Kentucky sues Express Scripts, alleging it had a role in the deadly opioid addiction crisis

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's attorney general has sued Express Scripts, claiming the big pharmacy benefit manager was at the center of an opioid dispensing chain that fueled a deadly addiction crisis still haunting his state.

The lawsuit Attorney General Russell Coleman filed this week in state court claims St. Louis-based Express Scripts and its affiliated organizations colluded with opioid manufacturers in deceptive marketing schemes to increase sales of the addictive drugs.

The result was an epidemic of "overdose and death caused by an oversupply of opioids flooding communities from powerful corporations who sought to profit at the expense of the public,” the suit says.

Express Scripts responded Friday that it has long worked to combat opioid overuse and abuse and will “vigorously contest these baseless allegations in court.”