Newark Sues 11 Opioid Makers, ‘Behind The Scenes Drug Suppliers’

NEWARK, NJ — Newark is going after some of its biggest alleged drug dealers. But they don’t operate in alleyways; they work from office buildings, according to city attorneys.

A day after New Jersey state prosecutors announced that they were launching a lawsuit against Insys Therapeutics for its “greed-driven campaign” to increase the market share for its powerful opioid-fentanyl drug Subsys, Newark city officials announced a campaign of their own against almost a dozen opioid manufacturers, including the makers of OxyContin.

The city’s lawsuit alleges that the companies “unfairly and deceptively marketed and falsely advertised opioids, created a public nuisance, committed fraud and were unjustly enriched at the expense of the city.”

Named in the lawsuit are big pharma corporations such as Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Pharma Inc., the Purdue Frederick Company; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA; Cephalon Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc., and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.

As a group, the above companies manufacture, market and sell prescription opioid pain medications such as OxyContin, Butrans, Hysingla ER, Actiq, Fentora, Opana/Opana ER, Percodan, Percocet, Zydone and Duragesic.

• See related article: Big Pharma Company Allegedly Paid Docs To Prescribe Opioid

According to a Friday statement from officials, the city seeks to “hold the manufacturers financially accountable for the damage they have caused” and to force them to stop their “deceptive practices.”

City officials stated:

“Until the mid-1990s, opioids were widely thought to be too addictive for use for chronic pain conditions, which would require long-term use of the drugs at increasingly high doses. For these conditions, the risks of addiction and other side effects outweighed any benefit from the drugs. For the last two decades, however, the suit claims that the defendants sought successfully to turn that consensus on its head, primarily by covering up the risk of addiction and overstating the benefits of using opioids long-term.”

The suit also claims that Purdue deceptively and unfairly failed to report to New Jersey authorities illicit or suspicious prescribing of its opioids, Newark officials stated.

• See related article: The Addiction Industry: Scientist Says Opioid Treatment Needs To Change

Acting Corporation Counsel Kenyatta Stewart said that the city plans to “seek justice” on behalf of its citizens that suffer from opioid and heroin addiction.

“The pharmaceutical companies’ unethical practice of hiding behind the scene as the connection/supplier to local drug dealers unfairly targets these citizens,” Stewart charged.

The city is working with outside counsel Andrew J. D’Arcy of D’Arcy Johnson Day of Egg Harbor Township and Linda Singer, Elizabeth Smith, the Pennington Law Group, and David I. Ackerman of Motley Rice LLC.

Read the city’s full complaint here.

“The impact of prescription opioids on Newark has been catastrophic,” Newark Mayor Baraka said. “As the largest city in New Jersey and due to the duty we have to our citizens, we know it is our responsibility to act and protect our residents from this urgent public health crisis. Every aspect of our city has felt the severe ramifications of the opioid epidemic, not just the substantial financial impact, including all the services we provide to residents, including public health, public assistance, law enforcement, emergency care and services for families and children.”

A spokesperson for one of the named companies, Purdue, issued a statement about the city’s lawsuit to NJ.com, saying that the company attempts to balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines while working collaboratively to solve the public health challenge of opioid addiction.

“Although our products account for approximately 2% of the total opioid prescriptions, as a company, we've distributed the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, developed the first FDA-approved opioid medication with abuse-deterrent properties and partner with law enforcement to ensure access to naloxone,” the spokesperson said.

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