The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing pharmaceutical giant AmerisourceBergen and accused it of fueling the opioid crisis by allegedly failing to report suspicious orders of drugs for years.
In a civil complaint, federal prosecutors wrote (pdf) Thursday that AmerisourceBergen violated federal laws that require opioid manufacturers to alert the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to any suspicious orders. Pharmaceutical companies, under the law, are also required to block shipments of orders that are deemed suspicious.
It said that AmerisourceBergen and two of its subsidiaries since 2014 had systematically refused or negligently failed to flag suspicious orders by pharmacy customers when it had reason to know that opioids were being diverted to illegal channels….