opioid epidemic News

AbbVie Pays $200M to Settle Opioid Marketing Case Right Before Trial Ends

AbbVie Inc. agreed to pay $200 million to settle claims by New York that its Allergan unit helped fuel an epidemic of opioid addiction in the state, shortly before jurors heard closing arguments from remaining defendant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. …

Sackler Family Denies Scheme to Abuse Bankruptcy System and Avoid Liability

Members of the Sackler family on Monday said billions of dollars they collected from Purdue Pharma before the company filed for Chapter 11 was the result of extra cash, not part of a “secret plan” to abuse the bankruptcy system. …

Why Jury’s Opioid Verdict Against Pharmacy Chains May Not Survive Appeal

While a Cleveland jury concluded Walmart Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. exacerbated Ohio’s opioid epidemic with lax oversight of prescription painkillers, the verdict may not survive on appeal, according to legal experts. The companies, which vowed …

Publicis Loses Bid to Escape Massachusetts Opioid Marketing Lawsuit

A unit of French advertising company Publicis Groupe SA on Friday lost a bid to dismiss a lawsuit by Massachusetts’ attorney general claiming it helped OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. Publicis Health had called Attorney …

Drug Overdose Deaths Hit Record 93,000 During 2020 Pandemic

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday. That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to …

Opioid Makers, Distributors Go on Trial in New York

A landmark trial targeting multiple opioid manufacturers and distributors opened Tuesday with lawyers for the government accusing the companies of bringing death and destruction to communities. The case bought by Suffolk and Nassau counties and state Attorney General Letitia James …

U.S. Drug Enforcer Testimony Cites ‘Systemic Failure’ in Monitoring by Opioid Distributors

A retired high-ranking official with the Drug Enforcement Administration has testified that three large opioid distributors had a “systematic failure” in monitoring suspicious pill orders. Joe Rannazzisi, former head of the Office of Diversion Control for the DEA from 2006 …

Massachusetts Sues Marketing Firm for Role in Opioid Crisis

Massachusetts’ top prosecutor on Thursday sued a global marketing company that she alleges played a role in fueling the opioid epidemic. State Attorney General Maura Healey said Publicis Health designed and deployed unfair and deceptive marketing schemes to help Purdue …

Purdue Pharma’s Sacklers Increase Opioid Settlement Offer to $4.3B: Reuters

Members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma LP have offered roughly $4.3 billion to resolve sprawling opioid litigation, up from $3 billion initially proposed in settlement discussions underway in the OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy proceedings, four people familiar with …

Study Shows Need for Drug Programs for Construction Workers at Risk

Construction workers are more likely to use drugs than workers in other professions, finds a study by the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU College of Global Public Health. The study, published in the journal Drug and …