Opioid crisis: four pharmaceutical companies have chosen to pay to get rid of a class action that want to bring Quebecers who have developed an addiction to this type of prescription painkiller.
These manufacturers recently agreed to pay a total of $650,000 to have their names expunged from the lawsuit.
They made this decision before the class action had even been authorized by a judge, a condition before it could go ahead and go through all the steps that must eventually lead to a trial.
These out-of-court settlements state that the manufacturers signed them “without any admission of liability” and deny any wrongdoing.
The agreements reached do not put an end to this case: it is continuing in court against some twenty other pharmaceutical companies targeted for having manufactured, marketed or distributed opioids, such as fentanyl, fiorinal, oxycontin , dilaudil and morphine.
Filed in 2019, the proposed lawsuit seeks compensation for all Quebecers who have been prescribed opioids since 1996, and who have developed an addiction to these drugs.
The opioid crisis is obviously not limited to Quebec: according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the consumption of opioids is responsible for nearly 25,000 deaths between January 2016 and June 2021.
In the proposed class action, numerous faults are alleged against the pharmaceutical companies.
In order to sell their “dangerous products”, they deliberately and falsely represented that their opioids were more effective and less addictive than they actually were, and also could be used for more situations than those approved by the health authorities, can we read in the request for authorization to exercise a collective action.
They are also accused of having failed in their duty to advise patients of the potential serious — and even fatal — risks associated with the use of opioids, of the omissions committed to increase their market share and the number of prescriptions.
These pharmaceutical companies developed a “new narrative” that the risk of addiction to these opioids was low, withdrawal management was easy, there were fewer side effects than with other pain medications, higher dosage were not linked to a greater risk, and that they were appropriate for long-term use, the proposed lawsuit states.
It can also be read that the manufacturers engaged in “aggressive marketing” accompanied by false representations.
None of these alleged faults has yet been proven before a judge in Quebec.
If the action is authorized, a minimum of $55,000 will be claimed per Quebecer who has developed an addiction.
As for the settlements reached with four defendants, they will have to be approved by a judge before becoming reality. This step will take place on March 28, at the Montreal courthouse.
The law firm Trudel, Johnson & Lespérance, one of the two at the helm of this action, did not want to comment on the settlements reached. On its website, however, we can read that the representative for the class action and the lawyers for all the beneficiaries of the action “believe that the settlement agreements are in the best interest of the Class Members given the sales minimal amounts of prescription opioids [ces] defendants” and given the continuing opioid class action against the other manufacturers.
Similar class actions have also been brought in other provinces.