Ex-Pharma CEO Aided Opioid Sales to Addicts, U.S. Says (1)

The former head of a major generic drug distributor directed U.S. sales of opioids to pharmacies despite “serious red flags” that the powerful medications were being illegally diverted to street dealers and addicts, a prosecutor told jurors at the start of a criminal trial in Manhattan.

Laurence F. Doud III, who spent 25 years as chief executive officer of Rochester Drug Co-operative, is accused of scheming with others at the company to distribute high volumes of addictive oxycodone and fentanyl to pharmacies that had been flagged for questionable practices and preventing reporting them to the government. Doud, 78, faces ...