Prescription Opioids Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. First Foundation Elects Board Members

The foundation will handle 72.5 percent of the state’s settlement funds, while 24.5 percent will go to local governments. The remaining three percent will be held by the state in escrow to cover any outstanding attorney’s fees.

Through settlements from various lawsuits with opioid manufacturers and distributors, West Virginia stands to gain about $1 billion over the next 10 to 15 years.

The money should be used for recovery and prevention programs. To make sure it is spent correctly, the West Virginia Legislature created the West Virginia First Foundation to distribute those settlement funds in the 2023 regular session. Senate Bill 674 legally recognizes the creation of the foundation. It was signed into law on March 11.

The board includes 11 members, six selected by the counties and five appointed by the governor. All six regions elected their representatives this week via a quorum of elected officials from the towns, cities and counties of each region.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey addressed the vital need for fiscal responsibility in distributing these funds, noting the time it could take to receive all abatement funding.

“Some of our settlements, we negotiated upfront one-year flat fee, but many others were two years, five years, 10, 15 years, and it goes out over a period of time,” Morrisey said. “That’s why it’s really important that financial management is part of this process as well, so that the money doesn’t get squandered, and that there’s a lot of planning for the future.”

The board members will make decisions about how the funds will be distributed. An “expert panel” will be formed after the board is seated to advise in these funding decisions.

Dr. Michael “Tony” Kelly of Raleigh County was the first board member selected on July 5 to represent Region 6. Kelly was joined July 12 by Berkeley County Community Corrections Director Timothy Czaja and Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce, selected to represent Region 2 and Region 3 respectively.

Per the memorandum of understanding that frames the settlement distribution, board members will serve staggered terms of three years. An Executive Director will be appointed by the Attorney General and approved by the board.

At the Region 5 West Virginia First Foundation Regional Selection Meeting, Dr. Matthew Christiansen was elected to represent Cabell, Clay, Boone, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Putnam, Mason, Mingo and Wayne Counties.

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Christiansen is also West Virginia’s State Medical Director and the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau of Public Health.

“These dollars in the foundation are state dollars, but my appointment on this board is through Region Five. If there is a potential conflict of interest there, I could recuse myself from those votes,” Christiansen said. “But I think the importance here is transparency and accountability around where the money is going so that everyone can see that that there are no nefarious issues that are happening that that would account for that. But as it currently stands, I don’t see any necessary areas of overlap where that might be an issue.”

At the meeting members of the Kanawha County Commission also voted to require board meetings of the foundation be conducted in compliance with the West Virginia Open Meetings Act.

While Morrisey highlighted the need for transparency, he also said many questions won’t be answered until the board is seated.

“I think that as time goes forward, once that board gets constituted, I think they will be setting up a lot of the rules of the road in terms of how there’ll be interactions and I encourage, strongly encourage public processes where people get to participate,” Morrisey said. “So, I think that’s important. I think the goal of this was to have an open, transparent process, but also be able to bring experts together and to allow for some expertise and deliberation as well.”

Region 4 elected Marion County businessman Jonathan Board to represent them on the board Thursday. The region covers 13 counties including Monongalia, Marion, Preston, Taylor, Doddridge, Harrison, Barbour, Tucker, Gilmer, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur and Randolph.

Board says West Virginia has a unique opportunity to address the issues opioids have caused and stop the destruction.

“The question is what happens to the next generation, we are teetering on complete catastrophe,” Board said. “That’s why this is a beautiful thing where we can step in and say, we’re going to stem the tide. We’re going to fill the gap. And we’re going to find solutions. But we have to do it now.”

He acknowledged that although every community represented by the board is facing the same issue, each community will require a different approach to a solution.

“I think that’s what’s so special about this opportunity,” Board said. “Our needs in Elkins and in Fairmont, and in Morgantown and in Harrison County, they’re all different. We’re dealing with the same challenge. But it needs different solutions. And that’s why this is really valuable.”

Board also said there will need to be a robust vetting process to ensure the money is spent correctly and with communities’ best interests in mind.

This is not the first time the state has received a large amount of money to address chronic issues. At Thursday’s meeting David Street, a member of the Barbour County Commission and director of an hospital emergency department, brought up the issue of trying to administer federal broadband money appropriately.

“I live in this world every day, and every night at the commission meetings,” Street said. “My observation is this: in both worlds, I’m seeing 501(C)3s and groups pop up like a plague. It disgusts me.”

Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom, who led the Region 4 meeting, thanked Street for his comment.

“First it was broadband, now its opioid funding,” Bloom said. “All county commissions are dealing with that. I think that’s a concern that you brought up and I’m sure, you can look at several of the other commissioners shaking their heads. ”

After the meeting, Bloom echoed Morrisey and said electing the board is only the first step.

“There’s an expertise committee, and another regional committee, which we have no idea how to set that up yet or what we’re doing,” Bloom said. “I am just glad that this is over.”

On the agenda for Thursday’s meeting was also a discussion regarding best practices for the board. As in Region Five the previous day, the elected officials voted unanimously to require that the by-laws of the West Virginia First Foundation require all board meetings be conducted in compliance with the Open Meetings Act.

“We made it very clear that Region Five, Region Four are adamant, unanimously that these meetings need to be open, so everyone understands how the process is, where the money’s going, and how it’s going to be spent,” Bloom said. “We’re very worried. We don’t want to see a continuance of what happened with the tobacco, we don’t want to continue to what’s going on with broadband.”

Bloom says the region will submit the names of the other candidates to Gov. Jim Justice to be considered for his five appointments to the board.

No selections have been made by the executive office, according to the latest report from Justice’s office. It is not clear what will happen if Justice’s selections are not made clear by the Monday, July 17 deadline. The governor’s selections are subject to confirmation by the Senate.

According to Morrisey’s Press Secretary, John Mangalonzo, the regional selections still have to be certified.

“Keep in mind that an accounting firm has seven days from the date of the election to certify the votes and submit the certified results to the AG’s and governor’s offices,” Mangalonzo said in an email.

Region 1: Steven Corder
Region 2: Tim Czaja
Region 3: Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce
Region 4: Jonathan Board
Region 5: Dr. Matthew Christiansen
Region 6: Dr. Tony Kelly

Justice’s office did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

After West Virginia Opioid Verdict, Another Case Postponed

The trial for a lawsuit accusing three major U.S. drug distributors of causing a health crisis throughout West Virginia has been postponed.

A trial in a lawsuit accusing three major U.S. drug distributors of causing a health crisis throughout West Virginia was postponed Tuesday, a day after the companies prevailed in another case in the state.

Attorneys who represented Cabell County and the city of Huntington on the losing end of a verdict announced in federal court Monday were granted a continuance of a trial a day later in Kanawha County Circuit Court. The trial involves more than 100 other cities and counties statewide against the same defendants: AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp.

Attorneys for the municipalities and the companies met in the judge’s chambers just prior to the start of the hearing. Once in the courtroom, attorneys for the plaintiffs asked that the start of the trial be continued. The defense had no objections and the request was approved.

In the federal bench trial, U.S. District Judge David Faber said the plaintiffs offered no evidence that the companies distributed controlled substances to any entity that didn’t hold a proper registration from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or the state Board of Pharmacy. The defendants also had systems in place to monitor suspicious activity, as required by the Controlled Substances Act, he said.

“Plaintiffs failed to show that the volume of prescription opioids distributed in Cabell/Huntington was because of unreasonable conduct on the part of defendants,” Faber wrote in a decision that came nearly a year after closing arguments in that case.

The Cabell County-Huntington lawsuit alleged the distributors created a public nuisance by flooding the Ohio River community with 81 million pills over eight years. The suit sought more than $2.5 billion that would have gone toward abatement efforts. But Faber said West Virginia’s Supreme Court has only applied public nuisance law in the context of conduct that interferes with public property or resources. He said to extend the law to cover the marketing and sale of opioids “is inconsistent with the history and traditional notions of nuisance.”

The companies blamed an increase in prescriptions written by doctors along with poor communication and pill quotas set by federal agents.

Huntington has long been an epicenter of the nationwide opioid addiction and overdose epidemic that has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths over the past two decades. That status led West Virginia to being aggressive in lawsuits over the trauma earlier than most states. It settled with the three distributors in 2017 and 2019 in deals worth a total of $73 million.

But the state did not participate in a $21 billion nationwide settlement with those companies that was finalized this year and would have resulted in a larger payout for West Virginia than what the state received in the earlier deals.

The nationwide impact of Monday’s ruling in West Virginia could be muted because the companies have struck the broader settlement, which is intended to have most of the funds go to fighting the opioid crisis.

In another lawsuit, the state of West Virginia reached a tentative $161.5 million settlement in May with Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVie’s Allergan and their family of companies and a $26 million settlement in March with Endo Health Solutions.

U.S. Judge Finds For 3 Drug Distributors In W.Va. Opioid Lawsuit

A federal judge has ruled in favor of three major U.S. drug distributors in a landmark lawsuit filed in West Virginia.

A federal judge on Monday ruled in favor of three major U.S. drug distributors in a landmark lawsuit that accused them of causing a health crisis by distributing 81 million pills over eight years in one West Virginia county ravaged by opioid addiction.

The verdict came nearly a year after closing arguments in a bench trial in the lawsuit filed by Cabell County and the city of Huntington against AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp.

“The opioid crisis has taken a considerable toll on the citizens of Cabell County and the City of Huntington. And while there is a natural tendency to assign blame in such cases, they must be decided not based on sympathy, but on the facts and the law,” U.S. District Judge David Faber wrote in the 184-page ruling. “In view of the court’s findings and conclusions, the court finds that judgment should be entered in defendants’ favor.”

Cabell County attorney Paul Farrell had argued the distributors should be held responsible for sending a “tsunami” of prescription pain pills into the community and that the defendants’ conduct was unreasonable, reckless and disregarded the public’s health and safety in an area ravaged by opioid addiction.

The companies blamed an increase in prescriptions written by doctors along with poor communication and pill quotas set by federal agents.

While the lawsuit alleged the distributors created a public nuisance, Faber said West Virginia’s Supreme Court has only applied public nuisance law in the context of conduct that interferes with public property or resources. He said to extend the law to cover the marketing and sale of opioids “is inconsistent with the history and traditional notions of nuisance.”

Faber noted that the plaintiffs offered no evidence that the defendants distributed controlled substances to any entity that didn’t hold a proper registration from the Drug Enforcement Agency or the state Board of Pharmacy. The defendants also had suspicious monitoring systems in place as required by the Controlled Substances Act, he said.

“Plaintiffs failed to show that the volume of prescription opioids distributed in Cabell/Huntington was because of unreasonable conduct on the part of defendants,” Faber wrote.

In a statement, Cardinal Health said the judge’s ruling “recognizes what we demonstrated in court, which is that we do not manufacture, market, or prescribe prescription medications but instead only provide a secure channel to deliver medications of all kinds from manufacturers to our thousands of hospital and pharmacy customers that dispense them to their patients based on doctor-ordered prescriptions.

“As we continue to fulfill our limited role in the pharmaceutical supply chain, we operate a constantly adaptive and rigorous system to combat controlled substance diversion and remain committed to being part of the solution to the opioid crisis.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they were “deeply disappointed” in the ruling.

“We felt the evidence that emerged from witness statements, company documents, and extensive datasets showed these defendants were responsible for creating and overseeing the infrastructure that flooded West Virginia with opioids. Outcome aside, our appreciation goes out to the first responders, public officials, treatment professionals, researchers, and many others who gave their testimony to bring the truth to light.”

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said the ruling was “a blow to our city and community, but we remain resilient even in the face of adversity.

“The citizens of our city and county should not have to bear the principal responsibility of ensuring that an epidemic of this magnitude never occurs again.”

The plaintiffs had sought more than $2.5 billion that would have gone toward abatement efforts. The goal of the 15-year abatement plan would have been to reduce overdoses, overdose deaths and the number of people with opioid use disorder.

Last year in Cabell County, an Ohio River county of 93,000 residents, there were 1,067 emergency responses to suspected overdoses — significantly higher than each of the previous three years — with at least 158 deaths. So far this year, suspected overdoses have prompted at least 358 responses and 465 emergency room visits, according to preliminary data from the state Department of Health and Human Resources’ Office of Drug Control Policy.

The U.S. addiction crisis was inflamed by the COVID-19 pandemic with drug overdose deaths surpassing 100,000 in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a year.

The Cabell-Huntington lawsuit was the first time allegations involving opioid distribution ended up at federal trial. The result could have huge effects on similar lawsuits. Some have resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements, including a tentative $161.5 million settlement reached in May by the state of West Virginia with Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVie’s Allergan and their family of companies.

In all, more than 3,000 lawsuits have been filed by state and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and other entities in state and federal courts over the toll of opioids. Most allege that either drug makers, distribution companies or pharmacies created a public nuisance in a crisis that’s been linked to the deaths of 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.

In separate, similar lawsuits, the state of West Virginia reached a $37 million settlement with McKesson in 2019, and $20 million with Cardinal Health and $16 million with AmerisourceBergen in 2017.

W.Va. Took On J&J Alone And Got $99 Million Settlement

The drugmaker Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has settled for $99 million with the state of West Virginia for its alleged role in the opioid crisis.

“It’s far higher than what anyone ever expected West Virginia to get,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said.

The deal came two weeks into a bench trial naming Janssen and two other drugmakers, Teva and Allergan, as defendants.

A fourth pain pill manufacturer, Endo, was named in the case but settled before the trial began.

Johnson & Johnson said it would settle for billions of dollars to end lawsuits across the nation. But West Virginia did not sign on to that deal. Instead the state with the highest rate of drug overdose deaths said it would take the drug maker on alone. Morrisey said that’s why the state will receive twice as much as it would have from the national settlement.

“That’s because of all the work we’re doing out of this office to argue that settlements should be based on severity not based on population.”

Counties and cities in West Virginia have 45 days to approve the deal. Morrisey’s office put forth a formula earlier this year to decide how opioid settlement funds would be distributed. It says a quarter would go to municipalities and the rest would go to a tax exempt nonprofit organization created by the state to distribute the money. The governor and municipalities would appoint the nonprofit’s board members.

Morrisey said the settlement is a win in part because it would send money to combat the crisis sooner rather than later.

“You reach an agreement because there’s obviously going to be risk for both sides in a trial,” Morrisey said. “We can save lives this year.”

Huntington and Cabell County took three drug distributors to trial about a year ago and a verdict has not yet been issued.

The current opioid trial in Kanawha County will continue for up to six more weeks. Further settlements could be reached before the end of the trial if the state, defendants and judges agree to it.

“We’re only going to settle if there’s a deal on the table that is absolutely in the best interest of West Virginia,” Morrisey said.

W.Va. And Drug Makers Give Opening Arguments In Kanawha County Trial

West Virginia has taken international drug makers Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., Allergen and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. to court in a trial expected to last up to two months.

The state of West Virginia has gone to trial against three prescription opioid makers. Opening arguments were held Monday in Charleston.

West Virginia has taken international drug makers Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., Allergen and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. to court in a trial expected to last up to two months.

Previously filed separately in Boone County in 2019, the lawsuits are now being heard by the Mass Litigation Panel in Kanawha County. Since 2019 other drug makers have settled out of court for tens of millions of dollars.

Mercer County Circuit Judge Derek Swope is presiding over the bench trial.

Showing a slide of a forest engulfed in flames, attorneys for the state said the companies created an environment for the addiction crisis to take hold. The state’s counsel says these companies didn’t accurately depict how addictive their generic painkillers were and that not enough was done to curtail suspiciously large orders of their products.

The defendants deny these claims, saying opioids were essential in treating chronic pain.

This is a “public nuisance” argument which other parties, including West Virginia municipalities, have used successfully and unsuccessfully against drug makers and distributors.

Cabell County and the City of Huntington used that argument against distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson in a trial last year. More than eight months have passed since that trial finished, and there is still no verdict in that case.

While Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family have taken the brunt of opioid lawsuits and media coverage, Teva and other generic opioid makers are responsible for a majority of pills distributed in the U.S. between 2006 and 2012, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

Judge: Opioid Distribution Data Not for Public Consumption

A federal judge has ruled that state and local governments cannot publicize federal government data about where prescription opioids were distributed — a blow to news organizations seeking to report more deeply on the nation’s overdose and addiction crisis.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is providing the information to state and local governments to use in their lawsuits against companies that make, distribute and sell the drugs. Sharing the data even with them came with a long list of conditions, including that it could be used only for law enforcement and litigation.

Cleveland-based Judge Dan Polster, who is overseeing more than 800 of the lawsuits in federal court, ruled Thursday that the data cannot be made public, saying that doing so would reveal trade secrets and “eviscerate” the terms under which the information was shared.

The federal government collects information on the distribution of all controlled dangerous substances.

Polster has scheduled the first trials in the matter to start in March 2019. He’s been pushing in the meantime for a national settlement. The drug industry and government entities — including states that have not filed lawsuits — have been negotiating for months even as the cases are prepared for trial.

News organizations, including The Associated Press, had asked for the data through public records requests made to local governments.

A West Virginia judge made some of the data public in 2016. The Charleston Gazette-Mail of West Virginia used it to report that 780 million pills flowed into the state of just 1.8 million residents over a six-year period. During that time, more than 1,700 West Virginians died from overdoses of opioids, a category of drugs that includes prescription opioids such as OxyContin and Vicodin, and illegal ones such as heroin and illicitly made fentanyl.

HD Media, owner of The Gazette-Mail, and The Washington Post argued in legal filings that disclosing the information might embarrass companies or government agencies, but that it would provide public accountability on behalf of people harmed by opioids.

Paul Farrell, a lead lawyer for local governments suing over the drugs, said the data would also show the public which pharmacies sold huge amounts of the drugs.

Combined, opioids killed more than 42,000 Americans in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.