Quebec’s Opioid Addiction Class-Action Suit Targets Same Pharma Companies Behind Safer Supply

A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action suit that alleges 16 pharmaceutical companies misled people regarding the safety and addictive nature of opioids. People who have been diagnosed with opioid use disorder in Quebec since 1996 may be covered by the lawsuit. Some of the respondents are the same companies that produce the opioids purchased by federally and provincially funded safer supply programs. Respondent Purdue Pharma makes Dilaudid, the brand name of the most commonly prescribed safer supply opioid, hydromorphone. Respondent Teva Canada Limited is the Canadian arm of Teva Pharmaceuticals, which makes fentanyl buccal tablets prescribed as safer supply. Respondent Sandoz Canada Inc. makes safer supply fentanyl patches and sufentanil, which is up to 10 times stronger than fentanyl....