AG Josh Shapiro tells Allentown group that Pennsylvania may sue more pharma companies over opioid crisis

Pennsylvania is investigating eight pharmaceutical companies that produce and sell opioid painkillers, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at an event in Allentown a week after he announced a lawsuit against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.Shapiro said his office filed the suit against Purdue after discussions with the Connecticut company led him to believe it would not accept responsibility for the damages he alleges it caused.“They weren’t fully appreciating the damage they created and the profits they made off their greed. And I was very clear to them that if they didn’t get serious I would take them to court,” Shapiro said Monday.To date, 45 states have taken legal action against Purdue.Purdue was one of nine companies the attorney general’s office started investigating in 2017. Shapiro said his office would continue talks with the other eight, which include Pennsylvania-based Percocet maker Endo Pharmaceuticals and generic opioid maker Teva, and will take them to court if necessary.Hard-hit Pennsylvania becomes latest state to sue OxyContin maker over opioid epidemicShapiro spoke at Treatment Trends Inc. in Allentown, where he met with more than 20 members of the Lehigh Valley’s drug treatment and recovery community. The discussion focused on systems in place to get those who survive overdoses from emergency rooms to recovery facilities, and ways to improve those systems.Lehigh County Drug and Alcohol Assistant Administrator Joe Martellucci noted the number of overdose patients referred for treatment increased from a few dozen to more than 2,000 in a few years, and called it a paradigm shift in how people with addiction are treated.But others said there are still gaps where the opportunity for a “warm handoff” from medical treatment providers to recovery specialists is lost.“It’s not that they don’t want help,” said Linda Johnson of Forks Township, founder of the nonprofit Voices for Change.When people suffering from addiction agree to seek treatment, there is often a period when they can no longer be held in a hospital, but no bed is available in a treatment facility. The gap most often affects people who have Medical Assistance or Medicaid insurance because fewer spots in treatment centers are reserved for those with publicly funded insurance.Shapiro said the discussion was part of his commitment to get out of the office and listen to and learn from people around the state.He asked what more the state could do to help those treating and fighting addictions: The responses ranged from following through on stalled legislation to require insurers to notify customers that certain types of insurance automatically cover treatment, to more money for training treatment specialists.Hopeful sign: Drug deaths drop in Pennsylvania for first time in five yearsShapiro said his office’s approach to combating the opioid crisis has focused on taking dealers off the streets and arresting doctors who illicitly prescribe painkillers. With the lawsuit against Purdue, he is taking the battle to the pharmaceutical companies’ boardrooms.The lawsuit claims Purdue used in-person sales calls, front groups and prominent physicians to misrepresent the risk of addiction, promoted unscientific theories to discount signs of addiction, and portrayed opioid abuse as a result of illegal diversion of drugs and not opioids’ widespread prescription.In other cases, Purdue lawyers have argued the company accounts for a small portion of opioids prescribed in the U.S. and that heroin and especially illicit fentanyl, not prescription drugs, are what drove up fatal overdose rates in recent years.Pennsylvania’s lawsuit follows complaints against Purdue and other drugmakers, distributors and promoters by dozens of Pennsylvania counties and municipalities starting in 2017. Lehigh and Northampton counties filed their own lawsuits a year ago seeking damages for the cost of treatment and crime associated with opioid addiction.Morning Call reporter Peter Hall can be reached at 610-820-6581 or peter.hall@mcall.com.
Source: Morningcall