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Opioid trial against pharmacy chains scheduled for next year

A judge overseeing 2,500 federal lawsuits related to the nation’s opioid crisis has scheduled a trial for late next year over the role played by major pharmacy chains

OxyContin, in 80 mg pills, in a 2013 file image. Doctors who receive gifts and payments from opioid manufacturers are more likely to prescribe higher amounts of opioid painkillers than their colleagues, according to researchers.
OxyContin, in 80 mg pills, in a 2013 file image. Doctors who receive gifts and payments from opioid manufacturers are more likely to prescribe higher amounts of opioid painkillers than their colleagues, according to researchers.Read moreLiz O. Baylen / MCT
    by Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Published 

CLEVELAND — A judge overseeing 2,500 federal lawsuits related to the nation’s opioid crisis has scheduled a trial for late next year over the role played by major pharmacy chains.

U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland ruled Tuesday that he would hear a case next October brought by Cuyahoga and Summit counties in Ohio against CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, HBC and Discount Drug Mart.

He also recommended that other cases be transferred to Chicago, San Francisco and Oklahoma. He plans to transfer a case soon to West Virginia.

Polster was scheduled to hear a case last month, but most parties settled. Talks continue toward a possible national settlement that could end all the lawsuits related to the epidemic, which has killed more than 400,000 in the U.S. since 2000.