US sues Walmart over opioid crisis

France24 – AFP, 22 Decemberb 2020

The Justice Department sued Walmart, alleging it worsened the
opioid crisis Paul Ratje AFP/File 2 min New York (AFP)

The US Justice Department sued Walmart over its role in the opioid crisis on Tuesday, alleging the giant retailer wrongly filled prescriptions and worsened a public health disaster.

The suit accuses Walmart of irresponsible handling of orders, filling thousands of "invalid" prescriptions. 

 Authorities could seek up to billions of dollars in penalties, in the litigation that followed a multi-year investigation, the Justice Department said in a press release.

"As one of the largest pharmacy chains and wholesale drug distributors in the country, Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids," said Jeffrey Bossert Clark, acting head of DOJ's civil division. 

"Instead, for years, it did the opposite -- filling thousands of invalid prescriptions at its pharmacies and failing to report suspicious orders of opioids and other drugs placed by those pharmacies." 

Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company, the world's biggest retailer, filed its own lawsuit against the Justice Department in October that argued that the US crackdown put it in a no-win position. 

Pharmacists "must make a difficult decision" of either accepting a doctor's "medical judgment and fill the opioid prescription, or second-guess the doctor's judgment and refuse to fill it," Walmart said in its suit. 

"Either decision puts the pharmacist and pharmacy at great risk," the company argued. It said 

it faces potential federal action if prosecutors say an order was wrongly filled, or the chance of having a pharmacist license "stripped for the unauthorized practice of medicine, not to mention the potential harm to patients in need of their medicine."

Roche urged to share info with Dutch corona test labs: FTM

DutchNews, March 26, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche is unable to meet demand for coronavirus testing kits but is unwilling to share key information with labs to help them carry out mass testing, Dutch investigative website FollowThe Money said on Thursday. 

Most Dutch testing labs work with Roche equipment and depend on the Swiss firm for supplies. And due to special deals known as a ‘vendor lock-in’ they are not able to turn to alternative sources to stock up on essential items, FTM says. 

The Volkskrant reported earlier that most Dutch labs use Roche testing equipment and that the shortage of lysis buffer – a liquid used to break open cells – is one reason why the Netherlands is not carrying out mass testing. 

According to broadcaster NOS, Roche has 80% of the Dutch market. 

Commitment 

Roche told DutchNews.nl is a statement that it is committed to delivering as many tests as possible to areas where they can be most effective. However, to safeguard supply, the company said it strongly advised focusing testing on patients with symptoms, not with broad testing. 

‘Today, media in the Netherlands reported that Roche Netherlands is not providing enough test material to laboratories and asked Roche to publish the recipe for one reagent, called lysis buffer solution. We clearly state that this story is wrong,’ Roche said. 

‘There is no patent protection on lysis buffer itself. Roche will not guarantee safety and reliability of the quality and test results if the reagents required for the test are manufactured outside our own production network as well as those qualified production sites we are already working with. Safety and reliability of our components have been approved by regulatory authorities.’ 

Talks 

Meanwhile, health minister Hugo de Jonge has told parliament he is in talks with Roche about the recipe for making the liquid so that Dutch pharmacies can make it themselves and expand testing in the Netherlands. 

‘Talks are underway. We are doing all we can to get the formula,’ he said. 

The government has appointed Feike Sijbesma, the former chief executive of DSM, as its corona test expert. Sijbesma will focus on assessing and the availability of tests on the market and those being developed.

US farmer wins damages over Bayer AG, BASF herbicide

Yahoo – AFP, February 17, 2020

Farmer Bill Bader claimed the companies encouraged farmers to use the dicamba
weedkiller irresponsibly (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)

Washington (AFP) - A US jury has awarded $265 million to a Missouri farmer who blamed herbicide from chemical giants Bayer AG and BASF for destroying his peach orchards, in a case set to bolster 140 other lawsuits.

Jurors in federal court in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, made the ruling on Saturday after peach farmer Bill Bader claimed the companies encouraged farmers to use the dicamba weedkiller irresponsibly.

Bloomberg News reported that the case was the first US trial over dicamba herbicide, which is alleged to have wrecked crops across America's Midwest by drifting onto plants that were unable to resist it.

Much like Roundup, another much-criticized herbicide marketed by Monsanto, dicamba has been on the market many years.

Use of the chemical jumped after Monsanto -- which was bought by Germany's Bayer in 2018 -- introduced seeds that can resist the weed-killer.

But the product has been blamed for polluting around four percent of US soybean fields in 2017. A common complaint is that the herbicide spreads to nearby areas.

The fight over dicamba comes in the wake of a case in which Bayer was ordered by a California jury to pay $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that Roundup might cause cancer.

In January, reports suggested Bayer could stump up $10 billion in a settlement with tens of thousands of US plaintiffs suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The cancer sufferers say they developed the disease after exposure to glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup.

Bayer, which has argued that dicamba is safe for crops as long as users follow instructions, was reported to be planning to appeal Saturday's ruling, while BASF was not available for comment.

J&J ordered to pay $572 million for opioid addiction crisis

Yahoo – AFP, Paul HANDLEY, August 26, 2019

Drug and consumer products maker Johnson & Johnson was the first pharmaceutical
company tried over the US opioid crisis (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU)

Washington (AFP) - An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered US health care giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million in damages for its role in fostering the state's opioid addiction crisis.

In the first civil trial of a drugmaker over an epidemic that has caused hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths, Judge Thad Balkman said prosecutors had demonstrated that J&J contributed to a "public nuisance" in its deceptive promotion of highly addictive prescription painkillers.

"Those actions compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans," he said.

According to the ruling, the company and its Janssen pharmaceuticals division will fund an "abatement plan" for care for addicts, families and communities ravaged by the crisis.

"The defendants Janssen and Johnson & Johnson's misleading marketing and promotion of opioids created a nuisance," Balkman said.

Landmark case

J&J was the first pharmaceutical company tried over the US opioid crisis, which fueled over 70,000 overdose deaths in 2017 alone.

But there are some 2,000 outstanding lawsuits against many drugmakers and distributors filed by state and local governments, many overwhelmed by the costs of an epidemic that has only slightly abated.

Most of those are being rolled into a case to go to trial in October in Ohio that will likely set the basis for potentially many billions of dollars in settlements across the country.

Prosecutors had sought $17 billion in damages against J&J for an abatement program to be spread over 30 years.

But Balkman said the state had not made a strong case for the future costs of the crisis to it and the community beyond one year, and so limited his ruling to that.

J&J's shares rose about two percent to $130 in after-market trade following the decision.

The company immediately said it would appeal the decision.

"Janssen did not cause the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, and neither the facts nor the law support this outcome," said J&J executive vice president Michael Ullmann.

"The unprecedented award for the state's 'abatement plan' has sweeping ramifications for many industries and bears no relation to the company's medicines or conduct."

Company downplayed addiction claims

J&J argued that the law was being inappropriately applied and that its products had a very small role in the addiction epidemic in Oklahoma and nationally.

Balkman said J&J had promoted its drugs by telling doctors and patients that pain was not being treated enough and that "there was a low risk of abuse and a low danger" in the drugs themselves.

"The defendants used the phrase 'pseudoaddiction' to convince doctors that patients who exhibited signs of addiction... were not actually suffering from addiction, but from the undertreatment of pain," he said in his decision.

He also said the company consciously downplayed risks it knew were present, pointing to the 2007 $600 million fine in a Virginia trial of Purdue Pharma, one of the leading prescription opioid makers, for misleading the health industry and the public about the highly addictive properties of its Oxycontin painkiller.

J&J is the first drugmaker to go to trial and the case is seen as a bellwether for thousands of possible criminal and civil suits over the seeming uncontrolled distribution of highly addictive painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone, and J&J's Nucynta and Duragesic, between 2000 and 2015.

Two other major drugmakers accused in the same suit, Purdue Pharma of the United States and Israel's Teva, settled with Oklahoma before the case went to trial.

Purdue, which produced the widely abused opioid Oxycontin, agreed to pay the state $270 million in March and Teva negotiated an $85 million settlement.

Dozens of local and state governments across the country have also already exacted settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors to address their problems.

Related Article:

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

".... Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.

There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

Louvre museum removes Sackler name amid opioid controversy

Yahoo – AFP, July 17, 2019

Paris's iconic Louvre is believed to be the first museum in the world to remove
the Sackler name over the opioid crisis (AFP Photo/Ludovic MARIN)

Paris (AFP) - The Louvre museum in Paris has removed the name of the Sackler family from one of its wings, amid a controversy that has seen the billionaire donors accused of pushing a highly-addictive opioid blamed for tens of thousands of deaths.

An AFP reporter on Wednesday saw that masking tape had been put in place to hide the Sackler name on plaques in the rooms of what had been the Sackler Wing of Oriental Antiquities, which houses artefacts from the ancient Near East.

A museum spokesperson could not say when the tape had been put in place. The wing had been given the name due to a $3.6 million donation made by the Sackler family in 1996.

Louvre president Jean-Luc Martinez said on RTL television on Tuesday that the rooms no longer carried the name as such a tribute lasted a maximum of 20 years after the donation.

This would mean that the Sackler wing should not have been named after the family for several years. But the Louvre spokesperson declined to comment when asked why the name had not been removed three years ago.

American group PAIN (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), backed by American photographer Nancy Goldin, a former opioid addict, had urged the museum to rename the Sackler Wing.

The Louvre was the latest in a string of museums to face criticism over links to the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma, whose painkiller OxyContin is now subject to more than 1,000 lawsuits over its role in the US opioid crisis.

In recent months, galleries including New York's Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum, and London's Tate and National Portrait Gallery, said they would stop accepting donations from the family.

But the Louvre is believed to be the first to actually remove the name, a move welcomed by a PAIN spokesperson while noting that the museum appeared unwilling to publicise it.

In 2017, 47,000 people died in the United States as a result of overdosing on opioids including prescription drugs, heroin and fentanyl, the Centers for Disease Control says.

There are hundreds of lawsuits in various US states against both Purdue and its owner the Sackler family, who are accused of pushing for the prescription of OxyContin despite knowing how addictive it is.

But worries about the medication are not confined to the US.

Last month, around 100 French doctors warned about the risk of a health crisis claiming there were "12 million people in France taking opioids" who had not been told about the potential for addiction and risk of overdose.

Photographer Nan Goldin leads a protest out of the Guggenheim Museum in

Manhattan, New York, against its funding by the Sackler family, the owners of

Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue. Photograph: Yana Paskova/The Guardian

Related Article:

Massive lawsuit says Sackler family broke laws to profit from opioids

Canadian province sues opioid makers, distributors

Oxycodone overdoses in the Netherlands soar as prescriptions rise

Painkiller overdose deaths up 5x among US women

Dutch Seroxat teen users to sue drug maker for side effects

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

".... Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.

There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

Canada's Ontario province says will sue opioid makers

Yahoo – AFP, May 27, 2019

A 500ml bottle of liquid oxycodone, an opioid pain relief medication, and a dose
of 5ml of the solution; the Canadian province of Ontario has joined a suit against
opioid makers and distributors (AFP Photo/EVA HAMBACH)

Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's most populous province of Ontario on Monday announced plans to sue opioid makers to recover health care costs related to the deadly addiction epidemic.

Ontario's attorney general, Caroline Mulroney, said the province will join a lawsuit launched last year by British Columbia against more than 40 opioid manufacturers and wholesalers.

"The opioid crisis has cost the people of Ontario enormously, both in terms of lives lost and its impact on health care's front lines," Mulroney said.

She unveiled legislation to set up the legal action "to battle the ongoing opioid crisis and hold manufacturers and wholesalers accountable for their roles in it."

More than 10,000 Canadians have died of opioid-related overdoses since 2016, according to government figures. Combatting the crisis is estimated to have cost Ottawa nearly Can$400 million (US$300 million).

Historically, opioid overdose deaths -- mainly from the powerful painkiller fentanyl -- were concentrated among drug addicts.

But many victims became addicted to prescribed painkillers before turning to street drugs and others were experimenting with recreational drugs for the first time.

Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario have been the hardest hit provinces but the epidemic has affected every part of the country.

The British Columbia suit named opioid manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors as defendants -- including Purdue, whose popular OxyContin drug has been blamed for triggering the crisis.

"These opioid manufacturers and wholesalers failed to warn doctors and the public of the dangers of opioids and marketed them as safer and less addictive than other medications when they were not," Ontario alleged in a statement.

Mulroney said Ontario intends to invest any award from the suit in mental health and addiction services.

Neither British Columbia nor Ontario have yet said how much they would be seeking in damages.

Landmark US opioid trial begins in Oklahoma

Yahoo – AFP, May 28, 2019

This undated handout file photo obtained courtesy of the US Drug Enforcement
Administration shows 20 mg pills of the opioid painkiller OxyContin (AFP Photo/Handout)

Chicago (AFP) - The first civil trial that could end up holding a drug company responsible for the US opioid epidemic began Tuesday in Oklahoma, in a landmark case that might impact thousands of others like it.

The bench trial pits the state of Oklahoma against Johnson & Johnson. Two other drug companies named in the lawsuit settled ahead of the trial.

Oklahoma has accused the three drug makers of deceptively marketing addictive opioid painkillers, hyping their effectiveness and downplaying the risks of addiction.

The lawsuit is the first of many of its kind to go to trial, and seen as an important test of whether drug companies can be held accountable in court for an addiction epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter in opening statements accused Johnson & Johnson of being motivated by greed in embarking on "a cynical, deceitful multimillion-dollar brainwashing campaign" to sell opioids as a "magic drug."

"It's time to hold them responsible for their actions," Hunter told the presiding judge, who will decide the case in lieu of a jury.

Johnson & Johnson has denied the charges levied by the state and its attorneys were scheduled to make opening statements later in the afternoon.

There are some 2,000 lawsuits brought by states, cities and Native American territories across the country, all seeking compensation from makers of the highly addictive prescription painkillers.

The lawsuits are being compared to the 1998 cases against Big Tobacco, which ended in a 46-state overarching settlement estimated at $250 billion in annual payments over the first 25 years of it being in force.

In the Oklahoma lawsuit, Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva on Sunday settled the case for $85 million.

Purdue Pharma, maker of the opioid painkiller OxyContin -- a key driver of the crisis -- reached a $270 million settlement with the state in March.

Overdoses from prescription painkillers and heroin exploded over the last 20 years, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Almost 400,000 people have died from an overdose involving prescription or illicit opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pop icon Prince and rocker Tom Petty were among the high-profile victims of the epidemic.

Israeli drugmaker Teva to pay Oklahoma $85 mn in opioid suit

Yahoo – AFP, May 27, 2019

Israeli drugmaker Teva agreed to pay the US state Oklahoma $85 million to settle a 

lawsuit accusing it of complicity in the opioid epidemic, which has killed thousands 

(AFP Photo/JACK GUEZ)

Washington (AFP) - Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva agreed on Sunday to pay the US state of Oklahoma $85 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of fueling the state's opioid epidemic, Oklahoma's attorney general said.

The announcement comes after Purdue Pharma, maker of the opioid painkiller OxyContin -- a key driver of the crisis responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States -- reached a $270 million settlement with the state in March.

Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement the Teva settlement shows Oklahoma's "resolve to hold the defendants in this case accountable for the ongoing opioid overdose and addiction epidemic that continues to claim thousands of lives each year."

The money will be used by the midwestern state to fight the opioid crisis, Hunter said, with an announcement of how exactly it will be spent made in the future.

Meanwhile, another pharmaceutical titan, Johnson & Johnson, is set to go on trial in Oklahoma on Tuesday, with the company facing similar accusations that it aggressively promoted opioid painkillers despite knowing the risks of addiction.

Overdoses from prescription painkillers and heroin -- a last-resort illicit drug for opioid addicts -- exploded over the last 20 years, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Almost 400,000 people have died from an overdose involving prescription or illicit opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Pop icon Prince and rocker Tom Petty were among the high-profile victims of the epidemic.

Monsanto ordered to pay $2 bn in latest Roundup blow

Yahoo – AFP, Glenn CHAPMAN, May 14, 2019

Monsanto has suffered the latest in a series of court defeats for its glyphosate-based
weedkiller Roundup, which the company insists is not linked to cancer (AFP Photo/
JOSH EDELSON)

San Francisco (AFP) - In a third major legal blow to Bayer-owned Monsanto and its weedkiller Roundup, a jury in California has ordered the chemicals giant to pay more than $2 billion in damages to a couple that sued on grounds the product caused their cancer, lawyers said.

The ruling on Monday was the latest in a series of court defeats for Monsanto over the glyphosate-based product, but the company insists the weedkiller is not linked to cancer.

The couple's legal team described the damages award as "historic," saying it totalled $2.055 billion (1.8 billion euros) after adding in slightly more than $55 million in compensatory damages.

"The jury saw for themselves internal company documents demonstrating that, from day one, Monsanto has never had any interest in finding out whether Roundup is safe," said plaintiff's counsel Brent Wisner.

"Instead of investing in sound science, they invested millions in attacking science that threatened their business agenda."

The setback sent Bayer's shares tumbling 2.55 percent to 55 euros in Frankfurt in mid-morning trading on Tuesday.

The German chemicals giant has seen close to 45 percent of its market capitalisation evaporate since it bought Monsanto in June 2018 for $63 billion.

Bayer finalised its massive acquisition of Monsanto last year, but the blockbuster
purchase has turned out to be plagued with other massive costs (AFP Photo/
Odd ANDERSEN)

In a statement, Bayer said it was disappointed with the jury's decision and would appeal the verdict, which it argues was at odds with a recent US Environmental Protection Agency review of glyphosate-based weedkillers.

"The consensus among leading health regulators worldwide is that glyphosate-based products can be used safely and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic," Bayer said.

Bayer apologises

Glyphosate developer Monsanto was convicted in the United States in 2018 and 2019 of not taking necessary steps to warn of the potential risks of Roundup -- their weedkiller containing the chemical, which two California juries found caused cancer in two users.

Bayer announced last month that more than 13,000 lawsuits related to the weedkiller had been launched in the US.

Monday's stunning verdict came as Bayer admitted that its subsidiary Monsanto kept lists of high-profile people -- for or against pesticides -- in France and likely other European countries.

Bayer apologised on Sunday after it emerged that Monsanto had a PR agency collate lists of French politicians, scientists and journalists, with their views on pesticides and GM crops.

French authorities have opened a preliminary inquiry into the claims.

"It is clear that we apologise for what has come to light in France," Matthias Berninger, Bayer's head of public affairs, told journalists in a conference call.

Bayer has said that more than 13,000 lawsuits related to its 

glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup have been launched in the 

US (AFP Photo/Alain BOMMENEL, Laurence SAUBADU, Kun TIAN)

But he admitted that "it's very likely that such lists also exist in other European countries."

"We consider what we have seen so far to be completely inappropriate," he said.

"We were of the opinion that the reports of these dealings with journalists, politicians and activists are not in order and not in agreement with what Bayer stands for."

Hidden costs

The German agro-chemicals and drugs giant finalised its massive acquisition of Monsanto last year, but the blockbuster purchase has turned out to be plagued with other massive costs.

Just two months after the acquisition was completed, Monsanto lost a case to a school groundskeeper suffering from terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had sued the company over the glyphosate weedkillers Roundup and Ranger Pro.

Monsanto was initially ordered to pay $289 million to the groundskeeper, before the damages were reduced to $78.5 million.

In March, the company lost another case to an American retiree who blames his cancer on the weedkiller, and was ordered by a court to pay $80 million to the plaintiff.

Bayer is appealing both cases.

US pharma bosses charged with fueling opioid crisis

Yahoo – AFP, April 24, 2019

A 5 milliliter dose of liquid oxycodone, a medicine at the epicenter of the US opioid
crisis that has claimed tens of thousands of lives (AFP Photo/EVA HAMBACH)

New York (AFP) - Two former executives of a major US pharmaceutical company were charged Tuesday with fulfilling orders they knew to be fraudulent during the opioid epidemic that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

It was the first time that senior or former executives have faced criminal charges in connection with distributing powerful prescription painkillers like oxycodone and fentanyl that carry a high risk of addiction and overdose.

The company where the executives worked, Rochester Drug Cooperative (RDC), is one of the country's largest distributors of prescription opioids.

It has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the US Attorney's office in New York and agreed to pay a $20 million fine.

As result, the company will not be prosecuted and will be allowed to retain its license to distribute drugs, while promising to reform its practices.

In a statement, RDC admitted that between 2012 and 2017 it had failed to report shipments of drugs it recognized as suspicious, as required by law.

"This prosecution is the first of its kind," US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

"Executives of a pharmaceutical distributor and the distributor itself have been charged with drug trafficking, trafficking the same drugs that are fueling the opioid epidemic that is ravaging this country."

RDC distributes to some 1,300 pharmacies and with an annual turnover of more than $1 billion, according to documents released by prosecutors.

Investigators found that it had failed to report at least 2,000 suspicious orders of drugs whose distribution is overseen by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The defendants were named as former CEO Laurence Doud, 75, and William Pietruszewski, 53, who had served as chief compliance officer.

"RDC's employees, including in conversations with Doud and Pietruszewski, described some of the company's customers as 'very suspicious,' and even characterized particular pharmacies as a 'DEA investigation in the making' or 'like a stick of dynamite waiting for (the) DEA to light the fuse,'" the New York prosecutors said.

"Nonetheless, throughout the period in question, RDC, at the direction of Doud, increased its sales of oxycodone and fentanyl exponentially," the statement added.

Doud and Pietruszewski were charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a minimum of 10 years.

Doud was arrested Tuesday and appeared before a federal judge, who ordered his release on a $500,000 bond.

Pietruszewski pleaded guilty to the same two counts, as well as breaches of his duty to report to the authorities.

Around 47,600 people died in 2017 from an opiate overdose in the United States, according Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures.

"This epidemic has been driven by greed," Berman told a news conference, adding that Doud had seen his salary more than double between 2012 and 2016.

Two US pharmaceutical bosses are charged with drug trafficking and fulfilling orders they knew to be fraudulent -- fueling the opioid epidemic that has claimed tens of thousands of liveshttps://t.co/KxmBwM4f3O @AFPgraphics pic.twitter.com/33K4TPLBT3

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 24 april 2019

Massive lawsuit says Sackler family broke laws to profit from opioids

The Guardian, Joanna Walters in New York, Fri 22 Mar 2019

Group of more than 500 cities, counties and tribes accuses family of helping to create ‘worst drug crisis’ in US history

Photographer Nan Goldin leads a protest out of the Guggenheim Museum in
Manhattan, New York, against its funding by the Sackler family, the owners of
Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue. Photograph: Yana Paskova/The Guardian

A group made up of more than 500 cities, counties and Native American tribes across the United States has filed a massive lawsuit accusing members of the Sacklerfamily, who own the maker of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, of helping to create “the worst drug crisis in American history”.

The lawsuit represents communities in 26 states and eight tribes and accuses Sackler family members of knowingly breaking laws in order to enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars, while hundreds of thousands of Americans died.

“Eight people in a single family made the choices that caused much of the opioid epidemic,” the lawsuit, filed earlier this week in federal court in the southern district of New York, states.

The same eight members of the family had recently been added to a small number of lawsuits that are underway against a string of opioid-makers, including the Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company the Sacklers wholly own, Purdue Pharma, but they have not been sued as individuals on anything like this scale before.

“This nation is facing an unprecedented opioid addiction epidemic that was initiated and perpetuated by the Sackler defendants for their own financial gain, to the detriment of each of the plaintiffs and their residents. The ‘Sackler defendants’ include Richard Sackler, Beverly Sackler, David Sackler, Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, Jonathan Sackler, Kathe Sackler, Mortimer DA Sackler, and Theresa Sackler,” this week’s lawsuit states.

The eight are the most high-profile members of a family which has long been known for prolific philanthropy to famous arts and education institutions, including the Metropolitan and Guggenheim museums in New York, which have faced fierce recent protests against the taking of Sackler money. Other institutions include Columbia, Yale, MIT, Tufts and other US universities, and, in the UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Serpentine Gallery, Glasgow University and other recipients.

Earlier this week Britain’s National Portrait Gallery decided not to take up the offer of a £1m Sackler family grant and, in the US, Columbia University and the University of Washington, which have both received Sackler donations in the past, have announced they are not now accepting gifts from the family.

Court documents accuse the eight family members of purposely playing down the dangers of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, which is more potent than heroin or morphine. They are accused of deceiving doctors and patients and directing sales and marketing techniques that drove huge over-prescribing and ever stronger doses for many patients who should never have been prescribed the pills in the first place.

“The defendants’ actions caused and continue to cause the public health epidemic…caused deaths, serious injuries, and a severe disruption to public peace, order and safety, it is ongoing and it is producing permanent and long-lasting damage,” the court documents allege.

Many of the allegations have already been made public in a lawsuit naming the same eight family members in Massachusetts, and are contained in court documents in the multi-district litigation taking place in a federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, which has been brought against Purdue and other companies, though no members of the Sackler family individually, by more than 1,200 cities and counties.

The family and Purdue deny wrongdoing.

“This complaint is part of a continuing effort by contingency-fee counsel to single out Purdue, blame it for the entire opioid crisis in the United States, and try the case in the court of public opinion rather than the justice system,’’ Robert Josephson, a Purdue spokesman, said in an emailed statement to the Bloomberg news agency.

“These baseless allegations place blame where it does not belong for a complex public health crisis, and we deny them,’’ the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler families said in a statement. They also noted OxyContin sales “represented a tiny portion of the opioid market”.

The lawsuit filed in New York on 18 March is extraordinary because it focuses almost entirely on the individual Sacklers.

Richard and Jonathan Sackler are sons of the late Raymond Sackler, one of the founding brothers of Purdue. Beverly is Raymond’s widow and David his grandson.

Ilene, Kathe and Mortimer David Alfons are children of the late Mortimer Sackler, another of the founding brothers of Purdue, and Theresa is his widow.

The only other defendants named in the lawsuit are the family trust connected to Raymond Sackler’s branch of the family and Rhodes Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by the Sacklers that produces generic opioid painkillers.

Other cases focus mostly on Purdue and other well known pharmaceutical giants involved in opioid production, such as Johnson & Johnson and Allergan.

The lawsuit in the southern district of New York has been brought by city and county authorities across America, including, for example, 42 counties and cities in Alabama, 31 counties in California, 21 cities and counties in Florida, 28 counties in Illinois, 51 cities and counties in Kentucky, more than 100 towns and cities in Massachusetts and dozens of cities and counties in other states including Wisconsin, Virginia, Utah, Tennessee, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Indiana and Michigan.

Among the eight Native American tribes suing the Sacklers are parts of the Cherokee, the Chippewa and the Sioux, the Oneida Nation and the Blackfeet.

Drug overdoses now kill more than 72,000 people in the US a year, according to government figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 49,000 of those are caused by opioids.

Purdue’s business has attracted a wave of lawsuits alleging deception about the safety of OxyContin, which the company had admitted misbranding in a 2007 criminal case.

Purdue has not ruled out filing for bankruptcy, which would cause a hiatus in the civil cases brought against it, but also indicates it could be short of the kind of funds that would be needed for a massive settlement or a fine at trial in the cases against it, to compensate communities for the cost of the crisis.

But a victory in the latest lawsuit against the Sacklers would give the plaintiffs access to the Sacklers’ personal fortune.

Related Articles:

Canadian province sues opioid makers, distributors

Oxycodone overdoses in the Netherlands soar as prescriptions rise

Painkiller overdose deaths up 5x among US women

Dutch Seroxat teen users to sue drug maker for side effects

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

".... Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.

There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)