December 23, 2024
Powerful Middlemen Substantially Contributed to Utah Opioid Deaths
SALT LAKE CITY – As Utah leads national strategies to fight opioid overdoses, addiction, and destruction, Attorney General Sean Reyes on behalf of the State of Utah and Utah Department of Commerce’s Division of Consumer Protection filed a complaint today in Summit County, Utah against two of the nation’s largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). The suit alleges that UnitedHealth Group and Express Scripts and their subsidiaries played a significant role in the opioid epidemic through powerful positions as intermediaries between manufacturers, pharmacies, insurance companies, payers, and patients.
“Over the past decade, it has been one of my top priorities in the Attorney General’s Office to hold accountable those who unleashed the opioid epidemic upon Utah and America. For far too long, opioids were misrepresented as safe, as they ripped apart families, trapped users, and killed innocent victims,” said Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes. “Utah has helped lead the national fight by aggressively pursuing manufacturers, distributors, physicians, pharmacies, marketers, drug dealers and others who contributed to the carnage. Our unrelenting litigation strategies have resulted in over $540 million coming back to Utah to address the horrific effects of this public health crisis. Today, we begin to hold yet another group to account. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) took advantage of already dangerous situations and knowingly multiplied the tragic outcomes.”
The plaintiffs in the case are the State of Utah and its Division of Consumer Protection, filed by Attorney General Sean D. Reyes, and the Attorney General’s White Collar and Commercial Enforcement Division, led by Douglas Crapo. The action has been filed against Express Scripts, Inc., Express Scripts Administrators, LLC, Medco Health Solutions, ESI Mail Pharmacy Service, Inc., ESI Mail Order Processing, Inc., and Express Scripts Pharmacy, Inc. (collectively, “Express Scripts” or “ESI”) and UnitedHealth Group, Inc., OptumRx, Inc., OptumInsight, Inc., and OptumInsight Life Sciences, Inc. (collectively “Optum”). Together, Express Scripts and Optum are referred to herein as “Defendants.”
“Pharmacy Benefit Managers have played a covert role in the opioid abuse crisis. We support efforts to unveil these hidden collaborations with pharmaceutical manufacturers, as transparency is essential for accountability and building trust within our community,” said Margaret Busse, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce. “Opioid abuse has had a devastating impact on the lives of many Utahns, and they deserve justice.”
The filing reads, “This litigation is part of Utah’s ongoing effort to combat the worst human-made epidemic in modern medical history: opioid diversion, addiction, overdose, and death caused by an oversupply of opioids flooding communities due to powerful companies who sought to profit at the expense of the public.” Director Crapo, representing the AGO White Collar and Commercial Enforcement Division, added, “I am grateful to represent the people of Utah and the Department of Commerce and its Division of Consumer Protection in these critical cases that are one part of the solution to decades of the cloaked corporate conduct that crushed innocent people’s lives.”