The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday filed suit against one of the country’s largest pharmaceutical distributors, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, along with two of its subsidiaries, for failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious prescription opioid orders.
The lawsuit spans several states. The DOJ is asserting that the pharma company disregarded its legal obligation to report orders of controlled substances to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) over the span of nearly a decade. The DOJ alleges that the company ignored red flags in West Virginia, New Jersey, Colorado and Florida that made it clear pharmacies were diverting opioids onto illegal drug markets.
If AmerisourceBergen is found liable at trial, the company faces billions of dollars in financial penalties, according to the DOJ.
Opioid addiction has killed more than a million people in the U.S., with fatal overdoses being responsible for the loss of 107,000 lives last year alone.
In a statement, AmerisourceBergen denied any wrongdoing and accused the DOJ of “cherry picking” alleged problems at a handful of pharmacies out the tens of thousands that the company serves.
In February 2022, AmerisourceBergen reached a settlement in which it agreed to pay $6.1 billion to state and local governments across the country over masses of opioid-related lawsuits.
DOJ officials said their lawsuit against the company is unrelated to that deal.
