The US Department of Justice is suing one of the nation’s largest drug distributors for failing to report suspicious prescription opioid orders, saying the company’s “years of repeated violations” contributed to the deadly opioid epidemic in the United States. nation.
In a civil lawsuit filed Thursday, the department alleges that AmerisourceBergen and two subsidiaries violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to report “at least hundreds of thousands” of suspicious orders for prescription pain relievers to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The department is seeking potentially billions of dollars in fines.
“For years, AmerisourceBergen prioritized profit over its legal obligations and over the well-being of Americans,” Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said during a news conference.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, distributors of restricted drugs are required to monitor and report suspicious orders to the drug agency.
The lawsuit alleges that AmerisourceBergen failed to report “numerous pharmacy orders that AmerisourceBergen knew were likely to facilitate the diversion of prescription opioids.”
The complaint cites five of those pharmacies.
A Florida pharmacy and a West Virginia pharmacy received opioids from AmerisourceBergen that the company allegedly knew were “likely being sold in parking lots for cash,” according to the complaint.
In Colorado, AmerisourceBergen distributed prescription pain relievers to a pharmacy it allegedly knew to be its largest purchaser of oxycodone 30mg tablets in the state.
AmerisourceBergen identified 11 patients at the pharmacy as possible “drug addicts.” Two of those patients later died of overdoses, according to the lawsuit.
In New Jersey, an online pharmacy that received opioids from AmerisourceBergen pleaded guilty to illegally selling controlled substances, while the chief pharmacist at another pharmacy was charged with drug diversion.
“These incidents were part of AmerisourceBergen’s systematic failure, including the dramatic understaffing and funding of its compliance programs,” US Attorney Philip Sellinger for the District of New Jersey said during the press conference. “In one year, AmerisourceBergen spent more on taxis and office supplies than on the Controlled Substances Act compliance budget.”
In a statement, AmerisourceBergen said the lawsuit represented an attempt to “shift the responsibility for interpreting and enforcing the law from the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to an industry they are tasked with regulating and policing.” .
The five pharmacies were “selected” by the Justice Department from the thousands served by the company, according to the statement.
AmerisourceBergen is one of the top three pharmaceutical distributors in the US. The other two are McKesson and Cardinal Health.
In February, the companies, along with pharmaceutical maker Johnson & Johnson, agreed to pay $26 billion to settle thousands of civil lawsuits filed by state and local governments. Most of the money will go towards treatment and prevention.
The US drug epidemic has killed more than 1 million people since 1999, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths in the United States. Of an estimated 108,000 drug overdose deaths reported in the country last year, 81,000 involved opioids such as fentanyl, according to the CDC.
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