Onondaga County has filed a lawsuit against multiple prescription drug manufacturers and distributors, joining other New York counties who in recent months have demanded pharmaceutical companies pay for costs of the growing opioid crisis.

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney and county legislature Chairman Ryan McMahon announced the lawsuit on Tuesday.

The nearly 350-page lawsuit against the drug companies alleges they “unleashed a healthcare crisis with far-reaching financial, social and deadly consequences” in Onondaga County and across the United States.

Opioid-related deaths in Onondaga County have tripled since 2012, according to a county press release. In 2016, 142 people died from unintended opioid-related incidents.

“Too many families and lives are destroyed by these dangerous drugs and this lawsuit is a major step forward in our effort to combat this crisis from both a public health and legal perspective,” Mahoney said in a statement.

In the lawsuit, the county alleges the companies “falsely and misleadingly” touted the benefits of long-term opioid use, downplayed the risk of serious addiction and claimed that opioid dependence and withdrawal are easily managed, among other things.

The companies named in the lawsuit include Purdue Pharmaceuticals — the creator of OxyContin, a prescription painkiller — Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, among others.

Other counties in upstate New York have filed similar lawsuits in recent weeks, including Oswego, Seneca and Schenectady counties. New York City also announced a lawsuit against multiple pharmaceutical companies Tuesday.  

President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health crisis in October 2017. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 46 people died daily in 2016 from prescription opioid related overdoses.

Almost 2 million people were dependent on opioid medication in 2014, according to the CDC. As many as one in four people who receive prescription opioids in the long-term for noncancer pain in primary care settings struggle with addiction, per the CDC.

Methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone are the most common prescription drugs associated with the opioid crisis, the CDC said.  

According to a press release, Onondaga County suffers from the highest rate of opioid deaths among central New York counties. The death rate is about 27 in 100,000 people, compared to roughly 16 per 100,000 people statewide, per the release.

The county also has the third-highest rate of newborn drug-related diagnoses in New York state, with about 300 diagnoses per 10,000 newborn discharges in 2014, according to the county.

Onondaga County is demanding compensation from the companies for the past and future costs of the opioid epidemic. Those costs include, among other things, medical care for people with opioid-related addiction or disease, treatment of infants born with opioid-related medical conditions and law enforcement and public safety efforts.

The county is also requesting the companies set up an “abatement fund” to help lessen the opioid nuisance.

Published on January 23, 2018 at 10:41 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18