West Ward Pharmaceuticals Corporation and several other major pharmaceutical companies are facing a recently filed opioid overdose death lawsuit from a woman from Kentucky. The woman filed the opioid overdose death lawsuit on behalf of her loved one who allegedly died of an Oxycodone overdose.

According to the opioid overdose death lawsuit, the woman alleges the pharmaceutical companies’ aggressive marketing tactics caused her loved one and his physician to be misinformed regarding the addictive nature of the opioid medication.

The use of opioid medications has dramatically increased in the last few decades. Patient advocates say the increase is due to the manufacturing companies allegedly aggressively marketing the drugs and doctors overprescribing them.

There have been numerous allegations of false advertising and questionable marketing tactics from these pharmaceutical companies regarding the dosing recommendations and allegedly concealing the addictive nature of these drugs. The opioid addiction crisis was reportedly responsible for the deaths of 183,000 people between 1999 and 2015.

One of these overdose causalities was the loved one of plaintiff Inez L., who is filing this opioid overdose death lawsuit on behalf of Timothy L. According to the opioid overdose death lawsuit, Timothy was prescribed Oxycodone in 2014 to help alleviate pain. Not long after his prescription started, Timothy reportedly developed an addiction to opioids.

Timothy ultimately died from an opioid overdose on May 4, 2017, after struggling with the addiction for years.

Overview of Opioid Addiction Allegations

It is important to note that during the time of Timothy’s prescription, the opioid epidemic was rampant in the area they lived in. Inez argues this means that the pharmaceutical companies in question were aware of the opioid epidemic damaging the communities, but continued to sell them regardless.

The lawsuit claims that at all times relevant, the defendant pharmaceutical companies provided the marketing materials and drug information to prescribing physicians in Timothy’s area. Opioids are in the same drug family as heroin and work by slowing pain signals in the body, but can be effective when prescribed in short periods.

However, opioids can become addictive when prescribed long term. Opioid drug companies began allegedly marketing these drugs for long term pain treatment during the mid 1980s. By 2014, it was estimated that over two million people had developed an opioid addiction.

According to a report recently released by the CDC in March 2018, approximately 115 Americans die per day from an opioid overdose with the number growing in each subgroup examined. The report further stated that there was an increase of 27.9  percent between 2015 and 2016, with 13 out of every 100,000 Americans dying from an opioid overdose in 2016.

The FDA required drug manufacturers to include warnings of the addictive nature to the warning labels of these opioids. Inez alleges that as a direct result of the companies’ negligence and marketing omissions regarding the addictive nature of opioids, Timothy developed an addiction to Oxycodone.

The addiction quickly took over his life, caused him to lose his job and caused the deterioration of his health. Inez is filing this opioid overdose death lawsuit on his behalf and is seeking damages for multiple counts of negligence and failure to warn.

This Opioid Overdose Death Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-01008 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

In general, opioid overdose death lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

If your loved died from an opioid overdose in the last three years from an addiction that began as a legal opioid prescription from his or her doctor, you may have a legal claim. Get help now by filling out the form on this page for a FREE case evaluation.

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