Pharmaceutical giants to pay Baltimore $266M in opioid epidemic lawsuit
Two pharmaceutical giants were ordered to pay $266 million to the city of Baltimore after a jury found them liable of fueling the opioid crisis, a nationwide epidemic of addiction that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year.
A jury found Texas-based healthcare products company McKesson liable for $192 million in damages and Pennsylvania-based drug wholesaler Cencora for $74 million.
Baltimore accused the companies of failing to report "suspicious orders" of prescription drugs such as oxycodone and hydrocodone to federal authorities, subsequently contributing to the city's opioid epidemic. Next month, the city will ask Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City for $9 billion from the companies in abatement to pay for opioid crisis solutions.
Mayor Brandon Scott applauded the verdict, saying the jury agreed that the "outsized impact on our city was a direct result of the actions of big pharma.”
"The opioid overdose epidemic has taken a toll on every community in this country, but in Baltimore, it has touched every resident in some way and devastated whole families and whole neighborhoods,” Scott said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 81,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdose deaths in 2023, about a 3% decrease from the previous year. In Baltimore alone, state data found an average of 866 people suffered opioid-related deaths each year from 2017 to 2021.
2018 lawsuit accuses companies of fueling opioid crisis
Susman Godfrey, the law firm representing Baltimore, said this week’s jury decision is the first successful verdict any jurisdiction has reached in opioid litigation against McKesson and Cencora. It comes nearly seven years after Baltimore filed its lawsuit against more than a dozen drug manufacturers, wholesalers and prescribers for their alleged role in the opioid epidemic.
"Justice was served," said Bill Carmody, Baltimore’s lead attorney and partner at Susman Godfrey. “No city in America has been hit harder with the opioid epidemic than Baltimore and the jury's verdict is an important step in helping Baltimore recover to continue to be one of the best cities in America in a place where all of its citizens can be healthy and succeed."
Baltimore opted out of a national settlement with pharmaceutical companies over opioid addiction to pursue its own litigation for larger payouts. The city said it has since gained over $400 million in settlements with other companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, Allergan and Teva.
Court filings blamed McKesson and Cencora, previously AmerisourceBergen, as well as Cardinal Health for failing to identify and report suspicious opioid orders as they are required to do under federal law, which led to "dangerous quantities" of opioids flooding Baltimore and other communities across the U.S.
"The City now seeks to hold Defendants responsible for their roles in the epidemic, including by demanding contribution to the expensive solutions necessary to abate the ongoing crisis," the 2018 complaint read.
The complaint noted that McKesson has previously admitted it had failed to report some suspicious drug orders in a settlement with the Justice Department in 2017. The company agreed to pay $150 million and suspend sales of controlled substances from distribution centers in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan and Florida.
The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit against Cencora in December 2022. Federal prosecutors accused the company of failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and said the company knew they were “likely facilitating diversion of prescription opioids.” The lawsuit is ongoing.
Following Tuesday's jury decision in Baltimore, both companies said they are preparing to challenge the verdict.
Mike Iorfino, a spokesperson for Cencora, told Paste BN the verdict “further frays the legal and ethical tightrope the company is being asked to walk between providing access to necessary medications and acting to prevent diversion of controlled substances.”
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict, which we believe does not reflect the facts of the case,” Iorfino said. “Our teams are analyzing the ruling and evaluating all options moving forward, including appealing today’s verdict.”
A spokesperson for McKesson told Paste BN the company was prepared to file motions to challenge the verdict and appeal if those are denied.
"We respect but disagree with the jury’s verdict, which fundamentally misunderstands McKesson’s limited role as a pharmaceutical distributor," the spokesperson said.
'Game-changing figure'
The mayor said this week’s court decision brings Baltimore’s total restitution funds to more than $668.5 million, a “game-changing figure” in addressing the opioid crisis. The city has said the money will be used to fund programs and services for substance use prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction.
Baltimore makes up 9% of Maryland’s population but represents 44% of the state’s overdose deaths, according to the Baltimore City Health Department. Overall, Baltimore has an average of more than two overdose deaths a day. The department also noted that an estimated 80% of the city's opioid use disorder cases between 2010 and 2021 began with prescription opioids, before residents turned to illicit drugs.
About 125 million opioid prescriptions were dispensed in 2023 across the U.S., according to the CDC, with "wide variation" between states. The agency noted nearly 8.6 million Americans as young as 12 years old reported misusing prescription opioids.