the city did not release those names Wednesday and Sheffield declined to identify the companies when asked by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Portland will hire an outside law firm, Baron & Budd, to sue opioid companies. Baron & Budd already represents Portland in a separate suit against chemical-maker Monsanto, and the law firm represents many jurisdictions suing over opioid havoc.
Portland's lawsuit will be filed locally in federal court. But officials expect it will be transferred to the Northern District of Ohio, where multi-district litigation involving drug companies is being heard.
"We do have a voice, and collectively our voices have power," Commissioner Nick Fish said.
Wednesday's meeting also highlighted the personal toll of opioid use.
Former Portland Commissioner Steve Novick testified about the 2007 death of his brother, Mischa, from an OxyContin overdose. Novick said drug companies -- specifically Purdue Pharma and the wealthy Sackler family behind it -- need to be held accountable.
-
Feb 25, 2018 | National Programming
By CBS News
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32956412?token=71194929-886e-49bf-847b-1ce9d8efbcc7
Rough Transcript: pauley: who's to blame for this nation's opioid crisis? if anyone is qualified to point an accusing finger, it may be the man who led the fight against another scourge years ago. our cover story is reported by lee cowan. >> we will bring this industry to their knees right here in mississippi and i'm proud of that. >> when mike moore, a self described country lawyer first 9:09 AMstood up against big tobacco, everyone thought he was crazy. everyone. >> let me tell you something, when i filed the case in 1994 my mom thought i was crazy. she called me and said it might be time for to you come home now. >> they weren't laughing for long, though. >> we have reached agreement with the tobacco industry. >> just four years later, as mississippi's attorney general, moore negotiated the largest civil litigation settlement in u.s. history. forcing big tobacco to shell out more than $200 billion to help states recoup the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses. >> a staggering 72% of remaining smokers come from lower income communities. >> but moore also wanted something else. to make the tobacco companies pay to educate consumers about the dangers of cigarettes. >> the seed money for all of this was from the tobacco settlement some. >> yep. >> he made sure that nearly $2 billion of that tobacco settlement was set aside to fund 9:10 AMthis. >> excuse me? >> the truth initiative, a public health campaign widely credited with reducing the teen smoking rate with sometimes shocking ad campaigns like these. >> do you know how many people tobacco kills every day? >> now, some 20 years later, moore has another health crisis on his mind and another corporate target. the makers of opioids. >> tobacco, somebody smokes a cigarette it might be 30 years, 40 years before the disease process works and kills them. you take too many opioid they will kill you today. >> according to the centers for disease control and prevention, opioids kill more than 42,000 people in 2016. the white house council of economic advisors estimates just in 2015, the cost associated with the opioid crisis topped $500 billion. >> the openout market was here. >> so moore now in private practice is taking his skills on 9:11 AMthe road again, encouraging cities, counties, even entire states to come together and sue the drug drug makers, the same way states coalesced to sue big tobacco. >> tobacco told us that nicotine was not an addictive drug. that smoking did not cause cancer. these companies told us that there was less than 1% of getting addicted and proven to be effective. both of those turn out to be really big lies. >> the nation's drug makers vigorously deny these allegations. but agree there is an opiate addiction problem. however, they suggest blaming them for the entire crisis, is in the word of one drug makera stunning over simplification. they dismiss any comparison to tobacco, pointing out that their opioid products are approved by the f.d.a. and say many of those who are dying of overdoses are abusing street opioids not legal prescriptions. >> there's plenty of fault. the federal government is at fault. for god's sake the f.d.a. should have never approved some of 9:12 AMthese drugs. the states are at fault. the companies are at fault. doctors are at fault. there's plenty of fault. we can point our fingers all day long. >> with all those places to point the finger why just go after the drug companies. >> well you can't sue the federal government. you can't sue all the individuals for taking the drugs. trying to sue all the doctors in the country wouldn't work very well. what i say if there's 100% fault out there amongst many, many players at least go to the people who made the billions of dollars on this. >> what we seek by filing these suits is accountability and restitution. >> so what started as a trickle has turned into a flood of litigation. >> and significantly harmed south carolina and its citizens. >> there are now hundreds of city and county lawsuits being filed, as well as cases brought by at least 15 states so far. >> our lawsuit -- including one of the biggest, ohio. one of moore's clients. >> we knew when we filed the lawsuit we weren't going to get 9:13 AMthem to the table to negotiate until we had some sort of critical mass with other states filing lawsuits. we think if we get enough states in there, the drug companies will have no choice but to come to the table and start talking. >> that's mike dewine, ohio's attorney general, who is also running for governor. >> so you're not looking at this as much as punishing the drug companies, as you are holding them accountable. >> we believe that 80% of the people who are addicts today, 8 0% of the people who have lost in ohio started with pain meds. >> you this it's their fault, no one else's? >> i think a great deal of the fault lies at the feet of the drug companies. you have to go back to these drug companies because they're the ones who misled the physicians. we firmly believe that we're going win. and we believe that the amount of money that the jury will come back with is going to to be very, very high. >> will it do anything to help the problem? >> probably not. >> university of kentucky law 9:14 AMprofessor richard ausness is concerned that money may be the driving motive behind all this litigation. trial attorneys he says, stand to make millions off of pooling their resources and forcing the drug companies to settle, which also makes him wary of the precedent that these kind of cases may set. >> other lawsuits of this nature might be brought against other manufacturers. i saw something recently about we ought to sue big sugar. you know, sugar does all sorts of bad things for people. so i don't see any end in sight. i mean if it works for the plaintiffs, if they get something out of it, and of course the trial lawyers are doing pretty well, too, why stop? >> it may come down to a public relations battle. drug makers don't want to be tied to images of overflowing morgues. but that's just what has been happening in places like dayton, ohio, where the county coroner, had to build another freezer 9:15 AMjust to accommodate all the bodies of opiate overdose victims being sent his way. >> have you ever seen anything like this? >> nobody has seen anything like this. the opioid crisis is a whole new death investigation problem. >> what's different, he says, beyond the size of the epidemic, is its victims. many are from upper middle class families with no history of drug abuse. people like 27-year-old shawn herman who got hooked on oxycontin in college. >> i don't think the majority of people who become addicted say to heroin go out and say, you know what, today i'm going to try heroin. let's see what that's like. the majority start with pills. >> his mom, sharon parsons, didn't know it at the time as the pills became harder to get shawn turned to street opioids like heroin. he ended up overdosing on fentanyl, the same drug that killed prince and tom petty. >> i would say from the time he 9:16 AMfirst became addicted until the time he died was about five years. >> street fentanyl is up to 100 times more potent than morphine. an illicit opiate that law enforcement can't get off the streets fast enough, says montgomery county sheriff, phil plummer. >> how many overdoses were there last year in this county? >> we had 3,637 overdoses in montgomery county. >> how does that compare to the year before? >> it almost doubled from the year before. >> one of his deputies, walter bender has seen all manner of addicts on patrol but he's never seen an epidemic on this scale. >> when was the last time you used? seriously. >> honestly? >> yeah. >> did you really? >> he knows many of the addicts and tries when he to be get them into treatment but he can't keep them there. >> we took one guy three different times to treatment and each time he walked out and we told him, we don't want to find you out here dead. next time we had contact with him, he was found dead in the woods. 9:17 AM>> never forget it could be your child. don't think that it's not going to happen to you because the three of us sitting here never expected it to happen to us. and it did. and consequences were deadly. >> like sharon parsons, paul and ellen saskatoon over lost their 21-year-old son matt to opioid overdose six years ago. >> he was a big person in life but maybe even bigger after he lost his life. he may have greater influence on those who need his help than he couldn't ever had. >> they have since established the matthew b. saskatoon over educational center where the message is clear, even if all the opiate pills disappeared, the millions who are addicted today, will still need help for decades. mike moore believes the lawsuits against big tobacco all those years ago -- >> know the truth. spread the truth. >> led to fewer people dying of smoking-related diseases. if he can have the same effect with opioids he'll be satisfied. >> feel a little bit like deja vu for you? >> it does. you can't stop. you have to do something about the problem. especially if you have ha talent and the connection and you're involved in the process. why would you stop?
-
Matter of Fact With Soledad O'Brien
Feb 26, 2018 | National Programming
By NBC News
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976130?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a
Rough Transcript: coming up next, state of addiction. the fight against opioids gets a surprising new ally. what steps the pharmaceutical giant behind oxycontin is taking to keep their drug from being abused. and wearable techonolgy is all the rage. while you might be willing to wear a wristband that tracks your fitness goals, would you dare to wear one that allows your boss to keep tabs on your 5:52 AM5:53 AMwork? soledad: now to our segment we call "we're paying attentio even if you're too busy," positive step in the nation's opioid epidemic coming from the company that makes one of the most addictive drugs on the market, oxycontin. purdue pharma says it's cutting its sales force by more than half because it will no longer send sales reps to doctor's offices to promote the drug. the move comes as purdue and other drug companies are facing hundreds of lawsuits for deceptive marketing. they're accused of aggressively pushing opioids, downplaying the risk of addiction and overstating its benefits. but while most say it's a step in the right direction, lawmakers like senator claire mccaskill say pharmaceutical companies still have a lot of work to do. she released a senate report that says five drug makers, including purdue, paid nearly $10 million over five years to patient advocacy groups and doctors to promote oxycontin. opioid overdoses kill more than 100 people every day in america. and in 2016, opioids were involved in the fatal overdoses of more than 42,000 people.
-
Feb 26, 2018 | Charlotte, NC
By WSOC (ABC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32975609?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a
Rough Transcript: some economists are connecting the nation's opioid epidemic with the job market. the percentage of americans working or looking for work is the lowest it's been in 40 years. meanwhile, opioids are killing more than 30,000 people a year. researchers at princeton university say there's a bigger drop in people working in counties where more medication is being prescribed. approximately 300 lawsuits nation i know wide have now been filed against the opioid industry. mecklenburg county is included with officials suing almost a dozen drug manufacturers. burke county leaders filed a similar lawsuit. gaston county commissioners are also considering legal action.
-
Feb 26, 2018 | Colorado Springs, CO
By KKTV (CBS)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976097?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a
Rough Transcript: later this week, another southern colorado community might join a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer s of opioids. a team of lawyers will be meeting with pueblo to see if that community wants to file a lawsuit, just like the one already filed by huerfano county. new tonight 11 news reporter dustin cuzick spoke to that team about why they're doing this. the opioid crisis has gripped the country-- and southern colorado is one of the hardest areas hit. pat mika/attorney: 18.44.52.10 "el paso county alone has 120 people that lost their life to overdoses in the last year." dr. stephen ochs md, jd/retired anesthesiologist, attorney: 19.21.30.02 "if tainted water were killing 120 people a year in el paso county, i suspect we would have a response." but there isn't a huge response-- both men agree, because of the stigma that surrounds opioid addiction. attorney pat mika and doctor 12:06 AMstephen ochs are part of a team suing all major drug manufacturer s of prescription opioids. they're suing on behalf of counties across the country, including huerfano county--one of the four worst areas in the country for opioid abuse. the lawyer says a drug manufacturer was supplying enough pills to that community to give each man, woman and child 30 to 60 tablets every month. they say the companies have been illegally pushing drugs for decades-- falsely advertising in order to get people hooked. ochs: 19.11.13.05 "they wer never to be prescribed for the routine sprained ankle or the chronic back ache, or even in the case of surgery, more than five to seven days." pat: 18.45.19.11 "we are workin to represent counties to hit the pharmaceutical companies where it hurts, in their pocketbooks." butt to 18.52.55.05 "they wil change, but they're only going to change if they know that they will go bankrupt or they will lose money unless they do something." dustin cuzick, kktv 11 news right now, the lawyers have also been in talks with el paso county to see if the county will also file a lawsuit.
-
This Week in Louisiana Politics
Feb 25, 2018 | Baton Rouge, LA
By WVLA (NBC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976103?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a
Rough Transcript: welcome back the states lawsuit against 17 opioid drugmakers now sits in the hands of attorney general jeff landry. you might recall the governor through the state department of health filed the suits against the drugmakers last september. since then landry has sought to take over the cases citing his role as the state's chief legal officer. in a statement earlier this week the governor says he is confident landry will " hold manufacturersresponsible for flooding our state with these highly addictive drugs.
-
Feb 26, 2018 | Albany, GA
By WFXL (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976115?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a
Rough Transcript: also new tonight, sumner county has now filed a lawsuit against the opioid manufacturers and distributors. >> in the lawsuit targets more than 20 companies and alleges they did not act on knowing the addictive risk of opioids. >> second, they fraudulently marketed opioids as a treatment for chronic pain. finally, they did not file the federal law of reporting the sale of opioids in certain area. >> so, they spoke out today. >> a statement, senior vice president don parker of the healthcare distribution alliance said the misuse and abuse of prescription opioids is a complex public health challenge the required a collaborative and systemic response that engages all stakeholders, and given a role, the idea that distributors are responsible for the number of opioid victims and leaves understanding of how the pharmaceutical supplies actually work and are regulated.
-
Feb 26, 2018 | Buffalo, NY
By SPNB (Spectrum News)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32976144?token=2060b5d3-2e58-4c90-82bb-5b258e05919a
Rough Transcript: "docs frankly are afraid t prescribe opioids. even when they think it's a very legitimate need." 4:39 PMit's a problem that some doctors have contributed to. and now, they're trying to put an end to the opioid epidemic across the country ... and here in western new york. spectrum news reporter rochelle alleyne explores the role the medical community has played in this crisis-- and what they're doing to help fight it. "we are part of the problem there's no question. we have contributed to far too often." according to the erie county department of health -- more than 500 people have died in the last three years -- as a result of the opioid crisis. and the medical community is now weighing in on the role it played in this. "there were pressures al over nationally to try to make sure that patients had no pain and we also were lied to by pharmaceutical companies there's no question. we were told that these were not addictive drugs." it's a dispute that's working it's way through court systems across the country. a year ago -- erie county -- filed suit against more than 7 pharmaceutical companies -- that they claim misled doctors. "these are drugs that d relieve pain, so they do have a role, but they also can wreck lives and end lives." aware of the role they played -- doctors are now doing their best to keep new patients off of these highly addictive drugs but add that new guidance from the u.s. attorney general's office -- is leaving them at a crossroads when it comes to treated existing opioid users-- "all it takes is a couple pai patients, who have chronic pain and have been on high dose opioids and you're on the list. and nobody wants to be the next on indicted." nielsen says the next step is to begin weaning those high-dose patients off of the drugs. but to ultimately win this battle -- she believes erie county could use a one-stop shop for all opioid crisis needs. "what we need is a multi disciplinary pain center, where a patient could be very carefully evaluated and assessed and then a decision
CBS Sunday Morning - Opioid Litigation
MDL
Commentary and FYIs
Northeast (NY, MD, RI, DE)
Southeast (GA, WV, AL, FL, TN)
Northwest (OR)
Broadcast Media Coverage
Add recipients
Suggested