Ohio Sues Big Pharma

IncSmart Ohio (Small Business and Startups) - Ohio announces that drug makers violated the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act and committed Medicaid fraud by minimizing the risk of addiction.  The lawsuit is going after the five biggest prescription painkiller manufacturers including powerful drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet.  Ohio will also try and prove the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans addicted to opioid pain medications, and when patients can no longer afford opioids, they turn to the street and buy prescription opioids or even heroin. 

Ohio is the second state, after Mississippi, to go after Big Pharma.  The companies in their site are Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon  The opioid epidemic is a national health problem.  Opioids have become the main source of unintentional drug overdose.  Ohio wants to show that drug makers relied on sales representatives and doctors to grow their sales.  Doctors especially were supposed to give truthful information as a credible professional, and they were used to push these long term benefits of opioid use to their patients.