Florida joins opioid suits vs. Cardinal Health, others
The state of Florida on Tuesday joined Ohio and handful of other states in suing Cardinal Health and other drug distributors for their alleged roles in the opioid epidemic.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced her state’s suit on Tuesday afternoon.
The lawsuit also targets distributors AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Mallinckrodt, plus opioid manufacturers Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon and Allergan.
Several other states, including Texas and Nevada, filed suit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, on Tuesday but didn’t — for now — sue distributors.
Florida’s lawsuit, filed in New Port Richey, alleges violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida RICO Act, and it accuses the companies of negligence and creating a public nuisance. It seeks unspecific damages.
“We are in the midst of a national opioid crisis claiming 175 lives a day nationally and 15 lives a day in Florida, and I will not tolerate anyone profiting from the pain and suffering of Floridians,” Bondi said in a statement.
Dublin-based Cardinal said in February that it was facing more than 340 lawsuits around the country, most of them from local governments, including cities and counties. Counted as one case is a consolidated lawsuit in Cleveland involving a number of municipalities.
The number of states suing is expected to increase, as a group of 39 states requested information from Cardinal and its distribution competitors.
A Cardinal spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
West Virginia was the first state to sue, and it’s the only one to reach a settlement with distributors. Without admitting wrongdoing, Cardinal agreed in early 2017 to pay the state $20 million.
At a hearing last week before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Cardinal Chairman and former CEO George Barrett said he was “deeply sorry” in hindsight that Cardinal didn’t act sooner to cut off some pharmacies that were later found to be serving illicit “pill mill” operations in West Virginia.