Irving-based McKesson Corp. is accused of sending 100 million doses of opioids to West Virginia over a six year period, in a now-settled lawsuit in the state of West Virginia. The pharmaceutical giant will pay the state $37 million to be used for rehabilitation, job training and mental health programs, according to the New York Times.
The lawsuit says that the nation’s sixth largest company by revenue, which moved to Irving from California last fall, failed to report or stop overblown opioid doses that poured into the state. The Times reports that state officials say the company sent enough hydrocodone and oxycodone for every legitimate patient to receive 3,000 doses of painkillers over that period.
The lawsuit claimed that Boone County, West Virginia received 1.2 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone for the six-year period, though the county only has a population of 25,000.
The Times reported McKesson’s strong denial in a prepared statement, saying McKesson “is committed to working with others to end this national crisis, however, and is pleased that the settlement provides funding toward initiatives intended to address the opioid epidemic.”
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin was not happy with the settlement, calling it a “sweetheart settlement” that “sells out West Virginia” in a release.
“It’s no surprise to me that Patrick Morrisey and Jim Justice have allowed this type of thievery and have cut a sweetheart deal with McKesson that sells out West Virginia out of the billions of dollars in damages that our state and our people have endured,” the statement reads. “This is exactly what I said would happen and is exactly what they denied they were going to settle for in October 2018.”
He goes on to describe how Oklahoma received $270 million from McKesson even though their opioid death rate is 80 percent lower than West Virginia, saying the opioid crisis does $8.8 billion in damage to the state every year. “It makes me sick that the very people that are supposed to protect West Virginians are letting a drug distributor screw us over. It makes me sick and I know it makes every West Virginian sick, especially those who have lost someone to this drug epidemic or knows someone who is struggling with drug addiction now. This disgraceful settlement is a shameful injustice to us all.”
McKesson has also been named in a lawsuit in the state of New York for similar practices, with the government arguing that McKesson should have known they were sending way too many drugs into the state. In 2017, McKesson paid $150 million to the federal government for similar reasons.
