AG Campbell Announces $350 Million Settlement With Multinational Marketing Firm Publicis Health Over Role In Opioid Epidemic
Settlement secures $8 million to address ongoing opioid crisis in Massachusetts and bolsters transparency of the company’s work in fueling nationwide opioid crisis.
BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today announced a $350 million national settlement with Publicis Health that would resolve the Commonwealth’s litigation against the marketing and communications firm for its role in the opioid crisis, including its work for opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma. Massachusetts will receive nearly $8 million from the settlement to help address the opioid crisis.
The settlement will fund the state’s
Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund to provide support for opioid use disorder
prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction efforts throughout
Massachusetts. As part of the settlement, the company will disclose on a public
website thousands of internal documents detailing its work for opioid companies
and will stop accepting client work related to opioid or other opioid-based
Schedule II or Schedule III controlled substances.
“For
years, Publicis Health’s marketing schemes helped fuel the nationwide opioid
crisis, which has shattered some of our most vulnerable communities, while
creating significant financial strain on our state systems,” said AG
Campbell. “I am proud of my team’s national leadership in securing
this settlement, which will not only bolster accountability and transparency
for this ongoing crisis but will also provide millions of dollars for much
needed treatment and services to support individuals and families across
Massachusetts.”
In its
May 2021 complaint against Publicis Health,
the Commonwealth alleged that Publicis Health, a subsidiary of global
advertising conglomerate Publicis Groupe, partnered with Purdue on dozens of
contracts, collecting more than $50 million in exchange for marketing schemes
to get doctors to prescribe Purdue’s opioids to more patients, in higher doses,
for longer periods of time. The Commonwealth alleged that Publicis devised
marketing strategies to combat prescribers’ hesitancy to prescribe OxyContin,
including materials used to train and assist Purdue sales reps in detailing
doctors, and told Purdue how to target the most dangerous high prescribers.
According to the lawsuit, the company was also instrumental in Purdue’s
decision to market OxyContin to providers through patients’ electronic health
records.
More
than 20,000 Massachusetts residents have died from opioid-related overdoses
over the last 20 years. These deaths—and the impacts on thousands who have
struggled with opioid addiction—have created considerable costs for our health
care, child welfare, and criminal justice systems. More significant than the
dollars and cents in damage to our state, the opioid crisis has harmed
communities, damaged relationships, and torn families apart.
In the
Publicis matter, Massachusetts served on the executive committee of a
multistate investigation, along with the attorneys general of California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and
Vermont. They are joined in this multistate settlement by the attorneys general
from all states, territories, and the District of Columbia.
This
matter has been handled by the AG’s Health Care Division, including Deputy
Division Chief Ethan Marks, Assistant Attorneys General Chloe Cable and Gregory
Hardy, Analyst Philipp Nowak, and Paralegal Gaëlle Bouaziz, with assistance
from Deputy Chief Mary Freeley of the AG’s Health Care and Fair Competition
Bureau and Director of Investigations Marlee Leo of the Civil Investigations
Division.
This
matter is one of two recent efforts to address the ongoing opioid crisis and
support individuals, families, and communities impacted by the crisis. Today,
AG Campbell is also announcing a multistate settlement in principle with opioid
manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals (Hikma) for its role in fueling the opioid
crisis. The settlement will resolve claims that from 2006 to 2021, Hikma failed
to monitor and report suspicious opioid orders from potentially illegal
distributors, even while its personnel knew their systems to monitor suspicious
orders were inadequate and prone to failure.
As
part of the settlement in principle with Hikma, Hikma will pay $150 million to
participating states and localities, encompassing $115 million in cash and $35
million worth of opioid addiction treatment medication. States that do not
accept the medication will receive cash in lieu of product. The
settlement in principle was negotiated by the attorneys general of New York,
California, Delaware, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia in coordination with an
executive committee consisting of AG Campbell, along with the attorneys general
of Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon. In
Massachusetts, the Hikma matter is overseen by the AG’s Health Care
Division.
To
date, Massachusetts has reached legal settlements with opioid manufacturers and
others that will return more than $1 billion to the state and local
communities.
沒有留言:
發佈留言