TV News LIES

Lawyers for consumers who claim harm from tainted versions of the blood pressure-lowering drug valsartan want to expand litigation to include at least two other drugs, losartan and irbesartan.

Dozens of consumers have already filed personal-injury lawsuits around the country claiming they were diagnosed with cancer or sustained other injuries after taking valsartan contaminated with probable carcinogens.

A federal court panel this year consolidated the valsartan lawsuits, which were filed against China-based drug ingredient manufacturer, Zhejiang Huahai, and more than three dozen other distributors, wholesalers, repackagers and pharmacies.

Lawyers representing consumers and employers that paid for the drugs argue losartan and irbesartan should be part of the combined federal lawsuit.

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Drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N), Cardinal Health Inc (CAH.N) and McKesson Corp (MCK.N) will contribute $215 million toward the settlement, according to Hunter Shkolnik, an attorney for the counties.

Israel-based drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd TEVA is paying $20 million in cash and will contribute $25 million worth of Suboxone, an opioid addiction treatment, according to Shkolnik.

The deal settles claims brought by Ohio’s Cuyahoga and Summit counties, which had accused the companies of fueling a nationwide opioid crisis. Some 400,000 U.S. overdose deaths between 1997 and 2017 were linked to opioids, according to government data.

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A widely used agricultural pesticide that California environmental officials have said has been linked to brain damage in children will be banned after next year under an agreement reached with the manufacturer, state officials announced Wednesday.

Under the deal, all California sales of chlorpyrifos will end on Feb. 6, 2020, and farmers will have until the end of 2020 to exhaust their supplies.

The pesticide is used on numerous crops in the nation’s largest agriculture-producing state – including alfalfa, almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes and walnuts.

State regulators have said chlorpyrifos has been linked to health defects in children, including brain impairment, and to illnesses in others with compromised immune systems.

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US Attorneys General from 24 states and Washington, D.C. launched a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma this week in an attempt to block the OxyContin maker from avoiding thousands of lawsuits after filing for bankruptcy, Reuters reported.

The state officials objected to Purdue Pharma’s request that a U.S. bankruptcy judge block the more than 2,600 lawsuits seeking billions in damages, according to court filings, Reuters reported.

The lawsuits argue that the company, along with the Sackler family, were a catalyst in the opioid crisis across the country by not disclosing the addictive risks of opioids.

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