[ad_1]
The state of Florida has sued the country's two largest drugstore chains for their sale of opioids, an epidemic that has killed thousands of people in recent years.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the state had amended an initial lawsuit, filed in May, to include both CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens. Insys Therapeutics, the specialty pharmaceutical company that produces Subsys, the brand name for one type of fentanyl, has also been added to the complaint.
CVS and Walgreens are the two largest pharmacy chains in the country, according to health marketing company SK & A, with around 18,000 stores between the two brands. Walgreens operates 820 stores and CVS operates 754 stores in Florida, according to the lawsuit.
AP
"We will continue to look for companies that have played a role in creating the opioid crisis," Bondi said in a statement. "Thousands of Floridians have suffered the actions of the accused."
The lawsuit filed in May included Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin; Endo Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of Percocet and Opana; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of fentanyl drug Duragesic; and Teva Pharmaceutical, one of the largest generic drug companies in the world.
"The consumption of opioids has had tragic consequences for Florida communities and the state has been forced to spend huge sums as a result of the opioid crisis," reads the report. introduction of the complaint. "The crisis has a cause: the defendants have cooperated to sell and ship increasing amounts of opioids in Florida."
Florida has been hit hard by the opioid crisis in the country.
In 2016, according to the latest available data, 2,798 people have died from opioid overdose, according to the National Institute for Combating Drug Abuse. The rate of 14.4 deaths per 100,000 population is 1.1 times higher than the national average.
AP
According to the NIH, the rate of opioid overdose deaths in Florida in 1999 was only 2.6 out of 100,000. That number jumped to 8.7 per 100,000 a decade later and to 9.4 in 2015.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of overdose deaths involving prescription opioids nationwide was five times higher in 2016 than in 1999.
"The defendants have collected billions of dollars in revenue while they knew, or should reasonably have known, that they were causing immense harm to the state and its citizens," the lawsuit said.
CVS has distributed 700 million doses of opioids in Florida from 2006 to 2014, according to the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, a Walgreens distribution center stocked 285,800 orders of oxycodone in just one month in Florida.
The state demands a jury trial in civil cases.
Bondi was mentioned as a possible replacement for US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which President Donald Trump confirmed on Saturday.
ABC Don & Christopher Donato contributed to this report.
Source link
