L.A. sues 9 drug companies, alleging unethical practices
Suit: Painkillers a public nuisance
LOS ANGELES — The city of Los Angeles accused top drugmakers and distributors Thursday of fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic by engaging in deceptive marketing aimed at boosting sales of powerful, addictive painkillers such as OxyContin, methadone and fentanyl.
In a 165-page lawsuit filed in federal court, the city sued six of the largest manufacturers and the top three distributors of prescription painkillers, alleging violations of federal laws in creating a public nuisance, negligence and misrepresentation. Additionally, the city said the drug companies violated the anti-racketeering laws typically used to target gangsters.
City Attorney Mike Feuer said prescription drug manufacturers and distributors encouraged doctors to prescribe potent painkillers for chronic, long-term pain and downplayed the addictive nature of the drugs. The drugmakers also failed to report suspicious sales, he said.
Mr. Feuer said that although Los Angeles has not been hit by the opioid crisis as hard as rural areas have, the city still feels its effects.
“I will not let Los Angeles become the next West Virginia or Ohio when it comes to the devastating effects of the opioid crisis,” he said at a City Hall news conference.
Mr. Feuer said he was filing the lawsuit to hold the drug companies accountable for driving the opioid epidemic and the “significant impacts of their reckless and irresponsible business practices.”
Los Angeles is joining hundreds of municipalities across the country in an ongoing effort to make the drug companies pay for their roles in fueling an opioid addiction crisis.
A federal judge in Ohio has consolidated more than 350 lawsuits filed by various cities, counties and states against makers and distributors of opioid painkillers in an effort to reach a global settlement.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said more people died in L.A. last year from overdoses than in homicides. The rise of the opioid crisis can be seen on the sidewalks, under bridges and on skid row, he added.
“People become addicts on the streets of our city,” Mr. Garcetti said. “We see the number of tents beginning to multiply around Los Angeles over the last few years. We know … the reason many stay out there is their addiction and their inability to break that cycle.”
L.A.’s civil lawsuit names Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, Insys Therapeutics and Mallinckrodt. The complaint alleges that the companies borrowed from the “tobacco industry’s playbook” by using false and deceptive marketing and business practices to boost opioid sales.
The businesses sought to “shift the way in which doctors and patients think about pain, specifically, to encourage the use of opioids to treat … the masses who suffer from common chronic pain conditions,” the suit says.
The lawsuit also targets the so-called middlemen — wholesale distributors including McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen — saying they failed to report suspiciously large and frequent orders of prescription pain pills as required by state and federal law.