Class Action Claims Pharma Companies Responsible for NAS Due to Opioid Use

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A group of 20 pharmaceutical companies and distributors has been named in a proposed class action lawsuit filed on behalf of a newborn baby who the suit claims suffers from neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) as a result of the defendants’ actions.

The complaint alleges the baby and his mother “are victims of the opioid crisis that has ravaged Illinois” after the defendants’ deceptive marketing of their opioid products supposedly caused thousands of people to be exposed and become addicted to the drugs. According to the complaint, between 70 and 90 percent of babies born to women dependent on opioids suffer from NAS.

“The NAS epidemic and its consequences could have been, and should have been, prevented by the Defendants who control the U.S. drug distribution industry and the Defendants who manufacture the prescription opioids,” the complaint attests, noting that the defendants “have profited greatly” from the crisis.

The suit argues that the defendants engaged in a deceptive marketing scheme to promote the use of opioids for chronic pain patients despite being fully aware of the risks of long-term use. Through direct marketing and “veiled advertising by seemingly independent third parties,” the pharmaceutical companies convinced physicians to prescribe opioid products to treat chronic pain, resulting in a high risk of addiction and abuse, the case alleges.

The suit seeks to cover anyone under the age of 18 diagnosed with NAS whose birth mother used opioids during pregnancy and had a medical prescription for the drugs before or during pregnancy.