Weekly Mass Torts Bulletin 2023-July-31

According to data revealed, opioid overdose deaths among Cook County residents continue to occur at an extraordinary pace, with fatalities reaching an all-time high last year.

In 2022, 2,000 individuals died from opioid overdoses, shattering the previous high of 1,935 fatalities set the year before, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Around the start of lockdowns connected to COVID-19, those overdose deaths considerably increased, increasing by 42% between 2019 and 2020.

Since 2018, the number of overdose deaths in the county has increased almost annually. When 676 overdose deaths were reported in 2015, the number of opioid overdose deaths was a tiny fraction of what it is now.

Despite the regional and national attention the opioid epidemic has gotten, the director of the University of Illinois Chicago's Community Outreach Intervention Projects, which runs a mobile drug treatment facility, said it was "disheartening" to know that it was still raging. The state should also take into consideration permitting organizations to build overdose prevention centers where individuals may have their substances checked before receiving clean needles, he continued, and harm reduction efforts must be expanded.

The director went on to discuss how the internet may significantly contribute to the reduction of deadly overdoses. He explained how it is possible to develop relationships with individuals and make them aware of their drug usage by developing an interactive link, which would eventually help to stop the opioid problem. Although several organizations in Chicago are working together to address the problem in the city, some areas of the county still receive less assistance than others.

There are areas right outside of the city that are not necessarily being addressed because of a lack of resources. The vast majority of opioid overdoses last year 91% involved fentanyl, the synthetic drug that’s often mixed with heroin but is 50 times more potent, the medical examiner’s office said. Deaths in the county involving fentanyl have been rising yearly for nearly a decade, from 103 in 2015 to 1,825 last year.

The latest numbers from the medical examiner’s office reflect the opioid overdose epidemic that now claims the lives of more than 100,000 people in the U.S. every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The increase in fentanyl in the drug supply and the isolation brought on the COVID-19-related lockdowns have both contributed to the pandemic. According to the CDC, drug overdoses are currently the main factor in injury-related fatalities. Since at least 2015, when there were 611 murders and 676 fatal overdoses in Cook County, the overdose rate has outpaced the murder rate.

Around 78% of the overdose deaths in Cook County last year were male. A little over 56% of the fatalities were African Americans. Whites made up roughly 29%, and Latinos somewhat less than 15%, according to the office. Chicago was the site of just over 70% of the county's opioid fatalities.

The medical examiner's office reported that those aged 50 to 59 made up 27% of the fatalities and were the age group most afflicted.

Mallinckrodt, a pharmaceutical company, is in talks with hedge funders about declaring bankruptcy and skipping payments meant to aid opioid addicts.

The company's shares increased by 53.3% to 69 cents. According to the story, which cited people involved with the conversations, Mallinckrodt would propose, as part of a planned arrangement, to write off almost $1 billion from what it still owes to addiction sufferers and state and local governments while making a one-time payment of approximately $250 million.

Mallinckrodt did not respond to the inquiry from the press reporters. According to persons familiar with the talks, a group of hedge funds, including Greenwich and Silver Point Capital, are negotiating with Mallinckrodt's board to give them control of the company through a bankruptcy petition.

One of the biggest opiate producers, Mallinckrodt, filed for bankruptcy protection over three years ago. It exited Chapter 11 last year after reaching a $1.7 billion countrywide settlement as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan.

Following worries from its lenders over the $200 million payment tied to opioid-related lawsuits, the firm said in June that it was exploring a second bankruptcy petition as well as other options.

Some many cities and counties are about to receive huge amounts of funds from Mallinckrodt over opioid crisis. Some of them are Kansas, Washington and New York, awaiting $6 million, $18 million and &58.5 million, respectively.

A new line of vapes from Juul will have a unique smartphone app with age verification and parental controls.

This would be an innovative attempt to address at least one of the issues that many e-cigarette businesses have been attacked for, including how frequently their products find up in the hands of youngsters, how they are sold and marketed, and their possible health repercussions.

The business has asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve its "next generation vapor platform," which it believes would reduce underage usage and enhance the likelihood that adults will transition from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes.

The company's website lists the characteristics of the new Juul vape that has not yet received approval. The device, according to the advertisement, provides a "more consistent vapor experience that better competes with combustible cigarettes" and "an innovative heating element that improves product performance and temperature-control precision."

A larger, longer-lasting battery and a "smart light system" that alerts the user to the amount of charge and e-liquid remaining are the additional features of the Bluetooth gadget. It has also developed a Pod ID chip that, according to the company, inhibits the use of unauthorized imitation pods with the system.

The company added that a mobile and web-based app that enables age-verification technology, including device-locking and real-time product information and usage insights for age-verified consumers with industry-leading data-privacy protections, would be available for the device.

In addition, the designs state that the gadget contains "newly designed, tamper-resistant pods that enable improved aerosol delivery." According to the company's product summary, the new suggested Juul would also include an "innovative heating element that improves product performance and temperature-control precision."

According to Juul's Chief Product Officer, the company's DNA is product innovation, and with its next-generation platform, it has created a technology solution for two public health issues: facilitating adult smokers' transition away from combustible cigarettes and preventing minors from gaining access to vapor products. The CEO noted that efforts to eradicate combustible cigarettes and stop underage usage are only beginning as new technology is created and improved for the domestic and international markets.

The Chief Regulatory Officer noted that, in order to obtain a marketing license, the vapor platform PMTA is based on cutting-edge technology that promotes public-health goals and persuasive research that shows a demonstrable public health benefit. The company is eager to work with FDA on this significant harm-reduction potential throughout the review process.

The company's behavioral study in the UK, which focused on adults moving from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes, served as the basis for the product. According to Juul, the company "looks forward to bringing this new technology to over 28 million adult smokers in the country who continue to smoke combustible cigarettes - the leading cause of preventable death." The FDA's approval of the proposals is still up in the air.