The Bipartisan Policy Center has launched an opioid task force to address drug addiction and overdose deaths in the U.S., the Washington, D.C.-based think tank said April 21.

Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo International and AbbVie’s Allergan unit will go on trial April 19 in a lawsuit filed by several California counties alleging the drugmakers deceptively marketed opioids, The Wall Street Journal reported.

More than 87,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending last September — the highest annual death toll recorded since the opioid crisis started in the late 1990s, according to preliminary CDC data released April 14.

If CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Rite Aid don't settle the thousands of government lawsuits filed against them in connection with their role in the opioid epidemic, they could face an overwhelming and expensive wave of opioid trials over the next few years, Bloomberg reported April 7.

President Joe Biden's administration focused on promoting recovery and reducing overdoses in its first-year drug policy plan, released April 1.

New York City-based consulting firm McKinsey agreed to pay Nevada $45 million to settle the state's investigation of its role in the opioid epidemic, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said March 22.

U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., introduced legislation March 19 aimed at preventing the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, from evading opioid lawsuits through bankruptcy proceedings.

A pharmacist and pharmacy technician in Michigan were charged March 17 with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Individuals who filed personal injury claims against Purdue Pharma related to its opioid painkiller OxyContin are expected to receive as much as $48,000 under the drugmaker's bankruptcy plan filed March 15, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The federal government has allowed Oklahoma's Medicaid program to cover drugs designed to treat opioid addiction, News 9, a CBS affiliate in Oklahoma, City, reported March 16. 

Purdue Pharma submitted a bankruptcy restructuring plan March 15 that requires members of the Sackler family to give up control of the company and transforms the Oxycontin-maker into a corporation with revenue directed toward easing the opioid epidemic, The New York Times reported. 

George Blatti, MD, 75, a physician in Nassau County, N.Y., was charged March 4 with second-degree murder for his prescription practices, which allegedly led to five patient deaths, the Nassau County District Attorney said in a news release. 

George Griffin, MD, an orthopedic surgeon in Cincinnati, was sentenced to 40 months in prison March 1 for illegally distributing controlled substances, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A Kentucky federal grand jury on Feb. 24 indicted two surgeons on charges of illegal opioid distribution, healthcare fraud and healthcare fraud conspiracy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The pandemic has changed the daily usage patterns and motivations for use of many Americans who use opioids, according to recent research released by The Recovery Village and Project Opioid. 

Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing sent a letter Feb. 16 to the American Medical Association criticizing its stance that the opioid epidemic is not fundamentally driven by prescribed opioids, but rather heroin and fentanyl that is illegally produced and obtained.

Four drug companies in settlement talks with states to resolve claims about their role in the opioid epidemic are poised to receive about $1 billion each in tax breaks if they finalized a combined payout totaling more than $26 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 12.

Emergency department visits for opioid overdoses increased 29 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to research recently published in JAMA Psychiatry.

New York City-based consulting firm McKinsey on Feb. 4 agreed to pay $573 million to settle investigations into counsel it provided to Purdue Pharma and other opioid drugmakers, but a hedge fund affiliate fully owned by the firm may benefit from that money, NBC News reported Feb. 8.

Dayton, Ohio-based physician Morris Brown, MD, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in an illegal opioid distribution scheme, the Department of Justice announced Feb. 8.