CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – Attorneys for dozens of pharmacies have asked the West Virginia Judiciary Mass Litigation Panel to throw out a lawsuit regarding children born with NAS, or Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, which is a condition where children are born addicted to opioids.

In August 2022, lawyers who represent approximately 600 West Virginia children who were exposed to opioids while in the womb said they had obtained a referral of cases to the West Virginia Judiciary’s Mass Litigation Panel. At the time of that announcement, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said the case would be brought on behalf of the children against “those responsible for the opioid epidemic.”

Pharmaceutical attorneys have asked to dismiss the case due to a lack of evidence and say the plaintiffs representing the children pleaded their case without naming specific manufacturers.

The children’s plaintiffs say the pharmacies have contributed to the ongoing opioid crisis. When the lawsuit was first announced, the plaintiffs’ attorneys stated they had been working for years to get justice for children who were born with NAS, but the cases had allegedly fallen behind cases brought on by or on behalf of government entities.