Philadelphia files suit against prescription opioid companies
statue of Georg Washington stands in view of City Hall as the sun rises over Philadelphia, Monday, Dec. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit against drug companies that make prescription opioids, saying they’ve created “an unprecedented public health crisis.”
It seeks to halt what the city calls “deceptive marketing practices” and force the drug makers to pay for treatment costs and reimburse the city for the money it has spent responding to the addiction epidemic.Mayor Jim Kenney says the epidemic “has exacted a grim toll on Philadelphia residents and their families.”
The city’s public health department says the number of fatal overdoses for 2017 is expected to reach 1,200.
The defendants named in Wednesday’s filing manufacture OxyContin, Percocet and other painkillers. The companies have said in similar lawsuits they don’t believe litigation is the answer, but have pledged to help solve the crisis.
The city is joining a growing list of communities around the country suing opioid manufacturers. In Pennsylvania, York County recently filed suit. Beaver, Delaware and Luzerne Counties have filed similar lawsuits, while Allegheny and Dauphin counties have said they plan to do so. The states of Ohio and Mississippi have also turned to lawsuits.
Brett Sholtis was a health reporter for WITF/Transforming Health until early 2023. Sholtis is the 2021-2022 Reveal Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal Grantee for Mental Health Investigative Journalism with the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. His award-winning work on problem areas in mental health policy and policing helped to get a woman moved from a county jail to a psychiatric facility. Sholtis is a University of Pittsburgh graduate and a Pennsylvania Army National Guard Kosovo campaign veteran.
