The remaining defendants of the landmark opioid trial in San Francisco have denied all the wrongdoings in the country's opioid epidemic that resulted in the deaths of nearly half a million people.
Walgreens, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, AbbVie Inc's Allergan unit and drug distributor Anda Inc, which is owned by Teva, are the defendants in the lawsuit who face allegations of creating public nuisance and fueling opioid crisis accross the nation. But the lawyers representing the defendants argued that they are not to be blamed as aggressive marketing tactics from Oxycontin inventor Purdue Pharma increased the opioid sales.
The attorneys representing the drug companies said that the aggressive and misleading marketing of opioids is approved by the FDA. The company even claimed that opioids made by their clients accounted for a small fraction of the opiates sold in San Francisco.
The attorneys indicated that Teva's market share in San Francisco's opioid sales accounted for just 0.09% and 0.72% for Allergan, whereas Oxycontin's sales in San Francisco between 2008 and 2017 accounted for more than half of the prescription opioids legally.
San Francisco argued in the opening statement of the lawsuit that the pharmacists were forced by the Walgreens corporate management to fill prescriptions quickly. The city even blamed Purdue pharma of funding advocacy groups for convincing regulators and policy makers to highlight that chronic pain was a serious problem in society which needs to be treated using painkillers. The accusations even include that Purdue used a huge number of sales representatives who met the doctors personally to boost the sales of Oxycontin by telling that it is non addictive.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2020 to settle thousands of lawsuits against it, which also included the lawsuit from San Francisco. Johnson & Johnson and McKesson are the other two big names who settled the claims with the city.
