Vermont has filed suit ahainst two pharmaceutical distributors, accusing them of selling ever-increasing amounts of prescription opioids while failing to monitor the sales and to acknowledge the quantity of pills was outpacing the need.
Attorney General T.J. Donovan filed the lawsuit in Burlington on Tuesday against Cardinal Health, Inc. and McKesson Corporation, seeking an undetermined amount in damages.
Donovan says the distributors were supposed to “raise the warning flag that too many pills were coming into Vermont.”
He says both Cardinal and McKesson were involved in marketing to increase sales in Vermont at the cost of hundreds of Vermonters and thousands whose lives have been ruined by opioids.
Cardinal and McKesson representatives did not reply to emails seeking comment.
Vermont has a pending lawsuit against drugmaker Purdue, alleging the maker of OxyContin minimized the risk of addiction and overstated the effectiveness of the drugs. The suit also accuses the company of violating the Vermont Consumer Protection Act with deceptive advertising and denying or failing to disclose the dangers of opioids at higher doses.
