Walgreens flooded Florida with addictive opioids, lawyer tells jury

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Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc equipped billions of opioid tablets to drug addicts and criminals, contributing to an habit epidemic in Florida, a lawyer for the state stated on Monday in a civil trial towards the pharmacy chain.

Walgreens stuffed one in 4 opioid prescriptions in Florida between 1999 and 2020, and failed to research pink flags that might have prevented medication from being diverted for unlawful use, the state’s lawyer Jim Webster stated as jurors heard opening statements within the trial held in New Port Richey.

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“Walgreens was the final line of protection in stopping improper distribution of opioids,” Webster stated. “It was the entity that really put the opioids within the arms of individuals hooked on opioids and the arms of criminals.”

Walgreens, which has denied the allegations, is the ultimate remaining defendant within the trial going down earlier than Decide Kimberly Sharpe Byrd in Pasco County Circuit Courtroom.

Florida beforehand reached $878 million in settlements with CVS Well being Corp, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd , Abbvie Inc’s Allergan unit and Endo Worldwide Plc.

Steven Derringer, Walgreen’s legal professional, stated in his opening assertion that the pharmacy chain stuffed prescriptions from docs and didn’t ignore pink flags that allowed opioids to flood Florida.

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“There are such a lot of tablets as a result of docs have written so many prescriptions for ache drugs,” Derringer stated.

Florida has spent greater than $14 billion to handle the opioid disaster within the state, and opioid overdoses have brought about almost 40,000 deaths from 1999 to 2020, Webster informed jurors.

Walgreens deserves a “enormous chunk of the blame” for overdose deaths and the state’s elevated spending, Webster stated.

Derringer countered that others must be blamed for the state’s opioid epidemic together with drug producers who lied to pharmacies about habit threat, U.S. Meals and Drug Administration officers who accredited the sale of opioids for persistent ache and docs who wrote pointless prescriptions.

Florida has collected greater than $3 billion in opioid litigation towards drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies, in keeping with Legal professional Common Ashley Moody. Most will likely be spent on efforts to mitigate the opioid disaster within the state.

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In March, Walgreens rival CVS Well being Corp agreed to pay Florida $484 million. Drugmakers Teva pays $194.8 million, Allergan pays $134.2 million and Endo pays $65 million.

Walgreens beforehand argued it was immune from being sued primarily based on a mere $3,000 settlement it reached with Florida in 2012, following an investigation into its record-keeping insurance policies and efforts to forestall the diversion of opioid medication.

Byrd dominated in March that the 2012 settlement addressed solely a single record-keeping violation and didn’t defend Walgreens from different claims. The corporate has appealed her ruling.

Whereas a big portion of the greater than 500,000 U.S. deaths from overdoses previously twenty years had been attributable to the highly effective opioid fentanyl and different illicit medication, overuse of prescription ache medicines put numerous Individuals on the trail to habit.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York; Modifying by Invoice Berkrot, Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder)