Drug company, 4 people indicted in US painkiller probe

CINCINNATI (AP) — Federal authorities say an Ohio-based wholesale drug distributor that’s been linked before to the opioid drug crisis has been charged in a painkiller pill distribution conspiracy case.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman in Cincinnati also said Thursday that two former executives of Miami-Luken and two pharmacists were indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

By late morning Thursday, three of the four suspects had been arrested.

There was no answer Thursday at a number listed for Miami-Luken in Springboro, a suburban city some 18 miles (28.97 kilometers) south of Dayton. The Dayton Daily News reported earlier this year that the company was in the process of dissolving amid mounting legal problems

Prescription opioid statistics made public this week underscored how pill distribution soared as the nation’s overdose epidemic grew.