Meds switch sparked opioid crisis, lawsuit claims
A decision by the B.C. government to switch medications for patients suffering from an illness known as Opioid Use Disorder has contributed to the opioid crisis in the province, according to a new proposed class action lawsuit.
Until early 2014, people suffering from the disorder, many of them addicted to opioids, were receiving a medication known as compounded methadone on a daily basis, through a treatment program designed to prevent relapse and provide stability in their lives.
The drugs, a powdered methadone compounded by a pharmacist with Tang, an artificially flavoured beverage, were covered under a Pharmacare plan administered by the provincial government.
In February 2014, the province granted full benefit coverage to another methadone medication known as Methadose, a pre-manufactured and non-compounded form of methadone.
People who were using compounded methadone were forced to switch to Methadose, according to the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Mallinckrodt, a U.K.-based pharmaceutical company, entered into an agreement with the province and the College of Pharmacists of B.C. to provide the drug and to help secure federal approval for its use as well as create a distribution system in B.C.
The lawsuit, filed by Vancouver lawyer Jason Gratl, claims the switch of drugs caused significant harm to representative plaintiff Laura Shaver and many others.
Shaver, 42, says she has been a methadone user since she was 20 and began to suffer withdrawal symptoms — including shakes, being cold, lacking concentration and having headaches — soon after the drugs were switched.
“I was so mad and so distrustful of our doctors and the province that I was a mess,” she said.
Shaver, an activist on drugrelated issues, says she also relapsed and began injecting heroin again and has suffered eight overdoses, each time being saved by taking Narcan.
Going back to using drugs was the “worst” thing, she said, since she has a 14-yearold daughter.
Shaver believes that the health ministry, the College of Pharmacists of B.C. and Mallinckrodt — all of whom are named as defendants in the case — are to blame and their actions have contributed to the opioid crisis that has seen tens of thousands of overdoses and 5,000 people die since 2013.
Gratl said that Methadose, which he called a “second-rate” medication, has the same ingredients as compounded methadone, but the belief is that it isn’t ingested as well into the body and thus is not as effective, resulting in the withdrawal symptoms.
He said he believes there were clearly other factors in creating the opioid crisis — including the presence of fentanyl — but that the drug switch contributed to the problems.
Gratl couldn’t say how many people have overdosed or died due to the treatment switch, adding that the B.C. Coroners Service and health ministry have relevant information that may be accessed through the disclosure process in the case.
Despite being aware that Methadose created an increase in relapses and increased the risk of overdoses and deaths, the province refused to amend the Pharmacare plan to allow access to compounded methadone, the lawsuit claims.