Washington DC - The US Department of Justice on Thursday filed a civil lawsuit against drug distributor AmerisourceBergen, accusing it of contributing to the opioid epidemic by violating the controlled substances act (CSA) "at least hundreds of thousands" of times.

The DOJ complaint alleges that AmerisourceBergen "repeatedly failed" to report "suspicious" opioids orders to authorities as required by law.

"The Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable those who fueled the opioid crisis by flouting the law," associate attorney general Vanita Gupta was quoted as saying in a press release.

"Our complaint alleges that the company's repeated and systemic failure to fulfill this simple obligation [to report suspicious orders] helped ignite an opioid epidemic that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past decade," said Drug Enforcement Administration's Anne Milgram.

According to the DoJ, AmerisourceBergen sold billions of units of prescription opioids over the past decade.

The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleges the company "violated the CSA by failing to report at least hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders" between 2014 and now, the DoJ said.

The department said it was seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief. If the company is found liable, it could potentially face billions of dollars in penalties.

Opioids are partly synthetically produced drugs which are often used for pain relief. However, they also carry an enormous addiction risk and a high potential for abuse.

From 1999-2019, nearly 500,000 people in the US died from an overdose involving both prescription and illicit opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).