Suing five drug companies for misrepresenting the dangers on opiate drugs, Ohio State Atty. Gen. Mike DeWine joined the bandwagon of states suing drug companies for the unintended side effects of prescription pain medication. Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 33,000 deaths from opiate use, including heroin in the United States in 2016. While there’s little dispute over the addictive properties of opiate-based narcotic painkillers, there’s plenty of controversy over the drugs widespread abuse and over-prescription by licensed physicians. Blaming the drug maker is a slippery slope for States Attorneys General looking for deep pockets to deal with the social and medical costs of opiate addiction. Going after the drug industry’s deep pockets doesn’t deal with the complex chain of accountability, starting with growers, prescribing doctors and patients taking the drugs.
Putting the onus on Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc, Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd’s Cephalon unit and Allergan Plc., doesn’t get to the bottom of who’s to blame for damages to patients and states trying to deal with the ravages of drug addiction. Blaming drug companies is one step removed from opium poppy growers in Afghanistan and other parts of the planet that supply drug companies with raw opium poppy to manufacture pharmaceutical-grade morphine, with its many natural and synthetic derivatives, for the drug industry. Broad class actions lawsuits don’t take into consideration the long chain of responsibility for addiction, starting with prescribing doctors and patients. Ohio officials know it’s a stretch to blame drug makers for producing necessary drugs to treat acute and chronic pain, a legitimate area of medical practice.
Ohio Atty. Gen. Mike DeWine insists that drug makers unleashed an addiction epidemic on the public, not knowing the dangerous addictive properties of opiate-based painkillers. DeWine doesn’t mention the highly addictive properties of benzodiazapine based anti-anxiety drugs in far greater use than opiate-based narcotic painkillers. “Theres companies continue to mislead the public,” DeWine told a press conference in Columbus. Anyone examining the detailed product information inserts connected with any opiate-based narcotic painkillers knows that addiction and withdrawal symptoms are associated with discontinuing use. When DeWine talks of misleading the public, he’s talking about an unintended consequence of prescribing opiate-based pain medications for patients with acute or chronic pain. If pain meds were banned or made more costly, pain patients would suffer unnecessarily.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith took exception to DeWine’s lawsuit. “The allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded,” said Smith, refuting DeWine’s argument that drug-makers, not doctors and patients, bear the responsibility for how they use narcotic pain killers. All Food and Drug Administration Drugs require drug makers to publish all aspects of drug use, including indications and contraindications. Smith said Janssen Pharmaceuticals publishes all required warning labels. “We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committee to working collaboratively to find solutions,” said an emailed statement from Pudue Pharmaceuticals. DeWine’s lawsuit filed in Ross County in Southern Ohio claims that drug makers violated Ohio’s Consumer Sales and Practices Act and committed Medicaid Fraud.
DeWine accused the drug makers of creating a public nuisance by disseminating false and misleading statements. Going after big-pharma’s deep pockets, DeWine hopes of negotiate a cash settlement, not to correct the record about drug makers’ deceptive practices. Doctors inform their patients about the pros and cons to opiate pain killers. If patients get addicted, it’s not the drug maker’s fault but the nature of a class of drug with highly addictive properties. DeWine insists that 2.3 million Ohio residents were prescribed opiate-based narcotic pain killers, nearly 20% of the population, fueling the state’s heroin epidemic. Dewine’s leap from prescribed pain killers to heroin addiction makes an illogical jump to causation. Whether Ohio residents take prescription opiate-based pain medications isn’t proof that drug makers committed Meidcaid fraud or fueled street-drug abuse.
DeWine’s lawsuit against big-pharma proves that governments abuse the legal system every bit as much as private trial lawyers. If DeWine prevails, he’ll hurt the pain management industry by increased malpractice suits and the cost of opiate-based pain meds for chronic pain patients. If narcotic pain killers or anti-anxiety drugs have the addictive properties, it’s up to doctors and patients to understand the consequences. If patients run out prescription meds and score street drugs, it’s not the responsibility of drug makers. Ohio’s attorney general would be far better going after prescription-happy doctors or patients seeking prescription without medical necessity than drug makers supplying opiate-based narcotic painkillers. With West Virginia settling a similar case for $36 million against AmeriansourceBergen, DeWine smells blood but that doesn’t make it right.
