MALONE — A national trade advocacy group for pharmaceutical distributors says that a lawsuit is a misguided attempt to deal with the effects of the opioid epidemic.

The Healthcare Distribution Alliance contacted The Malone Telegram on Friday in response to news that Franklin County had joined a multicounty lawsuit against various opioid manufacturers and distributors. The group represents several distributors, including AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

In a statement, HDA Senior Vice President John Parker said that the opioid supply is already regulated and responsibility for the number of opioid prescriptions written is incorrectly attributed to distributors.

“The misuse and abuse of prescription opioids is a complex public health challenge that requires a collaborative and systemic response that engages all stakeholders,” said Parker in the statement. “Given our role, the idea that distributors are responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written defies common sense and lacks understanding of how the pharmaceutical supply chain actually works and is regulated. Those bringing lawsuits would be better served addressing the root causes, rather than trying to redirect blame through litigation.”

The press release reiterated that distributors are the delivery section of the opioid supply chain, neither producing the drugs in the first place or making patient determinations with doctors.

The press release also stated that the Drug Enforcement Administration is responsible for setting the annual production of controlled substances in the market, approving and regulating the entities allowed to prescribe and handle opioids, and sharing data with entities in the supply chain regarding potential cases of diversion.

The HDA statement reiterated that distributors report all single opioid orders to the DEA, regardless of whether they seem suspicious or not.

“Greater communication and coordination with the DEA will help support real-time response against abuse and diversion where it occurs,” the statement read.

Franklin County voted to join the lawsuit roughly one week after meeting with attorneys from Napoli-Shkolnik PLLC. The downstate New York firm represents roughly 100 counties in pursuing reparative damages from several opioid manufacturers and distributors in various state-level lawsuits. The firm is co-lead counsel for the New York plaintiffs, which includes 25 counties and the city of Ithaca.

The two attorneys — Joseph Ciaccio and Salvatore Badala — had previously told county legislators that the pressure of a lawsuit at both the state and federal level had helped cause some change in the pharmaceutical industry. In one instance, the Purdue manufacturing company announced that it would no longer be advertising OxyContin.

At the time, they did note that the distributors would not react the same way, being further removed from production.

The state-level lawsuit is currently in the discovery phase, and is being coordinated through the Suffolk County court system. Once pre-trial is complete, each plaintiff county will be able to pursue a civil case in their own court system.

The discovery phase was noted by Napoli-Shkolnik as allowing their plaintiffs to learn about the various marketing strategies and entry points of opioids into their communities; Franklin County hopes to use that information to further disrupt local opioid abuse.