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While opiate addiction crosses the United States like wildfire, politicians are targeting drug makers who have ignited the flames. Their attempt to extract billions of dollars from Big Pharma to fight the epidemic is a fair and just fight – but where the victory is far from guaranteed.
States, counties and cities have filed lawsuits accusing the industry of hiding the risks badociated with opioid painkillers, while resorting to aggressive tactics to boost sales. The main target among them is Purdue Pharma, which sells OxyContin, an infamous drug known as "heroin in a pill" that made billionaires of Purdue owners, the Sackler family.
The Mbadachusetts Attorney General opened a new front in the legal battle last month when she sued Purdue's current and former officers and directors – including several Sacklers and a member of the GlaxoSmithKline Board of Directors, for their alleged role in American opioid addiction. epidemic.
The backlash echoes the fight against cigarette manufacturers, which concluded in 1998 when they agreed to pay about $ 200 billion to the US states to offset the cost of treating sick smokers.
It is undeniable that the cost of the opioid addiction epidemic is huge and could even end up exceeding the bill for tobacco-related illnesses. The sad reality about smokers who develop lung cancer is that many die quickly, so their impact on public finances drops to zero.
This crisis also kills people – 42,200 died from overdose in 2016 – but many of the 2.6 million Americans with opioid abuse disorders are going to and come for decades, which will severely strain public services.
Already, cracks are beginning to appear. In the United States, drug treatment is primarily provided by a mosaic of thousands of independent operators more accustomed to alcoholism than to opioid abuse. Their inability to cope with the epidemic means that the police are fighting drug-related crime, the emergency rooms are about to break, and child protection offers are struggling to find solutions. homes for displaced children. A recent report estimates that the crisis costs Ohio up to $ 8.8 billion a year, more than its combined annual budget for primary and secondary education.
But if the financial arguments for restitution are clear, the legal arguments are less so. While there was a direct link between cigarette sales and lung cancer deaths, many people with opioid addiction have since evolved prescription painkillers to heroin. The tendency of traffickers to cut street drugs with fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid imported from China, is responsible for an increase in overdoses.
Other actors also share some blame, from the US Food and Drug Administration, which approved painkillers, to doctors who prescribed pills so generously and to wholesalers who did not reported suspicious orders. Then there are academics who have written studies – paid for by pharmaceutical companies – concluding that there is virtually no risk of dependency. The many links in the chain will make it more difficult for lawyers to show that companies are the main suspects – the "immediate cause" of the epidemic.
Even though the lawsuits are successful, it is not clear that the drug makers responsible will be able to muster something close to the $ 200 billion agreed in tobacco regulation, which requires manufacturers of cigarettes to pay regularly. Last year, British American Tobacco, the largest company in its sector, returned nearly $ 4.6 billion. Purdue generated just $ 1.8 billion in OxyContin sales in 2017, according to Symphony Health Solutions. Nor is it certain that all the cash generated by OxyContin is still held by Purdue, a private company that does not have to declare its finances. It is likely that much of the money has been underwritten over the years by the Sackler family, which was worth about $ 13 billion in 2016, according to Forbes.
Large pharmaceutical companies have larger pockets, but they reduced their exposure to opioids when the crisis began to rage. Johnson & Johnson sold its pain relief franchise to Depomed, a much smaller company, for $ 1 billion in 2015. It also unloaded its opium poppy processing business, just like GSK.
The states hope that drug manufacturers will set up and that wholesalers and drugstore chains will pay money to protect their reputation and limit their legal costs. But any agreement will take years to agree, and even longer for funds to start flowing.
Meanwhile, states must determine how they will pay for this crisis. First, they should put pressure on Washington. When President Donald Trump declared a "public health emergency" last year instead of a "national emergency," the subtle difference meant that there was no clearance federal funds.
I hope that the companies and individuals who have benefited from this crisis must restore their earnings, but do not confuse the moral crusade with a well thought out plan. The United States has to invest tens of billions of dollars in a national network of treatment centers where addicts can get help, regardless of their ability to pay. The opioid crisis is acute, and it's happening now. His victims can not afford to wait.
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