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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration jointly issued warning letters to four online networks for illegally marketing unapproved and misbranded versions of opioid medicines, the agencies said...The networks which were issued the warning letters...are Divyata, Euphoria Healthcare Pvt Ltd, JCM Dropship and Meds4U, which operate a total of 10 websites...The networks also violated the Controlled Substances Act by not registering the online pharmacies with the DEA despite advertising for the sale of opioids...READ MORE

Fifty-eight people have been charged with engaging in healthcare fraud schemes that centered on the illegal distribution of more than 6 million opioid pills across Texas...Some 16 medical professionals, including six doctors and seven pharmacists, were charged in the schemes, which featured one pharmacy in Houston that illegally dispensed more than 760,000 pills from March 2018 to September 2019…The schemes in Texas entailed Medicare fraud that resulted in more than $66 million in losses...They also included $158 million in fraudulent claims for compound creams and $23 million in tax evasion...Federal authorities have frozen $60 million in assets of the people accused...READ MORE

Purdue’s pending opioid settlement with thousands of cities and counties, worth between $10 billion and $12 billion, could rank as the largest deal ever inked by a pharma if it passes a Cleveland federal judge’s muster. But where do pharma’s other major settlements fall on that list?...READ MORE

Here’s the list of pharma’s top 10 largest U.S. settlements.

1. Purdue Pharma—$10 billion to 12 billion*
2. Merck & Co.—$4.85 billion
3. American Home Products Corp. (now Wyeth)—$3.75 billion
4. GlaxoSmithKline—$3 billion
5. Pfizer—$2.3 billion
6. Takeda—$2.3 billion
7. Johnson & Johnson—$2.2 billion
8. Abbott Laboratories—$1.6 billion
9. Eli Lilly—$1.42 billion
10. Reckitt Benckiser—$1.4 billion

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and lawyers representing local governments both said...that they’re interested in continuing negotiations to settle lawsuits...a day after two state attorneys general told colleagues that their talks with the company were at an impasse and that they expected the company to file imminently for bankruptcy...The statements add another layer of uncertainty to attempts to strike a deal with a company that’s portrayed as a prime villain in the national opioid crisis...READ MORE

As Purdue Pharma undertakes the laborious bankruptcy process, plaintiffs in thousands of opioid suits are looking to lock in settlement funds from the stripped-down drugmaker. Purdue—for its part—is hoping to secure incentives for its employees in the meantime...Purdue has asked permission to pay out more than $34 million in annual and long-term incentives to its employees as the company undergoes a court-supervised restructuring, according to a Chapter 11 motion filed...in the Southern District of New York...READ MORE

With Purdue Pharma agreeing to settle with dozens of cities and states for a record-setting $12 billion, more opioid settlements could be on the way. But Purdue's agreement doesn't mean all the defendants are willing to go to the negotiating table quietly…Defendants in a Cleveland multidistrict litigation have gone so far as to attack the judge in charge of the case. In a...motion, retailers and distributors—but no drugmakers—demanded the removal of Judge Dan Polster for pushing a settlement. The absence of a pharma company there could show opioid makers are looking for deals rather than continuing to spar it out...READ MORE

Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of the blockbuster painkiller OxyContin, reached a tentative settlement...with 23 states and more than 2,000 cities and counties that sued the company over its role in the opioid crisis…Under terms of a plan negotiated for months, the Sacklers would relinquish control of Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma and admit no wrongdoing. The company would declare bankruptcy and be resurrected as a trust whose main purpose would be producing medications to combat the opioid epidemic...If the deal becomes final, it would be the first comprehensive settlement in the broad effort to hold drug companies accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic...READ MORE

Fourteen doctors and other medical professionals were among those charged in fraud schemes that totaled $258 million in California, Oregon and Arizona...Charges were brought...against 34 people for alleged Medicare and Medicaid fraud…The charges targeted schemes billing Medicare and Medicaid for services, testing, and prescriptions that were not medically necessary or not actually provided to beneficiaries...READ MORE

Purdue Pharma...filed for bankruptcy...days after reaching a tentative settlement with many of the state and local governments suing it…The filing was anticipated before and after the tentative deal, which could be worth up to $12 billion over time, was struck..."This settlement framework avoids wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and years on protracted litigation," Steve Miller, chairman of Purdue's board of directors, said in a statement, "and instead will provide billions of dollars and critical resources to communities across the country trying to cope with the opioid crisis. We will continue to work with state attorneys general and other plaintiff representatives to finalize and implement this agreement as quickly as possible."...READ MORE

A group of 23 Kentucky hospitals is suing major drugmakers, distributors and retailers for their role in the opioid epidemic just days after a group of Texas hospitals unveiled a similar suit...The civil lawsuit filed...in Warren County, Kentucky, alleges more than 40 major companies such as CVS Health, Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma along with individuals made actions that directly led to hospitals bearing the financial burden of caring for opioid victims. Kentucky is one of several states hit especially hard by the epidemic...The lawsuit said hospitals have had to add or modify services such as hiring additional security and providing more “specialized training for staff to accommodate the rapid rise in opioid-related illnesses,”...READ MORE