AmerisourceBergen to Answer for Opioids
2022.12.29 13:53
AmerisourceBergen to Answer for Opioids
Budrigannews.com – On Thursday, the United States government filed a lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:) Corp, one of the largest drug distributors in the country, for failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious prescription painkiller orders, which contributed to the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic.
The Department of Justice claimed in a complaint filed in federal court in Philadelphia that AmerisourceBergen and two units had repeatedly broken their legal obligation to respond to suspicious customer orders or to notify the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of suspicious behavior.
According to the government, AmerisourceBergen had reason to know that opioids were being diverted to illegal channels since 2014, when it systematically refused or negligently failed to flag suspicious orders from pharmacy customers.
In addition, it claimed that the Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based business, which had revenue of $238.6 billion in the most recent fiscal year, even made a deliberate change to how one of its units monitored orders, significantly reducing the number of orders that were subjected to internal scrutiny.
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta stated to reporters, “For years, AmerisourceBergen prioritized profits over its legal obligations and the well-being of Americans.”
An injunction prohibiting future violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act is also sought in the lawsuit, which could result in billion-dollar fines.
In an explanation, AmerisourceBergen called the claim an ill-advised endeavor to “shift fault” and the weights of policing the Equity Division and DEA to the organizations they manage.
AmerisourceBergen additionally said the objection “singled out” five drug stores it delivered medications to out of the several thousands it works with, and that it cut off its friendships with four of them before the DEA made any authorization move.
According to data provided by the United States government, opioids, which include both legal and prescription painkillers, were a factor in more than 564,000 overdose deaths between 1999 and 2020. Of these, 68,000 occurred in 2020 alone.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that the rate of deaths from various opioids and stimulants is also rising, with nearly 107,000 Americans dying from drug overdoses, up 16% from 2020.
AmerisourceBergen agreed to pay up to $6.4 billion in 2021 to settle thousands of lawsuits alleging that it and other drug distributors ignored warning signs that prescription painkillers were being misused. This led to the lawsuit.
More than 3,000 lawsuits filed by state and local governments against Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE:) and its distributors were settled for a total of $26 billion. and McKesson Corporation, and Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical company
A federal judge in West Virginia ruled in July that AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson were not to blame for fueling an opioid epidemic in a portion of that state, making it the only case against the company that resulted in a verdict.
AmerisourceBergen claims that a probe that began in 2017 led to Thursday’s lawsuit.
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According to the Justice Department, AmerisourceBergen’s programs to ensure compliance with the Controlled Substances Act had insufficient staff and funding for years.
The government claimed that in 2014, for instance, it only allocated $4 million to its internal compliance department, a sum that paled in comparison to its expenditures on taxicabs and office supplies.
AmerisourceBergen even continued shipping drugs to two pharmacies in West Virginia and Florida, according to the Justice Department, despite being informed by an auditor that the drugs were likely being sold in parking lots for cash.
Purdue Pharma, which pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2020 over its handling of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, and Walmart (NYSE:) are two additional businesses that have been targeted by the Justice Department in relation to opioids. Inc, which is battling a claim charging its drug stores unlawfully conveyed narcotics.
