The Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2018: Trump calls on Justice Department to sue opioid companies
WASHINGTON—President Trump on Thursday called on his attorney general to sue opioid companies, his latest move in an administration-wide effort to combat the opioid epidemic.
In a cabinet meeting Thursday at the White House, Mr. Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to bring federal lawsuits against certain companies supplying opioids to hospitals, rather than joining state lawsuits. He also charged Mr. Sessions with investigating fentanyl coming from China and Mexico, countries he said were “sending their garbage and killing our people.”
“It’s almost a form of warfare,” Mr. Trump said. Mr. Sessions said he would follow Mr. Trump’s request.
“I’d be very firm on that,” Mr. Trump added. “It’s a disgrace and we can stop it.”
Mr. Trump earlier this year called for new steps to combat the opioid epidemic. Those included pushing to reduce opioid prescriptions by a third over three years, asking the Justice Department to seek more death-penalty cases against drug traffickers under current law, and calling for federal support to expand the availability of overdose-reversal medication.
The Justice Department in April requested to join settlement talks in sprawling government litigation against the makers and distributors of prescription painkillers.
More than a dozen states, including Arkansas, Ohio, New Jersey and Delaware, as well as municipalities and Native American tribes have filed more than 1,000 lawsuits against drugmakers, claiming an aggressive marketing of prescription painkillers contributed to the opioid addiction epidemic.
Among the companies targeted are Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson , Endo International PLC and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. The suits generally claim the companies misrepresented the addictive risk of their medicines in marketing materials, and seek to recoup the cost of opioid addiction born by the government entities.
Many suits also targeted drug distributors, including Amerisource Bergen Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. , contending the companies failed to properly control shipments of opioids to pharmacies.
The companies have denied the allegations and said their marketing and sales practices are appropriate.
