WASHINGTON — In a more than 70-page lawsuit seeking a jury trial, Attorney General Russell Coleman, R-Ky., claims pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts has helped fuel the deadly opioid crisis.

The complaint, filed in Jessamine County against the company and other defendants, alleges Express Scripts worked with manufacturers to boost opioid sales and aid deceptive marketing, chose not to use certain tools to address overprescribing and created a public health crisis in Kentucky by dramatically increasing the availability of opioids.

Pharmacy benefit managers work as intermediaries between drug companies and health insurers. They negotiate prices but don’t play a direct role in the physical distribution of prescription drugs.

“Express Scripts and the other pharmacy benefit managers amassed an unprecedented level of power, using it to push opioid pills and conceal unlawful activity," Coleman said in a statement on the lawsuit. "They must be held to account for profiting off Kentucky families’ pain.” 

The lawsuit points out many overdoses from non-prescription opioids are directly related to prescription pills.

A state report shows while Kentucky saw a nearly 10% decrease in overdose deaths last year, nearly 2,000 people lost their lives.

In response to the lawsuit, Express Scripts highlighted the Advanced Opioid Management program and other tools it says it has offered its clients.

The company said in a statement, “We have long worked to combat opioid overuse and abuse, and we will vigorously contest these baseless allegations in court.”