LA has filed a civil lawsuit against 9 big drug manufacturers... what do you guys think? To me, it seems as if these lawsuits are coming in a bit late, and they are civil, so I don't think like they will have much impact since the companies can easily pay pretty much any fine.
Does this change your perception of who is a victim of the Opioid Addiction? A lot of what we read seemed to focus on medium-sized cities and suburban areas, but now it seems as if the crisis is affecting major cities.
Here is the links and some quotes:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-opioid-city-lawsuit-20180503-story.html
City Atty. Mike Feuer said that prescription drug manufacturers and distributors encouraged doctors to prescribe potent painkillers for chronic, long-term pain and downplayed the addictive nature of the drugs. The drugmakers also failed to report suspicious sales, he said.
"I will not let Los Angeles become the next West Virginia or Ohio when it comes to the devastating effects of the opioid crisis," he said at a City Hall news conference.
L.A.'s civil lawsuit names Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, Insys Therapeutics and Mallinckrodt. The complaint alleges that the companies borrowed from the "tobacco industry's playbook" by using false and deceptive marketing and business practices to boost opioid sales.
The firms sought to "shift the way in which doctors and patients think about pain, specifically, to encourage the use of opioids to treat ... the masses who suffer from common chronic pain conditions," the suit says.
I think this lawsuit is somewhat of a reaction to the increasing coverage and acceptance that the US is experiencing a opioid crisis. Might start a wave of lawsuits from many places against Big Pharma. My perception of who is affected by opioids was not all that much changed as I have come to assume opioids are affecting most areas in some form.
ReplyDeleteI agree that these lawsuits seem a bit late.... but it does not change my perception of the opioid crisis. Nobody is immune to this opioid crisis, whether you are from a huge city or a tiny village.
ReplyDeleteI like that cities are filing suits against these drug companies because I think there is truth to notion that they downplayed the addictiveness of their drugs. I just hope that any money resulting from these lawsuits goes directly to helping the people who are affected by the epidemic.
ReplyDeleteIn the reading summaries of Dreamland, I raised a question: "Why did Purdue win hundreds of drug addiction-related lawsuits in the past?" For me, this lawsuit sued by the city of Los Angeles seems to be an important milestone. Government has no tolerance towards dark capitalism, which only considers profit rather than social security.
ReplyDeleteHopefully other cities will follow suit and start holding these drug companies responsible. As we see more of that, it will become more normal. Just like everything else in our society, as things normalize, then you'll see breakthroughs and you'll see things change.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see how exactly Big Pharma got away with their tactics for so long.
ReplyDeleteEven if actions such as this are being done a little late, I still think that this is yet another step in the right direction and others should tame it as an example .
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