A West Virginia lawsuit against 11 prescription drug wholesalers is back on track after the state Supreme Court refused to put the brakes on the case's proceedings in Boone County Circuit Court.
In a two-page order, the Supreme Court rejected the drug companies' request for a "writ of prohibition."
The drug firms alleged that Boone County Circuit Judge William Thompson "committed clear error" by refusing the companies' repeated requests to dismiss the lawsuit.
The Attorney General's Office and two state agencies -the Department of Health and Human Resources, and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety - countered that the drug companies were trying to stall the lawsuit because they want to conceal their role in West Virginia's prescription drug epidemic.
"We defeated the writ of prohibition, which should now allow this case to proceed expeditiously to trial," said Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
The lawsuit - filed in 2012 by then-Attorney General Darrell McGraw - alleges that the drug wholesalers shipped an excessive number of painkillers to "pill mill" pharmacies in West Virginia.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency records show that the companies distributed 60 million oxycodone pills and 140.6 million hydrocodone pills to West Virginia between 2007 and 2012, according to the lawsuit. Oxycodone and hydrocodone are powerful painkillers.
The lawsuit has dragged on for three and a half years. The trial is scheduled to start in October.
Lawyers from the two sides also will try, in April, to settle the case through mediation.
The drug companies have argued that they can't be held liable for West Virginia's prescription drug problem.
The companies named in the lawsuit are: AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., Miami-Luken Inc., J.M. Smith Corp., Harvard Drug Group, Anda Inc., Associated Pharmacies, H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug, Keysource Medical, Masters Pharmaceutical, Quest Pharmaceuticals and Top Rx.
The state also is suing Cardinal Health, the nation's second-largest drug wholesaler, in a separate lawsuit.
In late October, Cardinal Health filed a legal brief with the state Supreme Court in support of the other drug companies' request to halt their case.
The Healthcare Distribution Management Association, a national trade group that represents prescription drug distributors, also filed a "friend of the court" brief, asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Morrisey was a lobbyist for HDMA, in Washington, D.C. He also represented Cardinal Health and other drug wholesalers before he took office in 2013. Morrisey's wife lobbies for Cardinal Health.
On Friday, Morrisey announced that he was stepping aside from the state's lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen and the 10 other drug firms. Last month, the state Lawyer Disciplinary Board suggested that he do so, to "avoid the appearance of impropriety." The board's investigative panel also dismissed an ethics complaint against Morrisey.
Morrisey stepped aside from the Cardinal Health lawsuit - a recusal he recently characterized as a "permanent screen" - in July 2013, seven months after taking office, according to the disciplinary board.
Also on Friday, Morrisey filed a lawsuit against McKesson Corp., the nation's largest prescription drug distributor. He did so without notifying the DHHR and the Department of Military Affairs, which had asked him to sue McKesson more than a year ago. The agencies aren't included as plaintiffs in the complaint against McKesson.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.