New York state brought civil charges yesterday accusing Mallinckrodt Plc of insurance fraud for misrepresenting the safety and efficacy of its opioid drugs, leading to medically unnecessary prescriptions, Reuters reported. Governor Andrew Cuomo said the charges brought by New York’s Department of Financial Services are the first against a major opioid manufacturer in the regulator’s probe into entities that contributed to the nationwide opioid crisis. New York accused Mallinckrodt of overstating the benefits of long-term opioid treatment, downplaying the risks of addiction and abuse, and knowing its conduct would result in the payment of fraudulent insurance claims on unnecessary prescriptions. Mallinckrodt is the largest maker of generic opioids in the U.S. According to New York, it supplied more than 1 billion pills to about 5 million policyholders in the state from 2009 to 2019. The company was charged with violating two New York insurance laws, with civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.
