Sixty people including 31 doctors, seven pharmacists, eight nurse practitioners and seven other licensed medical professionals are facing lawsuits for allegedly participating in health care fraud and the illegal prescribing and distributing opioid
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the defendants were allegedly responsible for more than 350,000 prescriptions involving over 32 million pain killers.
The Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid (ARPO) Strike Force arrested the suspects across 11 federal districts in Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia. The crackdown is the latest effort of law enforcement agencies to stop the opioid epidemic.
The charges comes as the biggest opioid manufacturers including Purdue Pharma Allergan, Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrdt, McKesson Corporation, and Teva Pharmaceuticals are facing multiple lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic.
Combating the deadliest drug crisis
In a statement, U.S. Attorney William Barr said, “The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region. But the Department of Justice is doing its part to help end this crisis.”
