Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron Sues CVS Over Its Role in State’s Opioid Epidemic

FILE – In this Nov. 5, 2019 file photo, Kentucky Attorney General-elect Daniel Cameron makes his victory speech to the audience gathered at the Republican party celebration event in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky’s attorney general asked for patience Thursday, June 18, 2020, as his office investigates the shooting death of a black woman by Louisville police and decides whether the police officers involved will face criminal charges. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is suing CVS Health over the pharmacy giant’s role in the state’s opioid epidemic, alleging it engaged in unlawful business practices and failed to guard against the diversion of opioids.

“During the height of the opioid epidemic, CVS allowed millions of dosage units of opioids to flood Kentucky’s borders, fueling the crisis and devastating thousands of families and communities across the Commonwealth,” Cameron said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

“As both distributor and pharmacy, CVS was in a unique position to monitor and stop the peddling of these highly-addictive drugs from their stores, yet they ignored their own safeguard systems.”

CVS now joins a long list of pharmaceutical companies targeted by the attorney general’s office over their role in Kentucky’s opioid epidemic — with pending litigation against Walgreens, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, and settlement discussions ongoing with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen.

The lawsuit alleges CVS pharmacies in Kentucky purchased more than 151 million dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone between 2006 and 2014 — making up more than 6% of the state’s total dosage units of those drugs — while reporting zero suspicious orders for its stores.

One CVS store in Perry County bought over 6.8 million dosage units of these opioids in that same period — enough for every man, woman and child in the county to have over 26 pills every year. A CVS in Crittenden County purchased enough in this period to supply every person in the county with over 34 pills per year.

Cameron’s lawsuit alleges CVS had a dual role in the opioid supply chain as both a distributor and pharmacy, but failed to comply with laws to protect customers from addiction, abuse and diversion of opioids. It also alleges CVS participated in the marketing, advertising and promotion of opioid products, improperly normalizing the widespread use of opioids.

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SOURCE: Louisville Courier Journal, Joe Sonka