FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Kentucky's attorney general has filed another lawsuit against a pharmaceutical distributor linked to a pipeline inundating the state with highly addictive opioid painkillers.
Ohio-based Cardinal Health on Monday became Attorney General Andy Beshear's latest target. Based on its market share, Beshear says Cardinal Health distributed tens of millions of doses of prescription opioids in Kentucky during a yearlong period ending Jan. 31. Beshear accuses the company of using misleading business practices to flood the state with opioids and failing to report suspiciously large volumes of the shipments to authorities.
Cardinal Health did not immediately respond to a call and email seeking comment.
Beshear filed a similar lawsuit Jan. 22 against another opioid distributor, San Francisco-based McKesson Corporation. In November, he filed his first suit against Endo Pharmaceuticals and Endo Health Solutions related to drug Opana.
Last year, dozens of county governments in Kentucky and Ohio filed similar lawsuits against major drug companies, alleging they're responsible, in part, for the region's opioid problem.
READ MORE: Ohio, Kentucky counties sue drug distributors over opioid damage
More than 1,400 people died from drug overdoses in Kentucky last year, up 39 percent in three years.
