Pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens, Walmart helped fuel opioid epidemic,
U.S. jury finds
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[November 24, 2021]
By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) - A federal jury on Tuesday found
that pharmacy chain operators CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance
Inc and Walmart Inc helped fuel an opioid epidemic in two Ohio counties,
in the first trial the companies have faced over the U.S. drug crisis.
Jurors in Cleveland federal court after six days of deliberations
concluded that actions by the pharmacy chains helped create a public
nuisance that resulted in an oversupply of addictive pain pills and the
diversion of those opioids to the black market.
Mark Lanier, a lawyer for Ohio's Lake and Trumbull counties, called the
verdict a "landmark decision" that paved the way for them to each seek
more than $1 billion from the companies to help address the deadly
epidemic's toll in their communities.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster will decide how much the companies owe
to abate the epidemic in the counties and is expected to hold a trial on
that question in April or May.
The verdict bolstered efforts by state and local governments to
negotiate settlements resolving thousands of other cases against the
pharmacy chains. Joe Rice, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he
looked forward to discussing potential settlements.
"You can be sure the message from this jury is going to be talked about
in the boardrooms of every corporation involved in the pharmaceutical
chain that's involved in this litigation," he said.
Stock prices for the companies briefly fell after the verdict but
quickly rebounded and closed up less than 1%.
CVS, Walgreens and Walmart said they would appeal the verdict, arguing
it ran contrary to the facts and that it misapplied public nuisance law
to hold them liable under a novel legal theory that courts in California
and Oklahoma have recently rejected in similar cases against drugmakers.
"We will appeal this flawed verdict, which is a reflection of a trial
that was engineered to favor the plaintiffs' attorneys and was riddled
with remarkable legal and factual mistakes," Walmart said.
U.S. officials have said that by 2019, the health crisis led to nearly
500,000 opioid overdose deaths over two decades.
Over 100,000 people died from drug overdoses during the 12-month period
ending April 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
said in a report last week, a record driven in large part by deaths from
opioids like fentanyl.
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The combination photo shows a logo of CVS in Manhattan, New York,
U.S., August 1, 2016, re-usable Walmart bags in a newly opened
Walmart Neighborhood Market in Chicago September 21, 2011 and a
Walgreens sign in the Chicago suburb of Niles, Illinois, February
10, 2015. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/Jim Young
THOUSANDS OF LAWSUITS
More than 3,300 opioid lawsuits have been filed nationally against
drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies, culminating with
many of the companies - though not the pharmacies - agreeing to
proposed global settlements.
The three largest U.S. distributors that supply pharmacies and
hospitals - McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen
Corp - and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson in July proposed paying up to
$26 billion to settle most of the lawsuits against them.
A bankruptcy judge in September approved a settlement by OxyContin
maker Purdue Pharma LP and its wealthy Sackler family owners that
the company values at more than $10 billion.
The pharmacies, however, went to trial despite the urging of the
judge to settle.
At trial, lawyers for Lake and Trumbull counties argued that the
pharmacies failed to ensure opioid prescriptions were valid and
allowed excessive quantities of addictive pain pills to flood their
communities.
The pharmacy operators denied the allegations. They said they took
steps to guard against diversion of pills and blamed others,
including doctors, regulators and drug traffickers, for the
epidemic.
The verdict followed recent setbacks for plaintiffs pursuing some of
the other opioid cases nationally.
Oklahoma's top court on Nov. 9 overturned a $465 million judgment,
and a California judge this month ruled in favor of four drugmakers
in a case brought by several large counties.
Other trials are underway in New York involving drugmakers Teva
Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and AbbVie Inc, and in Washington
state with the three distributors.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Additional reporting by Grant
Segall in Cleveland; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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