Two pharmaceutical giants have been ordered to pay $266 million to the city of Baltimore after a jury found them guilty of fueling the opioid crisis, a nationwide addiction epidemic that kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.

A jury found Texas-based medical products company McKesson liable for $192 million in damages and Pennsylvania-based drug wholesaler Cencora for $74 million.

Baltimore accused the companies of failing to report “suspicious orders” of prescription drugs such as oxycodone and hydrocodone to federal authorities, subsequently contributing to the city’s opioid epidemic. Next month, the city will ask Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill for $9 billion from the discounting companies to pay for solutions to the opioid crisis.

Mayor Brandon Scott applauded the verdict, saying the jury agreed that “the enormous impact on our city was a direct result of the actions of the big pharmaceutical company.”

“The opioid overdose epidemic has affected every community in this country, but in Baltimore, it has touched every resident in some way and devastated entire families and entire neighborhoods,” Scott said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 81,000 people died in the United States of opioid overdose deaths in 2023, down about 3% from the previous year. In Baltimore alone, state data found an average of 866 people suffered opioid-related deaths every year from 2017 to 2021.

The 2018 lawsuit accuses the companies of fueling the opioid crisis

Susman Godfrey, the law firm representing Baltimore, said the jury’s decision this week is first successful verdict any jurisdiction reached in the opioid litigation against McKesson and Cencora. It comes nearly seven years after Baltimore filed a lawsuit against more than a dozen drug manufacturers, wholesalers and prescribers for their alleged role in the opioid epidemic.

“Justice was served,” said Bill Carmody, Baltimore senior attorney and partner at Susman Godfrey. “No city in America has been hit harder by the opioid epidemic than Baltimore, and the jury’s verdict is an important step in helping Baltimore recover to continue to be one of America’s top cities in that all its citizens may be healthy and successful.”

Baltimore has given up on a national regulation with pharmaceutical companies over opioid addiction to pursue their own litigation for higher payouts. The city said it has since won more than $400 million in deals with other companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, Allergan and Teva.

Court filings fault McKesson and Cencora, formerly AmerisourceBergen, as well as Cardinal Health for failing to identify and report suspicious opioid orders, as they are required to do under federal law, which resulted in “quantities dangerous” of opioids that have flooded Baltimore and other communities across the country. US

“The City now seeks to hold the defendants accountable for their roles in the outbreak, including seeking contribution to the costly remedies necessary to mitigate the ongoing crisis,” the 2018 complaint states.

The complaint noted that McKesson had previously done so admitted not reporting some suspicious drug orders in a settlement with the Department of Justice in 2017. The company agreed pay $150 million and suspending sales of controlled substances from distribution centers in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan and Florida.

The Department of Justice also filed a lawsuit against Cencora in December 2022. Federal prosecutors accused the company of failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders to the Drug Enforcement Administration and said the company knew it was “likely facilitating the diversion of prescription opioids.” The process is ongoing.

Following the jury’s decision in Baltimore on Tuesday, both companies said they were preparing to appeal the verdict.

Mike Iorfino, a spokesman for Cencora, told USA TODAY that the verdict “further tightens the legal and ethical tightrope the company is required to walk between providing access to needed medicines and acting to prevent the diversion of controlled substances.”

“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict, which we believe does not reflect the facts of the case,” Iorfino said. “Our teams are reviewing the ruling and evaluating all options moving forward, including appealing today’s verdict.”

A McKesson spokesman told USA TODAY that the company is prepared to file motions to challenge the verdict and appeal if they are denied.

“We respect but disagree with the jury’s verdict, which fundamentally misunderstands McKesson’s limited role as a pharmaceutical distributor,” the spokesman said.

“Game-Changing Figure”

The mayor said this week’s court decision brings Baltimore’s total restitution funds to more than $668.5 million, a “game-changing number” in addressing the opioid crisis. The city he said the money will be used to fund programs and services for substance use prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction.

Baltimore makes up 9 percent of Maryland’s population, but accounts for 44 percent of the state’s overdose deaths. according to the Baltimore City Health Department. Overall, Baltimore averages more than two overdose deaths per day. The department also noted that about 80 percent of the city’s opioid use disorder cases between 2010 and 2021 began with prescription opioids before residents turned to illicit drugs.

About 125 million opioid prescriptions were filled in 2023 in the US, According to the CDCwith “wide variation” between states. The agency noted that nearly 8.6 million Americans at age 12 reported using prescription opioids.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drug companies to pay Baltimore $266 in opioid epidemic lawsuit