{"id":566,"date":"2018-03-06T14:29:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T22:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drugalcoholrehabnow.com\/blog\/?p=566"},"modified":"2018-03-06T14:29:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T22:29:21","slug":"new-york-city-sues-pharmaceutical-companies-for-500-million-over-opioid-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drugalcoholrehabnow.com\/blog\/index.php\/opioid-addiction\/new-york-city-sues-pharmaceutical-companies-for-500-million-over-opioid-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Sues Pharmaceutical Companies for $500 Million Over Opioid Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city of New York sued eight drug companies for $500 million, blaming them for the opioid epidemic that has killed more people than the combined deaths attributed to car accidents and homicides.<\/p>\n

New York is one of the most populous cities in the US. In 2016, more than 1,100 deaths were caused by opioid-induced overdoses. The city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, said the $500 million being sought in damages will be used to fight the crisis.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit holds Big Pharma into account for \u201cdeceptively peddling\u201d dangerous drugs that a million of Americans have become dependent on while making a profit out of it.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

The city has sued several pharmaceutical companies, including Allergan Plc, Endo International Plc, Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma LP and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, as well as distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc, and McKesson Corp.<\/p>\n

All the companies named in the complaint filed by the city were accused of creating a public nuisance. The distributors were accused of being negligent.<\/p>\n

In separate statements, Allergan, Engo, J&J, Purdue, AmerisourceBergen, and McKesson stressed the importance of safely using opioids.<\/p>\n

McKesson did not make a comment on the lawsuit while Endo, J&J, and Purdue denied the allegations made by the city.<\/p>\n

New York City, which has a population of 8.54 million, joined a long list of states and municipalities in the US that have sued drug companies for causing opioid abuse. U.S. President Donald Trump has also called the crisis a national public health emergency.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths attributed to opioids, including heroin and prescription painkillers, have gone up year after year. In 2016, there was a recorded 42,249 deaths linked to dangerous drugs. That figure was a 28% increase from 2015 and 47% from 2014.<\/p>\n

The city, in its complaint<\/a> filed in a Manhattan state court, has accused pharmaceutical companies of misleading consumers for two decades into thinking that treating chronic non-cancer pain with prescription opioids was safe and carried little risk of addiction.<\/p>\n

The distributors named in the lawsuit were accused by the city of fueling the abuse by oversupplying, as well as neglecting to inform authorities over orders that looked suspicious, leading to the formation of an illegal secondary market.<\/p>\n

OxyContin and Percocet from Purdue and Endo, respectively, are prescription opioids that are regulated as controlled substances. From 2014 to 2016, the city recorded about 2.5 to 2.7 million prescriptions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The city of New York sued eight drug companies for $500 million, blaming them for the opioid epidemic that has killed more people than the combined deaths attributed to car accidents and homicides. New York is one of the most populous cities in the US. In 2016, more than 1,100 deaths were caused by opioid-induced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opioid-addiction"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t