San Francisco Reaches $260 Opioid Million Settlement with Walgreens

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On Wednesday, San Francisco announced that it had reached a $230 million settlement with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc regarding its involvement in the city’s opioid epidemic by allowing overprescription of Oxycontin to go unexamined or unstopped. The agreement will help pay expenses related to treatment, prevention, harm reduction, and recovery for individuals in the city.

The Walgreens/San Francisco Opioid Lawsuit

This agreement comes after a nine-month wait. It’s been almost nine months since US District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco decided the drugstore chain could be held accountable for significantly contributing to an opioid crisis that resulted in widespread harm in the city, thereby creating a public nuisance.

Judge Breyer criticized Walgreens for failing over 15 years to adequately monitor opioid prescriptions and identify potential misuse of these highly addictive drugs. Because of this, pill mills were able to …

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Cherokee Nation Gets 75$ Million Of Opioid Settlement Money

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The Cherokee Nation has accepted a settlement of 75 million dollars from three of the nation’s largest drug distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. The money is a settlement from a lawsuit that accused the companies of shipping large quantities of highly addictive pain pills for over 20 years, propelling the opioid crisis and creating a public health emergency for communities across the country.

The settlement is the first of its kind to give money to Native American communities, whose populations, leaders say, are disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis.

The Settlement Money Will Go To Healing

“This settlement will enable us to increase our investments in mental health treatment facilities and other programs to help our people recover,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. told reporters.

The settlement will fund much-needed treatment and mental health services for …

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Some Individuals Will Get Small Opioid Lawsuit Payouts

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Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, recently settled lawsuits from the government for billions of dollars over their role in the opioid epidemic. The money was meant to cover both the human toll and the strain on society, including the medical community. Instead, the opioid epidemic touched every corner of America, and billions of dollars are being diverted to the cause of addiction prevention and treatment.

However, even as these payouts go out to governments, there are still incredible losses for the communities to bear. The most significant losses, of course, are the victims of overdoses and their families. For them, there will be just a small, token payout for their suffering.

Families Still Struggle With the Aftermath

As the financial details were being finalized for the most significant drug company settlements in history, families across the US gathered items …

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McKinsey Settles Oxy Accusations for 573 Million

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McKinsey, a consulting firm that worked for Purdue Pharma, Oxycontin’s creator, has been under the microscope. This week, they agreed to pay the government 574 million dollars for their actions that helped cause the opioid epidemic. The company worked with Purdue to create new strategies meant to “turbocharge sales” and admitted no harm but agreed to pay out the settlement. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the firm had been “part of a machine that… destroyed lives”.

The Accusations Against McKinsey

McKinsey is accused of advising Purdue to pressure doctors through sales calls, especially targeting doctors who were already known to be “high-level prescribers.” In doing so, they also asked sales associates to be careful to subvert the authorities. Their goal was simply to help doctors avoid prescribing limits that states were trying to uphold.

When higher-ups at McKinsey realized …

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Sackler Family Members To Testify Before Congress

David and Kathe Sackler agreed with the House Oversight Committee to appear at a hearing set for this Thursday. The two family members, who helped steer the direction of Purdue Pharmaceuticals, will be answering questions about their role in the opioid crisis. Both seemed hesitant to appear at the hearing and were threatened with a subpoena if they did not appear willingly.

Purdue and the Sackler family owners have been at the center of thousands of lawsuits for years over their role in the opioid epidemic. The opioid epidemic, fueled by Oxycontin prescriptions and reckless prescribing, has taken over 450,000 lives over the past ten years.

Purdue Chief Executive Craig Landau is testifying at the hearing as well. His testimony was planned in advance.

Purdue Pharma’s Guilty Plea

In November, Purdue Pharmaceuticals pleaded guilty to criminal charges concerning their …

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Purdue Pleads Guilty in Criminal Court

Purdue Pharma, the drugmakers responsible for Oxycontin, pleaded guilty to criminal charges this afternoon. The charges are related to the drug,  a highly addictive narcotic that has been a primary driver of the opioid epidemic.

Previous Oxycontin Lawsuits

The guilty pleas in the criminal case came after a settlement last month

In October, the Sackler Family (owners of Perdue) were handed an eight billion dollar judgment, a settlement combining thousands of lawsuits from cities, states, and counties. (Not every locality suing Perdue signed off on the settlement, and some were paid out separately, including New York, which received several billion of its own.) Purdue has filed for bankruptcy and may be restructured and overseen by the government as the Sacklers remove themselves from the business.

Perdue’s Criminal Charges

In today’s world, corporations are treated as people. It may be surprising …

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25 State Attorneys Oppose Oxy Settlement

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Twenty-five State attorneys have signed a letter opposing any settlements between the Justice Department and Purdue Pharmaceutical, Oxycontin’s manufacturers.

Purdue, owned by the infamous Sackler family, is preparing to settle a lawsuit with dozens of cities and counties across the United States. The suit itself is over their aggressive marketing and obfuscation with their addictive drug Oxycontin.

The Argument Against the Settlement

The attorneys say that the settlement does more harm than good. By forcing the state to oversee the settlement, the settlement will “improperly entangle state and local officials with future sales of the company’s addictive pain drug OxyContin.” The Justice Department has stipulated that Purdue transforms itself into a “public benefit company.” By becoming such an establishment, it would be run “on behalf” of the cities, states, and counties who are suing it.

The company, therefore, would need …

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Did Abuse-Deterrent Oxy Work? Purdue Won’t Say

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In 2010, a reformulated version of Oxycontin was released. The pharma giant, Perdue Pharma, said the new formula would help deter abuse. The new version of the pill couldn’t be crushed, snorted or smoked. This change was expected to make it more difficult for drug abusers to misuse it. It’s been nine years since the different drug formula went into effect, and neither the government nor Purdue Pharma will release information to the public on results.

“We asked for that data probably 40 or 50 times in last four or five years and were denied every time,” Dr. Raeford Brown, whose term as an FDA adviser ended last March, recently told the Washington Post. The committee she served on is still waiting to get the numbers from either the FDA or Purdue.

New Oxy Formula May Have Caused Other Public

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Italy Starts its Own Oxycontin Probe

In Italy, a peculiar rise in opioid prescriptions brought suspicion against Perdue Pharmaceuticals and a doctor named Guido Fanelli. Authorities began to suspect a conspiracy among a group of pharmaceutical executives police nicknamed “The Pain League.” Used to fighting corruption and the inner workings of criminal cases such as mob bosses, authorities sought to find culpability within Mundipharma — the international arm of Purdue Pharma. They began an investigation using wiretaps and subpoenas to follow the money.

Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, faces over 2,000 lawsuits in the United States over its role in the opioid crisis. This case is the first known case outside the U.S., where executives and employees of Perdue are criminally charged and implicated. While the opioid epidemic has cost fewer lives in Italy, the criminal intent, prosecutors say, is clear.

Making Money Promoting Opioids

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How Sackler Family, Purdue Pharma Targeted Veterans

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In Massachusetts, veterans are three times more likely than others who take prescription painkillers to die from an overdose. A new court filing in an ongoing lawsuit between the state and the pharmaceutical company and its stakeholders says that this statistic may have been by design.

Discovery in a Massachusetts lawsuit against the private company Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, and their stakeholders, the infamous Sackler family, has uncovered documents that appear to show how they specifically developed a marketing campaign to target veterans for Oxycontin sales, hoping to increase their usage dramatically.

The unredacted complaint filed against the pharmaceutical manufacturer, as well as a total of eight members of the Sackler family, unveils a targeted marketing campaign facilitated through a self-help book for service members. Similar to an infomercial, the “survival guide” targeted newly home veterans, telling them …

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