PHILADELPHIA _ Philadelphia on Wednesday became the latest in a long line of communities that is suing pharmaceutical companies because of the opioid crisis.
The suit filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court "seeks to halt deceptive marketing practices and pay treatment costs for residents suffering opioid addiction," the city said in a press release. The suit also aims to recover costs the city has incurred responding to the epidemic.
Among the named companies: Allergan, Cephalon, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions and Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharmaceuticals LP, Purdue Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Purdue Frederick Company Inc.
"We need them to stop claiming these drugs are necessary for long-term chronic illness," City Solicitor Sozi Pedro Tulante said. "They clearly are not."
In Philadelphia, drug overdose deaths in 2017 are expected to reach 1,200, city officials said.
"At the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1984, there were 935 deaths in the city," said Health Commissioner Thomas Farley.
Nationally, since 1999, there have been more than 165,000 deaths related to opioids. In 2016, there were 63,600 overdose drug deaths in the U.S.
The lawsuit states that while Americans make up only 4.6 percent of the world's population, they consume 80 percent of the "global opioid supply." From 1999 to 2010, the sale of prescription opioids in the U.S. nearly quadrupled. In 2010, there were enough opioids prescribed _ 254 million prescriptions _ to medicate every American adult around the clock for a month.
One in 4 families has been touched by the prescription drug crisis and many believe the pharmaceutical companies bear some responsibility. In Philadelphia, 1 in 3 adults has received a prescription opioid in the past 12 months.
Tulante said along with the rise of opioid use came "historically high" incidents of babies being born addicted to the drugs, increased cases of hepatitis C infections and emergency room visits.
"This issue did not happen overnight nor will it be resolved overnight," said David T. Jones, commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. He said the city has worked to address the addiction problem including providing treatment to those in prisons and worked to help them remain in treatment once they are released.
"As the country continues to focus on the driving factors that are front and center in the opioid crisis, the importance of raising awareness about the risks of opioid misuse and abuse is critical now more than ever," said Jill Courtney, spokesperson for the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a national trade association representing wholesale distributors. "That's why HDA is working with partners at all levels of the pharmaceutical supply chain to identify solutions that will help fix this national problem."
The city joins a growing list of municipalities nationwide that have filed suits against the manufacturers of addictive painkillers.
In September, Delaware County became the first county in the state to sue to try and recover tens of millions of dollars it has spent on treatment centers and medical services for addicted residents. The manufacturers named in Delaware County's suit include locally based Teva, Janssen, Endo, and the Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma. In October, New Jersey filed suit against Insys Therapeutics Inc., manufacturer of the fentanyl-based painkiller Subsys.
Families are also filing suits.
Last fall, the family of 39-year-old Joey Caltagirone, of Philadelphia, sued Cephalon and Teva alleging the drugmakers heavy marketing tactics were responsible for his addiction after a doctor prescribed 5,918 fentanyl lollipops from August 2005 to December 2011 for migraines, a condition for which it was not approved to treat. Caltagirone died three years later from an overdose of methadone.
More than 200 lawsuits against drug companies have been consolidated in a Cleveland federal court as part of a "multidistrict litigation." The suits have been brought by municipalities across the country, including those in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. Suits of similar nature are consolidated to cut down on redundant filings that could delay the already long process.
