New York state will sue drug manufacturers and distributors for allegedly defrauding the state and consumers of $2 billion for peddling addictive opioid painkillers that they knew were unsafe, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
“The damage has been immeasurable,” the governor said Tuesday.
“These drug companies have made billions and billions of dollars. … They all knew what they put out there was highly addictive.”
The planned lawsuit by Cuomo and the state Department of Financial Services piggybacks litigation filed by state Attorney General Letitia James.
James’ lawsuit and probe focuses on drug manufacturers allegedly ripping off New York and its government-funded health insurance plans.
The Cuomo administration’s action centers on New Yorkers enrolled in private health insurance programs that got socked with inflated costs.
Since the state Department of Financial Services regulates private health insurers and approves their requests for rate increases, it too has been duped and wants to recoup costs for consumers.
The agency has determined that New York consumers have overpaid an estimated $2 billion in insurance premiums over the past 10 years because opioid manufacturers “misrepresented the safety of opioids and overprescribed them,” state officials said.
The DFS will seek fines and restitution from the opioid industry, and is directing insurers to fully cooperate with these actions, said DFS Superintendent Linda Lacewell.
“Any intentional misrepresentation by the manufacturers and distributors of opioids and PBMs [pharmacy benefit managers] would have led to great financial burden for consumers and New York State-licensed health insurers … DFS will use every tool at our disposal to take appropriate action to protect consumers and the health insurance industry in New York,” Lacewell said.
The manufacturers and pharmacy managers targeted include Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, Actavis, Allergan, Cephalo, Eendo Health, and Johnson & Johnson, among others.