The state of Ohio took a stand against its crippling opioid epidemic Wednesday, filing a lawsuit against five leading pharmaceutical companies that make addictive painkillers.

Ohio’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, accused the companies of “fueling” the opioid epidemic by intentionally misleading doctors and ignoring evidence regarding the addictive nature of the pain medications.

“We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans–our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids–addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids,” DeWine said in a statement. “These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually be treated by taking even more opioids.”

The defendants in the case include Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson, and Allergan. They are accused of Medicaid fraud and violating the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, among other charges.

Dewine said that, in 2014 alone, the companies spent $168 million on advertising branded opioids to doctors.

The drugs the companies sold include OxyContin, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Butrans, Hyslingla, Targiniq, Percocet, Percodan, Opana, Zydone, Actiq, Fentora, Duragesic, Nucynta, Kadian, Norco, and other generic opioids, according to the press release.

According to the lawsuit, 793 million people were prescribed opioids in 2012–enough to supply every man, woman, and child in the state with 68 pills each. In 2016 that number had dropped to 2.3 million patients–still roughly 20 percent of the state’s population.

The lawsuit was filed in Ross County as Southern Ohio is likely the hardest hit area in the nation by the opioid epidemic.

In 2014 and 2015, Ohio had the greatest number of deaths in the nation from synthetic opioids, according to the lawsuit–with 1 in every 14 deaths from synthetic opioids in the United States occurring in the state. In 2015, a record 3,050 Ohioans died from unintentional drug overdoses–2,590 of those deaths came from opioids.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, earlier this month, two Democratic candidates for governor, Sen. Joe Schiavoni, (D-Boardman) and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, separately called for action against drug companies.

In 2015, Kentucky settled a similar lawsuit with Purdue Pharma for $24 million. And in April the Cherokee Nation tried something similar, filing its own lawsuit against six distribution and pharmacy companies, claiming that they unjustly profited through over-prescribing and selling opioids.

DeWine is seeking accountability from the pharmaceutical companies and unspecified damages on behalf of the state.

“It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess should now pay to clean it up,” DeWine said.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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In light of the prescription drug abuse epidemic, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down on the labeling of opioid painkillers. According to the FDA, immediate-release opioid painkillers will now carry what is called a “black box” warning, which will warn about the “risk of abuse, addiction, overdose and death.”

The new labeling will also state that prescribing immediate-release opioid painkillers “should be reserved for pain severe enough to require opioid treatment and for which alternative treatment options are inadequate or not tolerated.” There will also be clearer instructions for dosage and dosage changes throughout treatment.

Immediate-release opioid painkillers include almost 175 different brands and generics, including Vicodin and Percocet. According to the Chicago Tribune:

Those medications, which often combine oxycodone with lower-grade medications, are among the most commonly used drugs in the U.S. and account for 90 percent of all opioid painkillers prescribed.

The extensions of these warnings apply particularly to the immediate-release painkillers; the FDA already upped labeling restrictions for extended-release painkillers in 2013. Extended-release painkillers were thought to be a bigger risk for addiction, but after the labeling changes in 2013, increased cases of overdoses, addiction, and death continued. In 2014, there was a high of 19,000 deaths related to the misuse of opioid painkillers, according to the CDC.

There’s also a worrisome connection between opioid painkillers and heroin use–given that some individuals who have become addicted to painkillers eventually turn to heroin once they are no longer able to access painkillers, or because heroin is often cheaper. If you combine deaths from opioid painkillers and heroin, the number of fatalities in 2014 jumps to almost 29,000.

Despite the fact that this labeling comes with a very good intention–cutting down on the abuse of opioids and resulting tragic deaths. However, some experts say that the FDA isn’t going quite far enough. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, pointed out that the new labeling still does not recommend maximum amounts. According to the New York Times Dr. Kolodny stated:

Without an upper dose or maximum duration of use on the label, I don’t think the change will have much of an impact.

As heroin and prescription drug abuse remain huge issues in the U.S., it’s laudable that the FDA is trying common-sense approaches to address them. The Obama administration is pushing for action by federal agencies and governors, so we should probably expect to see more efforts to combat drug addiction in the coming months.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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