Landmark Opioid Trial Underway in West Virginia of 3 Biggest U.S. Distributors

The three largest U.S. drug distributors will get to test their defenses to accusations that they helped fueled the opioid epidemic as the first trial over such claims kicked off on Monday in West Virginia.

McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. are heading to West Virginia federal court in a suit brought by two municipalities in the state. Cabell County and the city of Huntington are seeking $2.6 billion to beef up treatment and policing budgets to address the fallout from opioid addiction and overdoses. The non-jury trial will be decided by U.S. District Judge David Faber.

Drug distributors, manufacturers and retailers are facing thousands of similar lawsuits by state and local governments nationwide over the opioid crisis, which has killed more than 400,000 Americans in the past two decades. West Virginia has been among the hardest-hit states, with Cabell County’s overdose-death rate more than five times the national average during the period covered by the suit, according to researchers.

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