Massive Drug Distributor Sued by DOJ

Massive Drug Distributor Sued by DOJ

(LibertySociety.com) – AmerisourceBergen is a wholesale drug distribution company whose origins date back over 100 years to a druggist named Lucien Napoleon Brunswig. The business was the first of its kind to use computers to track inventory and orders by electronic transmission. After many mergers and acquisitions, AmerisourceBergen became a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. But now, they’re facing some trouble with the feds.

On December 29, The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the company for the role it allegedly played in the opioid crisis plaguing the US. According to the civil litigation, the government believes AmerisourceBergen violated the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA) by failing to report drug orders it should have found suspicious.

The CSA outlines specific steps that must be followed when dealing with the making, possessing, sale, importing, and distribution of controlled substances labeled schedule I through V. The complaint alleges the wholesale distributor has been violating the law for the last eight years.

The DOJ claims AmerisourceBergen ignored “red flags,” as reported by Reuters, that prescription opioids were being sold to illegal markets, distributed the product anyway, and failed to report its suspicions to the proper authorities. The department even cited examples of the company’s non-compliance.

AmerisourceBergen released a statement after the filing, claiming it followed the law by submitting reports on each incident cited in the suit directly to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The pharmaceutical giant claimed the lawsuit is simply the DOJ’s way of blaming those in the industry instead of pointing the finger where it really belongs — the DEA.

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