Opioid Scandal Haunts Drug Companies As They Respond To Pandemic

As drug firms race to position themselves as key players in the coronavirus fight, the industry faces a renewed wave of civil lawsuits stemming from its role in the nation's deadly opioid epidemic.

Thousands of cases that ground to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic are moving forward again as local, state and federal courts reopen around the United States.

"I think it's quite serious," said Rebecca Haffajee, who studies opioid litigation for the Rand Corp. and the University of Michigan. "There have been delays associated with COVID, but I actually don't think there's an end in sight for a lot of these defendants."

Pressure on the opioid front comes even as drug firms are producing medicines and providing services, including testing and vaccine development, needed to help slow the pandemic.

"These companies are and have argued that they are essential businesses" during the coronavirus crisis, Haffajee noted.

But some of the nation's biggest companies — including CVS, Johnson & Johnson, McKesson and Walgreens — remain mired in legal and financial uncertainty tied to their decades-long manufacture and sale of prescription opioids.