Corporate pharmacies contributed to opioid crisis, Ohio jury finds

STATEN ISLAND, NY – An Ohio jury found Tuesday that a trio of corporate pharmacies contributed to the opioid crisis.

Pharmacies at CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart helped fuel the Lake and Trumbull counties, Buckeye State crisis, a Cleveland federal jury found after six days of deliberation.

According to Advance / SILive.com’s sister site, Cleveland.com, a county attorney, Mark Lanier, said companies were aware of the prevalence of opioids and how it was affecting sales in their stores.

The US District Judge Dan Polster will decide in a process next year what damage the companies owe.

The companies have denied misconduct and announced that they will appeal the decision.

In a written statement, Walmart said the judge falsely allowed the trial to continue even after a juror broke court rules by doing her own research on the case.

“We will appeal this flawed judgment, which reflects a process that was framed in favor of the plaintiffs’ attorneys and was riddled with notable legal and factual errors,” the company wrote.

“Plaintiffs’ attorneys sued Walmart for searching deep pockets while ignoring the real causes of the opioid crisis – like doctors at the pill factory, illegal drugs, and regulators sleeping at the counter – and they falsely claimed that pharmacists need doctors of some sort and in ways the law never intended and many federal and state health officials say it affects the doctor-patient relationship.

The ruling was the latest move in the ongoing battle for the accountability of companies that benefited from the country’s opioid crisis.

Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned a 2019 ruling that found drug maker Johnson & Johnson owed the state $ 465 million.

“We recognize that the opioid crisis is a hugely complex public health problem and we have deep compassion for all of us,” Johnson & Johnson wrote in a statement following the decision.

“The company’s actions in relation to the marketing and promotion of these important prescription opioid drugs have been appropriate and responsible. The company is no longer selling prescription opioid drugs in the United States as part of our ongoing efforts to focus on transformative innovation and serve unmet patient needs. ”

https://www.silive.com/news/2021/11/corporate-pharmacies-contributed-to-opioid-crisis-ohio-jury-finds.html