opioids News

New Mexico Reaches $500M Settlement with Walgreens in Opioid Case

New Mexico has settled with Walgreens for $500 million over the pharmacy chain’s role in distributing highly addictive prescription painkillers. The agreement was signed in March, and state officials confirmed that a confidentiality provision on the agreement was lifted last …

Purdue Pharma Can Protect Sackler Owners in Opioid Bankruptcy, Court Rules

Bankrupt Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma can shield its owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, from opioid lawsuits in exchange for a $6 billion contribution to the company’s broader bankruptcy settlement, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The New …

Rite Aid Faces Securities Suit Over Allegedly Filling Unlawful Opioid Prescriptions

A Rite Aid Corp. shareholder on March 20 filed a securities class action lawsuit against the company as well as former and current executives, alleging Rite Aid has given false or misleading statements regarding its alleged distribution of unlawful opioid …

U.S. Sues Rite Aid for Missing Opioid Red Flags

The U.S. government on Monday sued Rite Aid Corp., accusing the pharmacy chain of missing “red flags” as it illegally filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for controlled substances, including opioids. In a complaint filed in Cleveland federal court, the …

Court Tosses Wyoming Doctor’s Pain Medication Prescription Convictions

A federal appeals court threw out the convictions of a Wyoming doctor accused of overprescribing powerful pain medication and ordered a new trial for him. The Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the case of Shakeel Kahn, who …

Duane Morris: 2022 Was a Banner Year for Billion-Dollar Class Action Settlements

Drugmakers and distributors that settled misconduct allegations related to the national opioid epidemic led to a banner year for class-action plaintiffs in 2022, with 15 settlement agreements that totaled $1 billion or more, according to a report by the Duane …

Teva Says Opioids Settlement to Move Forward

Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said there was sufficient participation from U.S. states and local authorities to move forward with its nationwide settlement agreement to resolve opioid-related claims and litigation. Teva said on Monday it has either already settled …

U.S. Sues AmerisourceBergen, Says Distributor Helped Ignite Opioid Epidemic

The U.S. government filed a lawsuit accusing AmerisourceBergen Corp., one of the nation’s largest drug distributors, of helping ignite the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic by failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders of prescription painkillers. In a Dec. …

U.S. Opioid Crackdown Hits Some Patients’ Access to Psychiatric Drugs

A crackdown by U.S. drug wholesalers in response to the opioid crisis is preventing some pharmacists from dispensing a combination of stimulants and sedatives routinely prescribed by psychiatrists to help patients manage conditions like anxiety and ADHD. The three main …

FDA Chief Says Opioid Review Still in the Works

A long-awaited review of prescription opioid medications, including their risks and contribution to the U.S. overdose epidemic, is still underway at the Food and Drug Administration, the agency’s commissioner said Tuesday. Dr. Robert Califf wrote in a blog entry that …