U.S. Judges Found Three Drug Distributors in WVa Opioid Litigation

Charleston, West Virginia (AP) —Federal Monday Trial Officials accused them of causing a health crisis by distributing 81 million tablets over eight years in one county in West Virginia devastated by opioid addiction, in three major US proceedings. Has ruled in favor of the Associated Press dealer.

This ruling has been around since the bench trial of the proceedings filed by Cabell County and Huntington City against AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corp. It was done a year later. ..

"The opioid crisis has caused considerable damage to the citizens of Cabell County and Huntington City, and it is natural to hold responsibility in such cases, but not sympathy. It must be decided on the basis of facts and law, "U.S. District Judge David Faber wrote in a judgment on page 184. "In light of the court's findings and conclusions, the court decided that the defendant should make a decision in favor of the defendant."

Cabell County lawyer Paul Farrell said the prescription painkiller "tsunami." He argued that the responsibility for sending the to the community should rest with the distributor, and that the defendant's actions were unreasonable and reckless, ignoring the health and safety of the public. An area devastated by opioid addiction.

Both companies have accused doctors of increasing prescriptions and federal agencies for inadequate communication and pill allocation.

Plaintiffs sought more than $ 2.5 billion that would have been directed towards reduction efforts. The goal of the 15-year reduction plan was to reduce the number of people with overdose, death from overdose, and opioid use disorders.

Last year, Cabell County, a county of 93,000 people living on the Ohio River, received 1,067 emergency responses to alleged overdose, significantly more than each of the last three years, at least 158. A person has died. So far this year, allegations of overdose have prompted at least 358 responses and 465 emergency room visits, according to preliminary data from the State Department's Department of Drug Control Policy.

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the US addiction crisis is a COVID with deaths from overdose of more than 100,000 drugs in the 12 months to April 2021- Inflamed by 19 pandemics. .. This is the highest number of overdose deaths recorded in a year. The

Cabell-Huntington proceedings were the first in a federal trial to end allegations of opioid distribution. As a result, it can have a significant impact on similar proceedings. Some have resulted in millions of dollars, including a provisional $ 161.5 million settlement signed by West Virginia with Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc., AbbVie's Allergan, and her family in May.

In total, more than 3,000 proceedings have been filed over opioid tolls by state and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals, and other states and federal courts. Most people claim that either a pharmaceutical company, a distributor, or a pharmacy has caused pollution in a crisis related to the deaths of 500,000 Americans in the last two decades.

In another similar proceeding, West Virginia reached a $ 37 million settlement with McKesson in 2019, a $ 20 million settlement with Cardinal Health, and a $ 16 million settlement with AmerisourceBergen in 2017.