Lawyers for the city of Baltimore laid out their case that two opioid distributors shirked their responsibility to monitor, report and stop drugs from going to pharmacies that were giving out suspicious amounts of opioids on Wednesday.
The long-awaited trial pits the city against McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, two companies that, combined, distributed about 320 million oxycodone pills in the city, accounting for about 60% of drugs funneled into the area.
McKesson and Amerisource are the only companies still standing after six companies, including Walgreens, Cardinal Health, CVS and others settled out of court.
The city’s lawyers led by Bill Carmody, a partner at Susman Godfrey, made the case to jurors in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City that the companies ignored warnings from the Drug Enforcement Agency that even one out-of-line pharmacy could pose huge dangers to the community.
The lawyers stated that the companies purposely did not report pharmacies that overfilled opioids and even worked with the pharmacies to skirt laws and fill the most prescriptions without raising flags.
To that end, the city’s lawyers are alleging that the flood of opioid prescriptions, poorly regulated distribution and loose oversight hooked a disproportionate amount of Baltimoreans on the drugs and caused up to 80% of the opioid use disorder in the city.
That, the lawyers say, caused an influx in overdoses and a strain on city resources.
McKesson and Amerisource are claiming that they were purely the middlemen in the situation.
Amerisource’s lead lawyer Robert Nicholas, a partner at Reed Smith, said the city’s suit is purely about money and that the company complied with what the Drug Enforcement Agency asked.
The companies’ attorneys tried to pin the blame of the opioid epidemic on drug cartels and gangs for selling illegal drugs and on doctors for overprescribing legal opioids.
The lawyers claimed that the companies had no responsibility to decide if someone was in need of opioids or not, but rather it was the doctor who decided that.
The lawyers also stated that the Drug Enforcement Agency was notified of all drugs that were moved and therefore should have been more aware of issues.
In 2022, Nicholas successfully defended Amerisource in a case where West Virginia tried to tie distributors to the opioid crisis.
However, some of the claims made by the companies have been put into question by the DEA.
McKesson, for instance, was slapped with a fine in 2008 for continuing to sell opioids to fill suspicious orders to pharmacies.
The DEA whistleblowers said that rules were changed by lobbyists to allow companies to regulate themselves, and that the DEA did not have the resources to oversee the millions orders being placed.
Between 2014 and 2016, the two companies spent nearly $7 million in lobbying bills that focused on deregulation.
McKesson has already admitted fault in the past cases.
Seven years ago, McKesson settled a case with the U.S. Justice Department.
In that settlement, the company accepted that it did not properly report suspicious orders of pharmaceuticals or maintain preventative measures to prevent the diversion of drugs.
The city is using that evidence in the case.
To date, Baltimore has received $402.5 million from five different companies in settlements related to opioids.
The city also settled with Johnson & Johnson earlier this week, however, the terms are still under wraps.
If the city, McKesson and Amerisource do not settle, the trial could go until November.
