Health-care providers who prescribed patients highly addictive drugs could be the next wave of defendants in opioid-related litigation.
Drugmakers, like Actavis LLC, Allergan LLC, and Purdue Pharma Inc., and distributors, like McKesson and Cardinal Health, already are defending multiple lawsuits blaming them for the nation’s opioid crisis. States, counties, and municipalities brought most of the lawsuits, seeking to recover money they spent cleaning up problems created by the drugs.