Posted on Mar 13, 2019
Opioid Litigation Brings Company Secrets Into The Public Eye
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America's big drugmakers and pharmacy chains are scrambling to respond to hundreds of lawsuits tied to the deadly opioid epidemic. Billions of dollars are at stake if the companies are found liable for fueling the crisis.
Even before judgments are rendered, companies like Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and CVS are already suffering damage to their reputations as evidence in civil suits reveals more about their internal workings.
"The narrative is clearly shifting on this story," said David Armstrong, a senior reporter with ProPublica, who has covered the drug industry for years. "People want some sort of reckoning, some sort of accounting."
One reason for the shift is that cities and states filing these suits are moving more aggressively to pull back the curtain on the drug industry's practices, urging courts to make internal memos, marketing strategies and reams of other documents public.
"Our next battle is to get the depositions and the documents that are being produced made available to the public, instead of everything being filed under confidentiality agreements," said Joe Rice, one of the lead attorneys bringing lawsuits against drug companies on behalf of local governments in Ohio.
Even before judgments are rendered, companies like Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and CVS are already suffering damage to their reputations as evidence in civil suits reveals more about their internal workings.
"The narrative is clearly shifting on this story," said David Armstrong, a senior reporter with ProPublica, who has covered the drug industry for years. "People want some sort of reckoning, some sort of accounting."
One reason for the shift is that cities and states filing these suits are moving more aggressively to pull back the curtain on the drug industry's practices, urging courts to make internal memos, marketing strategies and reams of other documents public.
"Our next battle is to get the depositions and the documents that are being produced made available to the public, instead of everything being filed under confidentiality agreements," said Joe Rice, one of the lead attorneys bringing lawsuits against drug companies on behalf of local governments in Ohio.
Opioid Litigation Brings Company Secrets Into The Public Eye
Posted from npr.org
Drugs
Pharmaceuticals
Medical
Health
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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Thank you, my friend PO1 William "Chip" Nagel for posting the perspective from publicly funded NPR.
a. No surprise in litigious USA, people are working to blame the manufacture of drugs over the providers and the user/abuser of the drugs.
b. That same illogical logic has been used against manufacturers of hand guns, rifles, shotguns, etc.
c. There are certainly issues with manufacturing of medications. Double-blind long-term studies tend to be better tests for both the efficacy of medications as well as risks posed by them.
d. If the potential for addiction had not been widely known for so long and had not been printed with the medications risks, then I could see justification of somebody got addicted and died as a direct result.
I have a dog in this hunt and I would not even think of suing manufacturers.
I have a 31-year-old son going through detox based on "opiod" addiction.
1. He was forced at an early age to take amphetamines because he was labelled ADD /ADHD. He initially resisted but succumbed to the pressure in the early 1990's. That was when there was a push to make boys more like girls in temperament, etc.
2. He has been suicidal [4 attempts at least. One while he was living with me.] and been injured a number of times.
3. His injuries to his back provided an impetus for his mom [my ex-wife] to take him to doctors in Florida. He was prescribed Oxy and when that ran out he purchased more on the street.
What do you think? COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi LTC (Join to see) LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Jeff S. CPT Jack Durish MSgt Robert C Aldi SFC Stephen King MSgt Danny Hope SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl Craig Marton SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan
a. No surprise in litigious USA, people are working to blame the manufacture of drugs over the providers and the user/abuser of the drugs.
b. That same illogical logic has been used against manufacturers of hand guns, rifles, shotguns, etc.
c. There are certainly issues with manufacturing of medications. Double-blind long-term studies tend to be better tests for both the efficacy of medications as well as risks posed by them.
d. If the potential for addiction had not been widely known for so long and had not been printed with the medications risks, then I could see justification of somebody got addicted and died as a direct result.
I have a dog in this hunt and I would not even think of suing manufacturers.
I have a 31-year-old son going through detox based on "opiod" addiction.
1. He was forced at an early age to take amphetamines because he was labelled ADD /ADHD. He initially resisted but succumbed to the pressure in the early 1990's. That was when there was a push to make boys more like girls in temperament, etc.
2. He has been suicidal [4 attempts at least. One while he was living with me.] and been injured a number of times.
3. His injuries to his back provided an impetus for his mom [my ex-wife] to take him to doctors in Florida. He was prescribed Oxy and when that ran out he purchased more on the street.
What do you think? COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi LTC (Join to see) LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Jeff S. CPT Jack Durish MSgt Robert C Aldi SFC Stephen King MSgt Danny Hope SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl Craig Marton SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan
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They renamed narcotics as opiods. When doctors asked people if they wanted narcotic painkillers a majority said no. When they asked if they wanted opioid painkillers, a majority said yes. Clearly a way of hiding the truth from people who don't know any better.
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LTC Stephen F.
Not all narcotics are opiods Lt Col Charlie Brown. Gabapentin and Tramadol are two which spring to mind as well as Lyrica are each classified as narcotics but not related structurally to the opiods.
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Lt Col Charlie Brown
LTC Stephen F. - I know that but the point is that opiods are narcotics although not all are the other way around. The pharmaceutical companies did their relabeling to encourage physicians to prescribe opiods and patients to accept them.
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LTC Stephen F.
For some reason, the gurus of renaming selected a name "opiod" which is too close to Opium IMHO. That name reminds many who are familiar with heroin and morphine of the high from those drugs and how hard it was to kick Lt Col Charlie Brown. That is unconscionable IMHO.
At least methadone does not sound like opium or heroin.
At least methadone does not sound like opium or heroin.
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