Attorney General Coleman adds OptumRx to opioid lawsuit

Kentucky Health News

Attorney General Russell Coleman has added OptumRx, a pharmacy benefit manager, to an existing lawsuit against  Express Scripts and related entities that was filed in September.

According to the lawsuit, OptumRx played a central role in the reckless promotion, dispensing and oversupply of opioids. Optum Rx controls a pharmacy network consisting of about 67,000 retail pharmacy locations nationwide, according to a news release.

“These groups pushed a profit-fueled agenda at the expense of Kentucky families, who are left with empty seats at the dinner table,” Coleman said in the release.

This filing amends a previous complaint against Express Scripts and related entities in Jessamine County Circuit Court. It alleged the groups used deceptive marketing to increase sales of highly addictive drugs, took steps to restrict tools that would have limited the prescription and dispensing of opioids, and dispensed opioids through mail-order pharmacies without effective controls in violation of Kentucky and federal law, according to the release.

“No state has been harder hit by the drug crisis than Kentucky,” Coleman said. “Last year alone, nearly 2,000 Kentuckians died of a drug overdose.”