Major NY Opioid Trial in Delayed Due to COVID-19 Concerns

A district court in New York recently announced that a major opioid trial slated to take place next week will be delayed due to COVID-19 concerns. 

The trial against multiple opioid manufacturers and distributors was set to begin on March 20, 2020, but will be delayed because of the growing coronavirus epidemic, announced Vito C. Caruso, the District Administrative Judge for the 4^th Judicial District of New York. 

A controlled date conference is set for April 14 to determine the trial’s next steps. 

“New York’s opioid trial will have the eyes of the nation on it and we very much expect individuals from around the country to be in attendance. Out of an abundance of caution, we fully accept and agree with the court’s decision to delay a trial against the opioid manufacturers and distributors until the ongoing risk of coronavirus subsides,” General Letitia James, New York Attorney, said in a statement. 

“While our first duty must be to ensure the safety of every individual in attendance at trial, as the court stated today, this trial will not be delayed a single minute longer than necessary. Once the threat of COVID-19 dies down, the deadly scheme perpetrated by these companies will be presented in open court and laid bare before the American people. We are committed to holding each of these companies responsible for their role in the opioid crisis, and will continue fighting for justice for victims.”

Last March, Attorney General James alleged that six manufacturers and Purdue’s Sackler family engaged in false marketing practices surrounding the dangers of opioid use. As a result, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, devastating families and communities. 

The lawsuit stated that the six national opioid manufacturers, the Sackler Family, and four national prescription drug distributors were significantly responsible for creating the opioid epidemic that ravaged New York. 

The six manufacturers include Purdue Pharma and its affiliates, members of the Sackler Family (owners of Purdue), Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates (Johnson & Johnson), Mallinckrodt LLC and its affiliates, Endo Health Solutions and its affiliates, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and its affiliates and Allergan Finance, LLC and its affiliates. 

The distributors in the complaint included McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, and Rochester Drug Cooperative Inc. 

The complaint alleges that the opioid epidemic is especially destructive to New York because of the fraud, misconduct, and gross negligence of the distributors who buy controlled substances from manufacturers to sell to individual pharmacies and other dispensers. 

“The prescription drug distributors failed to exercise their duties to detect and report diversion of opioids through poorly designed, poorly resourced, and poorly executed suspicious order monitoring programs,” the lawsuit states.

Many of the shipments led to suspicion, with high percentages of prescriptions paid for in cash or written by providers who had been in legal trouble previously. 

Additionally, the manufacturers and distributors misled the public about the safety of the products, claiming that the opioids would “improve quality of life and cognitive functioning.” The companies also promoted that the products were not addictive and encouraged individuals to try the opioids. 

Their fraud and misconduct took the lives of thousands of New Yorkers and left many more addicted to opioids, the lawsuit alleges. 

“The opioid epidemic has ravaged families and communities across New York,” said James. “We found that pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors engaged in years of deceptive marketing about the risks of opioids and failed to exercise their basic duty to report suspicious behavior, leading to the crisis we are living with today. As the Sackler Family and the other defendants grew richer, New Yorkers’ health grew poorer and our state was left to foot the bill. The manufacturers and distributors of opioids are to blame for this crisis and it is past time they take responsibility.”