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DeWine: Drugmakers got Ohioans addicted, raked in profits
Arguing that drug manufacturers triggered a “human tragedy of epic proportion” in Ohio, Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five companies that make addictive painkillers.
“We believe the evidence will show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” DeWine said in a statement. The suit was filed in Ross County Common Pleas Court in Chillicothe, the heart of one of the hardest-hit areas of Ohio’s skyrocketing drug epidemic.
this dude is a fukkin G :jaymelo: exactly the type of shyt we need happening, i dont even care if he's just grandstanding. this shyt needs to be EXPLICITLY said
From the beginnings of “pill mills” in Appalachian Ohio, “the fire spread out across Ohio,” DeWine said.
DeWine said pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million in 2014 alone through sales representatives “peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with their smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risks and highlighted the benefits.” The companies would “deny and trivialize” the impact of opioids on patients, “leading to our state’s worst public health crisis.”
“The companies knew what they were doing was wrong but did it anyway — and continue to do so,” the attorney general said. He is seeking a court injunction to stop the manufacturers. No distributors were sued by DeWine because he said the best legal case involved suing manufacturers.
Other lawsuits vs. drug companies
Before Ohio's lawsuit against five drug manufacturers, a number of other states, cities and even the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma sued drug companies for selling and distributing amounts of addictive drugs they argue far exceed the medical needs of patients. Other lawsuits argue the drug companies, by flooding communities with powerful painkillers, triggered addiction to heroin, fentanyl, and other opioids, caused widespread health issues, and taxed community resources because of drug treatment, crime and foster care.
Some cases of note:
‒ Purdue Pharma settled a lawsuit for $20 million with 27 state attorneys general in 2007 related to the painkiller Oxycontin. The company also paid another $600 million and three executives were found guilty of misbranding the drug and had to pay $34.5 million. They were also sentenced to three years probation and 400 hours of community service.
‒ Kentucky settled with Purdue in 2015 for $24 million in a similar case accusing the company of leading an "explosion in opioids."
‒ Cardinal Health agreed to $20 million settlement with the state of West Virginia in a lawsuit accusing the Dublin-based company of failing to properly oversee and report a surge in orders of painkillers. The situation occurred from 2007 to 2012. AmeriSourceBergen, another giant U.S. drug distributors, settled with West Virginia for $16 million. Other smaller wholesalers settled for a combined $11 million.
Cardinal previously agreed to a $44 million settlement of federal lawsuits about controlled substance distribution. The company also settled a related lawsuit in 2012 and agreed to a two-year suspension of its ability to distribute controlled substances from a Florida facility.
‒ The Cherokee Nation lawsuit was against the three largest drug distributors, Cardinal, McKesson Corp., and AmerisourceBergen. It argues the companies preyed on Native Americans by pushing addictive painkillers on reservations.
Dispatch researcher Linda Deitch contributed to this story.
He also accused the companies of Medicaid fraud and violating the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act., and is seeking unspecified damages on behalf of the state. For example, he said infants born to addicted mothers caused $105 million in hospital costs in 2014, while children and infants forced into foster care because of their parents’ addiction cost the state an estimated $45 million per year.
Arguing that drug manufacturers triggered a “human tragedy of epic proportion” in Ohio, Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five companies that make addictive painkillers.
“We believe the evidence will show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” DeWine said in a statement. The suit was filed in Ross County Common Pleas Court in Chillicothe, the heart of one of the hardest-hit areas of Ohio’s skyrocketing drug epidemic.
this dude is a fukkin G :jaymelo: exactly the type of shyt we need happening, i dont even care if he's just grandstanding. this shyt needs to be EXPLICITLY said
From the beginnings of “pill mills” in Appalachian Ohio, “the fire spread out across Ohio,” DeWine said.
DeWine said pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million in 2014 alone through sales representatives “peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with their smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risks and highlighted the benefits.” The companies would “deny and trivialize” the impact of opioids on patients, “leading to our state’s worst public health crisis.”
“The companies knew what they were doing was wrong but did it anyway — and continue to do so,” the attorney general said. He is seeking a court injunction to stop the manufacturers. No distributors were sued by DeWine because he said the best legal case involved suing manufacturers.
Other lawsuits vs. drug companies
Before Ohio's lawsuit against five drug manufacturers, a number of other states, cities and even the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma sued drug companies for selling and distributing amounts of addictive drugs they argue far exceed the medical needs of patients. Other lawsuits argue the drug companies, by flooding communities with powerful painkillers, triggered addiction to heroin, fentanyl, and other opioids, caused widespread health issues, and taxed community resources because of drug treatment, crime and foster care.
Some cases of note:
‒ Purdue Pharma settled a lawsuit for $20 million with 27 state attorneys general in 2007 related to the painkiller Oxycontin. The company also paid another $600 million and three executives were found guilty of misbranding the drug and had to pay $34.5 million. They were also sentenced to three years probation and 400 hours of community service.
‒ Kentucky settled with Purdue in 2015 for $24 million in a similar case accusing the company of leading an "explosion in opioids."
‒ Cardinal Health agreed to $20 million settlement with the state of West Virginia in a lawsuit accusing the Dublin-based company of failing to properly oversee and report a surge in orders of painkillers. The situation occurred from 2007 to 2012. AmeriSourceBergen, another giant U.S. drug distributors, settled with West Virginia for $16 million. Other smaller wholesalers settled for a combined $11 million.
Cardinal previously agreed to a $44 million settlement of federal lawsuits about controlled substance distribution. The company also settled a related lawsuit in 2012 and agreed to a two-year suspension of its ability to distribute controlled substances from a Florida facility.
‒ The Cherokee Nation lawsuit was against the three largest drug distributors, Cardinal, McKesson Corp., and AmerisourceBergen. It argues the companies preyed on Native Americans by pushing addictive painkillers on reservations.
Dispatch researcher Linda Deitch contributed to this story.
He also accused the companies of Medicaid fraud and violating the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act., and is seeking unspecified damages on behalf of the state. For example, he said infants born to addicted mothers caused $105 million in hospital costs in 2014, while children and infants forced into foster care because of their parents’ addiction cost the state an estimated $45 million per year.
