Nassau County Sues Drug Makers Over Opioid Epidemic
12 Juin 2017 - 10:48PM
Dow Jones News
By Joseph De Avila
Nassau County filed a lawsuit Monday against several
pharmaceutical companies alleging their prescription painkillers
helped fuel the opioid epidemic that costs the county millions of
dollars annually to combat.
The complaint, filed in Nassau County Supreme Court, targets
several companies including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Purdue
Pharma and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The defendants also
include drug distributors and doctors.
"We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both
legally and factually unfounded," a spokeswoman for Janssen
Pharmaceuticals said.
A spokesman for Purdue Pharma said the company shares the
concerns of public officials regarding the opioid crisis and is
committed to finding collaborative solutions. A spokeswoman for
Teva echoed those remarks.
"Teva is committed to the appropriate promotion and use of
opioids," the Teva spokeswoman said.
Attorneys for Nassau County said in the lawsuit that the Long
Island county, with a population of about 1.4 million residents,
has had to invest in health care and law enforcement as a result of
the opioid addiction epidemic, and pay for training seminars for
the overdose antidote naloxone.
"The opioid crisis is costing taxpayers millions of dollars a
year, and this action seeks to recoup dollars for important
awareness, education, enforcement and treatment initiatives to
combat the war on drug abuse and addiction," said Nassau County
Executive Edward Mangano. The county is seeking compensatory and
punitive damages.
On Long Island, nearly 500 people died from opioid overdoses
last year, the highest number of deaths to date.
Suffolk County, also on Long Island, along with Sullivan and
Orange Counties are among the New York municipalities that have
also taken legal action against the pharmaceutical industry. The
state of Ohio, the city of Chicago and counties in California have
also launched litigation.
Kentucky settled a similar lawsuit with Purdue Pharma in 2015
for several million dollars.
More than 33,000 people died in 2015 from opioid overdoses,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up
nearly 16% from the year before.
In addition to incurring costs related to the opioid epidemic,
Nassau County alleged in its lawsuit that the pharmaceutical
industry used deceptive marketing tactics to "convince doctors and
patients that the benefits of using opioids to treat chronic pain
outweighed the risks and that opioids could be used safely by most
patients."
The lawsuit also accuses the opioid distributors of negligence
for failing to exercise care in the distribution of the drug.
Write to Joseph De Avila at joseph.deavila@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 12, 2017 16:33 ET (20:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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