State to investigate makers of opioids

AG targets contributors to epidemic

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced Wednesday that she will “ramp up” her office’s efforts to combat the state’s opioid epidemic by investigating the companies that manufacture prescription painkillers.

Flanked by printed graphics depicting Arkansas as one of the states hardest hit by the epidemic, Rutledge said the probe could last several months to several years, though its outcome is not guaranteed to result in litigation.

Fatal overdoses quadrupled in Arkansas over a 15-year period, Rutledge said, with more than 400 deaths in 2016. She pointed to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found Arkansans had the second-highest prescribing rate in the country.

“This opioid epidemic knows no boundaries, and I believe the lengths to which the state will go to stop this epidemic should also know no boundaries,” Rutledge said.

For now, Rutledge said, her investigation will focus only on the drugmakers, not pharmaceutical distributors or doctors who prescribe the drugs. She did not rule out investigating whether “deceptive trade practices” were used to market and sell the drugs.

In addition to state attorneys who will be assigned to the investigation, Rutledge said, the state has contracted with several law firms, including Little Rock’s Dover, Dixon & Horne. The other firms, in Washington, Mississippi and South Carolina, are involved in opioid-related lawsuits filed by Mississippi, Ohio and Louisiana.

While Rutledge said her office did not have a definitive list of the companies that would be targets of the investigation, one poster displayed at her news conference listed several brands such as Oxycontin, Vicodin and Percocet.

“Some of these companies may have profited substantially from the sale and distribution of opioid, within Arkansas, and those that have should be held accountable,” Rutledge said. “We must remedy this crisis.”

A spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry group, declined to comment specifically on Rutledge’s investigation but said the organization was committed to finding a solution to a “multifaceted challenge.”

According to a copy of the attorney-services agreement provided by the attorney general’s office, the outside counsel is under contract until March 31, 2023, unless terminated or reappointed by the attorney general (Rutledge is up for re-election this year).

Rutledge said hiring outside counsel was necessary to keep state attorneys free to continue their day-to-day work. The contingency-fee contract with the outside firms entitles them to a certain percentage of whatever award the state may receive from a successful lawsuit, as outlined in Arkansas Code Annotated 25-16-714.

Dover, Dixon & Horne referred a request for comment to Rutledge’s office.

Local officials also have been involved with their own, separate claims against drugmakers.

The Arkansas Association of Counties recently filed a federal lawsuit against several pharmaceutical companies to recoup payments made to a health insurance fund for members’ opioid prescriptions. That suit will remain unrelated to Rutledge’s investigation. Colin Jorgensen, an attorney for the association, said at least 61 Arkansas counties are also planning a state-level suit against pharmaceutical companies and their distributors.

Standing on the sidelines of Rutledge’s news conference Wednesday was Perry County Sheriff Scott Montgomery, president of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association. While he didn’t give a public speech, he told a reporter afterward that he was enthusiastic about the attorney general’s investigation.