Arguing that drug manufacturers triggered a "human tragedy of epic proportion" in Ohio, Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five companies that make addictive painkillers.

"We believe the evidence will show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications, which has all too often led to use of the cheaper alternatives of heroin and synthetic opioids," DeWine said in a statement. The suit was filed in Ross County Common Pleas Court in Chillicothe, the heart of one of the hardest-hit areas of Ohio's skyrocketing drug epidemic.

From the beginnings of "pill mills" in Appalachian Ohio, "the fire spread out across Ohio," DeWine said.

DeWine said pharmaceutical companies spent $168 million in 2014 alone through sales representatives "peddling prescription opioids to win over doctors with their smooth pitches and glossy brochures that downplayed the risks and highlighted the benefits." The companies would "deny and trivialize" the impact of opioids on patients, "leading to our state’s worst public health crisis."

"The companies knew what they were doing was wrong but did it anyway — and continue to do so," the attorney general said. He is seeking a court injunction to stop the manufacturers. No distributors were sued by DeWine because he said the best legal case involved suing manufacturers.

He also accused the companies of Medicaid fraud and violating the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act., and is seeking unspecified damages on behalf of the state. For example, he said infants born to addicted mothers caused $105 million in hospital costs in 2014, while children and infants forced into foster care because of their parents' addiction cost the state an estimated $45 million per year.

Because of deceptive practices, the companies "helped unleash a health-care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social and deadly consequences in the state of Ohio."

The lawsuit said between 2011 and 2015, 3.8 billion doses of opioid medication were prescribed to Ohioans statewide.

Asked why he filed the lawsuit now after years of increasing overdose deaths, DeWine said the timing was right and the evidence is there to make a case.

"I think it's my moral obligation. I don't want to look back 10 years from now and say I didn't have the guts to do this."

Ohio joins Mississippi as the only states actively suing manufacturers, DeWine said. Other states have primarily gone after drug distributors.

The suit seeks unspecified financial damages for consumers. "It is just and it is right that the people who played a significant role in creating this mess should now pay to clean it up," DeWine said.

Christiana Arredondo of Frankfort in Ross County appeared with DeWine at his Rhodes Tower office to talk about the heroin overdose death of her daughter, Felicia Detty, in 2015 at the age of 24.

Detty first took medication for Attention Deficit Disorder in high school, but was using prescription pain pills by the time she was 18. A year later, she was shooting heroin.

Arredondo, her tears flowing, said her daughter was 5 1/2 months pregnant when she died.

She said she kissed her daughter on the lips in the casket because she told her, "No matter how old I get, I will always kiss you on the lips."

"It's not our fault," Arredondo said. "We loved her unconditionally. Your entire world gets destroyed."

DeWine's action comes as the death toll from opioids — heroin, fentanyl and prescription pills — continues to mount in Ohio. Compiling information from Ohio's 88 county coroners, The Dispatch reported this week that more than 4,100 people died from drug overdoses last year, a 36 percent increase over a 2015 total that led the nation. Deaths more than doubled in most of the large urban counties.

The five drug manufacturers named in the lawsuit: Purdue Pharma; Endo Health Solutions; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries of Israel and subsidiary Cephalon; Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and Allegran.

Janssen issued a statement: "We firmly believe the allegations in this lawsuit are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label."

Purdue Pharma said in a statement, "We share the attorney general’s concerns about the opioid crisis and we are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions. OxyContin accounts for less than 2% of the opioid analgesic prescription market nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology, advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and supporting access to Naloxone — all important components for combating the opioid crisis.”

The other companies declined comment or did not respond. Since DeWine, an almost-certain GOP candidate for governor, did not go after drug distributors, Cardinal Health of Dublin was not named in the lawsuit, unlike some filed in other states.

Earlier this month, two Democratic candidates for governor, Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman, and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, separately called for action against drug companies.

“The drug companies made this mess, and it’s time they stopped passing the buck to Ohio’s taxpayers and started paying to clean it up,” said Whaley, a comment echoed by DeWine. “On my watch, if the drug companies want to keep doing business in Ohio, they need to pay for the police and first responders, the detox facilities and recovery services that threaten to bankrupt our cities and towns.”

Schiavoni sent a letter to DeWine urging action: "We aggressively pursue those who traffic heroin and other illegal narcotics and must be similarly strong towards those who foster addiction in pursuit of profit."

Both Democrats issued statements Wednesday supporting DeWine's lawsuit, but said since that likely won't be resolved for years state officials need to act now to combat the worsening drug problem.

ajohnson@dispatch.com

@ohioaj

The 5 drug companies

The following five companies are named in Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's lawsuit.



Allergan

Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. base in Parsippany, New Jersey

Medications: Kadian and Norco.

Annual sales: $14.6 billion

Employee count: 18,000



Endo

Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. base in Malvern, Pennsylvania

Medications: Percocet and Percodan.

Annual sales: $4 billion

Employee count: 4,900

Note: Lawsuit involves a subsidiary, Endo Health Solutions



Johnson & Johnson

Headquarters: New Brunswick, New Jersey

Medications: Duragesic and Nucynta

Annual sales: $71.9 billion

Employee count: 126,400

Note: Lawsuit involves a subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals



Purdue Pharma

Headquarters: Stamford, Connecticut

Medications: OxyContin, MS Contin

Annual sales: not disclosed

Employee count: not disclosed



Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Headquarters: near Tel Aviv, Israel, with U.S. base in North Wales, Pennsylvania

Medications: Actiq and Fentora

Annual sales: $21.9 billion

Employee count: 46,000

Note: Lawsuit involves a subsidiary, Cephalon





Sources: company reports, Dispatch research