(The Center Square) – Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sued two pharmacy benefit managers on Monday over the state’s opioid crisis that has led to the deaths of hundreds of Arkansans.
The lawsuit against pharmacy benefit managers Optum, Inc., and Express Scripts, Inc. claims the companies knew about the opioid epidemic but did not take any action.
“The PBMs benefited financially from the opioid crisis in Arkansas by negotiating favorable deals with opioid manufacturers while at the same time forgetting the interests of Arkansans who received prescriptions,” Griffin said. “Instead of protecting consumers by leveraging data to curb excessive prescriptions, PBMs focused on the financial incentives of manufacturer rebates to drive profits at the expense of people.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 546 people in Arkansas died of opioid overdoses, according to the lawsuit. The number rose to 637 in 2021, then dropped to 617 in 2022.
The state could not have foreseen the damage, the attorney general’s office said in the lawsuit.
“Defendants breached their duty by failing to exercise reasonable care or skill with respect to voluntary opioid-related conduct. Working in coordination with opioid manufacturers, Defendants made highly addictive prescription opioids available to the marketplace with the knowledge that they were likely being used for non-medical purposes and posed an inherent danger, especially to patients who were using opioids for chronic pain not associated with active cancer, end-of-life, or palliative care,” the lawsuit said.
Griffin is asking the Pulaski County Circuit Court to enter a judgment against the PBMs and award the state damages and restitution.
“Pill by pill and dollar by dollar, PBMs enabled the opioid epidemic in Arkansas,” Griffin said. “Today, we begin the process of holding them accountable for their roles in a crisis that has ravaged our state—a crisis they helped cause, contributed to, and furthered.”