Feds sue drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen over opioid sales

FILE – An AmerisourceBergen Corp. office building stands on Oct. 16, 2019, in Conshohocken, Pa. The U.S. Justice Department claimed in a lawsuit filed Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, that the major drug wholesaler contributed to the deadly toll from opioids by turning a blind eye to warning signs about suspicious sales to its pharmacy customers. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that a major drug wholesaler contributed to the deadly toll from opioids by turning a blind eye to warning signs about suspicious sales to its pharmacy customers. An 87-page civil enforcement action filed Thursday accuses AmerisourceBergen Corp. of failing to properly scrutinize orders for suspicious activity. AmerisourceBergen says the federal complaint is cherry-picking pharmacies among their tens of thousands of customers “while ignoring the absence of action” by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Opioids have been linked to more than 500,000 U.S. deaths during the past two decades.