In a response filed on October 12, 2018, more than a dozen opioid manufacturers expressed their opposition regarding forming a separate MDL for infants addicted to opioid drugs. The manufacturers indicated that separating the cases would create a "dangerous precedent" as it would create uncertainty over current MDL judge's decisions when litigants pull out their cases from the existing MDL.
A leading global healthcare solutions company, AmerisourceBergen Corp., filed its own brief asking the JPML to reject the motion for a separate MDL for opioid affected babies. JPML has scheduled an oral argument on the issue on November 29, 2018, in New York.
In September this year, Endo Pharmaceuticals declared to settle about 1,000 lawsuits filed against them moving out from the federal MDL. Opioid overdose death lawsuits are centralized as a part of multidistrict litigation, MDL No. 2804 (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation) in the Northern District of Ohio before U.S. District Judge Dan A. Polster. The first bellwether trial in the litigation has been scheduled for September 3, 2019.
