opioids News

Supreme Court Ends OxyContin Settlement, Cracking Sackler Shield

The US Supreme Court tossed Purdue Pharma LP’s $6 billion opioid settlement, nixing a deal that would have funded opioid epidemic relief efforts in exchange for protecting the company’s billionaire owners from lawsuits alleging they helped fuel the addiction crisis. …

Top Law Firms in U.S. Opioid Lawsuits to Get Hundreds of Millions in Fees

A court-appointed panel on Friday recommended how to divvy up a pool of $2.13 billion in legal fees from nationwide drug industry settlements over the U.S. opioid crisis, with top firms set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars. The …

Report Shows Significant Drop in Opioids in Workers’ Comp

Overall opioid utilization is down nearly 10%, and the use of sustained-release opioids dropped by more than 10%, a new report shows. Authors of the report credit efforts by workers’ comp regulators and professionals to control opioid prescriptions and distribution, …

Walgreens to Pay $110M to End Philadelphia Opioid Litigation

The city of Philadelphia has reached a $110 million settlement of its 2021 lawsuit against Walgreens pharmacy for the company’s role in supplying and perpetuating the opioid addiction crisis in Philadelphia. Under the terms of the agreement, Walgreens admits no …

Mind-Altering Ketamine Becomes New Pain Treatment, Despite Little Research or Regulation

WASHINGTON (AP) — As U.S. doctors scale back their use of opioid painkillers, a new option for hard-to-treat pain is taking root: ketamine, the decades-old surgical drug that is now a trendy psychedelic therapy. Prescriptions for ketamine have soared in …

Injured Workers Pharmacy to Pay $10M for Improper Handling of ‘Red Flag’ Prescriptions

Andover, Massachusetts-based Injured Workers Pharmacy (IWP) has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Controlled Substances Act by improperly filling prescriptions for controlled substances, including opioids, and submitting false claims for payment to the Department …

Tennessee Sues Walgreens Pharmacy Chain over Opioid Distribution

The state of Tennessee sued Walgreens on Wednesday, accusing the retail pharmacy giant of fueling the state’s opioid epidemic by willfully flooding the market with an oversupply of prescription narcotics in violation of consumer protection and public nuisance laws. According …

Troubling Questions Follow Closure of Sprawling Pain Clinic Chain

HANFORD, Calif. — On May 13 of last year, the cellphones of thousands of California residents undergoing treatment for chronic pain lit up with a terse text message: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lags Medical Centers will be closing effective May …

Opioid Trial Against CVS, Walgreens, Walmart Winding Down

CLEVELAND (AP) — Three retail pharmacy chains failed to follow government guidelines to make sure pain pills weren’t flooding Ohio communities, said an attorney for two counties that brought a federal lawsuit to hold the companies accountable for the opioid …

Marijuana Waxes as Opioids Wane in Workers’ Comp

Workers’ compensation insurers have slashed spending on opioids, reducing the risk of addiction and delayed recovery, but now they are under increasing pressure to reimburse injured workers for a new kind of elixir. Six states now allow or require insurers …