Reckoning with US opioid crisis as US$8 billion Ohio trial kicks off

CLEVELAND: The fight over who is responsible for the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the United States heads to court on Monday in Ohio as local governments seek billions of dollars from companies that manufactured and distributed the highly-addictive painkillers.

The outcome of the first federal lawsuit to go to trial over the epidemic could influence how much they and other companies, such as Johnson & Johnson , pay to reach what is known as a global settlement of all opioid litigation. AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson said in a joint statement on Saturday that they made up only"one component of the pharmaceutical supply chain" and their role was to make sure medicines prescribed by licensed doctors were available for patients.

On Friday, U.S. Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland summoned executives from the big three distributors and Teva to court to hammer out a global deal that would have averted the trial. Polster also invited states, which have sued but do not have cases before him, to participate in settlement talks.After nearly 11 hours, during which Polster shuttled between plaintiffs and defendants, the talks ended without a deal.

Attorney Paul Hanly told reporters on Friday that local governments he represents were “not on the same page” as the state attorneys general involved in the talks.

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