opioid epidemic News

Facing Thousands of Opioid Lawsuits, Purdue Pharma Files for Bankruptcy Protection

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday night, succumbing to pressure from more than 2,600 lawsuits alleging the company helped fuel the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic. Purdue’s board met Sunday evening to approve the long-expected bankruptcy filing, …

Overdose Deaths Again Rise More in Urban Than Rural Communities

U.S. drug overdose deaths had been most common in Appalachia and other rural areas in recent years, but they are back to being more concentrated in big cities, according to a government report Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and …

State’s Purdue Opioid Suit Tests Holding Family, Purdue Directors Liable for Crisis

Massachusetts took Purdue Pharma LP to task in a Boston courtroom Friday, blaming the opioid maker and the billionaire Sackler family that owns it for causing “thousands of people to suffer and many to die.” The state has proof Purdue …

Fewer Injured Workers Receiving Opioids Under Workers’ Compensation But States Vary

Fewer injured workers are receiving opioids to treat pain than in previous years, as medical providers are turning more to non-opioid medications and physical therapies. A new study of injured worker claims from 27 states by the Workers Compensation Research …

Government Data Shows How Opioid Epidemic Spread Across America

Newly released federal data shows how drugmakers and distributors increased shipments of opioid painkillers across the U.S. as the nation’s addiction crisis accelerated from 2006 to 2012. The data, released this week by a federal court in Ohio as part …

Purdue’s Sackler Family Must Face Opioid Suits in New York

The billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma LP must face a New York lawsuit claiming they triggered the U.S. opioid epidemic, a judge ruled, handing an early victory to states and local governments seeking to recoup billions of dollars in social …

Reuters Report: How Judges’ Secrecy Has Added to Toll of Opioids and Other Products

WELCH, West Virginia —The opioid epidemic that has so far killed half a million Americans is routinely blamed on greedy drug makers, feckless doctors and lax regulators. But there’s another group that has contributed to the depth and duration of …

Doctors Not to Blame for All Opioid Misuse; Friends, Family Also Played Roles

In a common narrative of the path to opioid misuse, people become addicted to painkillers after a doctor prescribed them pills to treat an injury and then, later, switch to harder drugs, such as heroin. However, non-medical opioid users were …

U.S. Charges New York Drug Firm Executives with Opioid Distribution Conspiracy

Federal prosecutors unveiled the first criminal charges against pharmaceutical executives for illegally diverting opioids, accusing the former chief executive officer and the head of compliance at a major U.S. drug distributor with a narcotics conspiracy. Laurence F. Doud III, who …

Doctor, Early Advocate for Opioids, to Testify Against Drug Makers: Reuters

A physician ally of Purdue Pharma LP whose views helped drive the explosive growth in the use of addictive pain relievers for common aches and pains in the United States has agreed to testify against the OxyContin maker and other …