Allergan Says Pfizer Should Cover Damages in Opioid Lawsuit

Allergan opened a new front in the intensifying legal fight over the opioid crisis, suing Pfizer last week to cover any damages the former might incur in hundreds of lawsuits against it.

In a lawsuit filed August 1, Allergan claimed the allegations in lawsuits related to its marketing of the morphine drug Kadian are Pfizer’s responsibility because they concern misconduct that occurred before Allergan acquired the rights to the drug. Allergan acquired Kadian in 2008 from King Pharmaceuticals, a company that Pfizer would later buy in 2010.

The terms of the 2008 deal between Allergan, then called Actavis, and King required King to indemnify any damages relating to marketing of Kadian before 2009, a provision that, Allergan argues, now applies to Pfizer as King’s owner.