opioid crisis News

West Virginia’s Billion-Dollar Trial Against Opioid Distributors Gets Underway

The three largest U.S. drug distributors, who are accused of helping fuel the opioid crisis that has resulted in nearly 500,000 overdose deaths in the United States, will defend themselves in a trial that kicks off on Monday. The trial …

Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Plan Proposes Public Trusts to Settle Opioid Lawsuits

Purdue Pharma LP filed a bankruptcy plan on Monday that would resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits by restructuring the OxyContin maker into an entity that would steer profits to plaintiffs and require the company’s Sackler family owners to contribute nearly …

Walmart Denies U.S. Charges It Fueled Opioid Crisis by Filling ‘Illegitimate Prescriptions’

The U.S. Justice Department sued Walmart Inc. on Tuesday, accusing the world’s biggest retailer of fueling the opioid crisis in the United States, ignoring warning signs from its pharmacists and filling thousands of invalid prescriptions. In a civil lawsuit in …

Files Raise Questions About Purdue Pharma Family’s Transfer of $10B Over Decade

Members of the wealthy Sackler family, owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, have long denied that the $10 billion they transferred from their company over the course of a decade was an unlawful attempt to shield assets in anticipation …

Walmart Sues U.S. to Clarify Pharmacy Liability in Opioid Crisis

Walmart Inc. said on Thursday it had filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking clarity on the roles and legal responsibilities of pharmacists and pharmacies in filling opioid prescriptions. Walmart said certain officials in the U.S. Justice Department are …

Crisis Within a Crisis: How COVID-19 Is Driving the Opioid Epidemic

While the current national health conversation has largely centered on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths in the U.S. alone and more than a million worldwide according to recent World Health Organization (WHO) data, another …

Facing Deceptive Opioid Marketing Suits, Mallinckrodt Files for Bankruptcy

Mallinckrodt Plc filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, saddled with lawsuits alleging it fueled the U.S. opioid epidemic and after it lost a court battle to avoid paying higher rebates to state Medicaid programs for its top-selling drug. The company …

U.S. Court Upholds State Tax on Drugmakers to Defray Opioid Crisis Costs

A federal appeals court on Monday cleared the way for New York state to collect about $200 million from drug manufacturers and distributors by imposing a surcharge on them to defray the costs of combating the opioid addiction epidemic. The …

New York Regulator Issues Insurance Fraud Action Against Two Opioid Manufacturers

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has filed charges and initiated administrative proceedings against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and its subsidiaries, as well as Allergan PLC and its subsidiary Allergan Finance LLC, in connection with the opioid …

In Ohio Suit, Pharmacies Say Prescribers Bear Responsibility for Opioid Crisis

Doctors and other healthcare practitioners who write prescriptions bear ultimate responsibility for improper distribution of opioids to patients, not pharmacists who are obliged to fill those prescriptions, a series of pharmacy chains argued in federal court in Ohio. The filings, …