After a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled this week that the tribal court does not have jurisdiction over the Cherokee Nation's lawsuit against several pharmaceutical distributors and retail pharmacies over the opioid addiction epidemic, the territory's attorney general has vowed to continue the legal fight.

Judge Terence Kern of the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa late Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction preventing the case from proceeding in tribal court. Cherokee Nation AG Todd Hembree brought the suit against drug distributing giants like McKesson Corp. and retail pharmacies such as CVS Health, Walgreen Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in April , alleging that the companies violated tribal and federal laws by turning a blind eye as prescription painkillers from the illicit black market flooded the streets of the Cherokee Nation.

The defendant companies responded with the Tulsa federal court lawsuit in June, filing a new complaint alleging that the District Court of the Cherokee Nation does not have jurisdiction to civilly enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act; nor does the companies' alleged behavior “threaten either tribal governance or internal relations among tribe members”—an argument that the court bought.

“While noting [Cherokee Nation's] evidence of the harm opioid abuse has caused to individual tribal members and families, and costs borne by the tribe, the Court cannot plausibly find that such harm is 'catastrophic for tribal self-government,'” Kern wrote in the 25-page ruling.

“The lack of tribal court jurisdiction over this matter is clear, and it would not serve the public interest to require [the health care companies] to litigate through the tribal court system before challenging jurisdiction in this Court. Accordingly, the Court finds that the public interest favors an injunction.”

On Wednesday, Hembree issued a statement promising to refile and “hold these companies accountable in state court.”

“The opioid crisis in the Cherokee Nation was fueled by the defendants' decision to prioritize profits over the well-being of Cherokee citizens,” according to the statement. “The defendants knowingly turned a blind eye to the harm they caused and have not changed their conduct, but this cycle ends now.”

The Cherokee Nation lawsuit came amid a growing wave of plaintiffs lawyers joining state and local governments in filing lawsuits against Big Pharma, blaming it for inundating the country with highly addictive painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet, thereby playing a significant role in the nationwide prescription opioid and heroin addiction epidemic. For instance, 18 Connecticut municipalities filed a lawsuit Tuesday in state Superior Court against several pharmaceutical companies alleging they concealed the risk of opioid addiction from the public.

But unlike the suits in other jurisdictions—including Ohio, dozens of New York counties, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Chicago and two California counties—this one doesn't go after big pharmaceutical manufacturers for the allegedly deceptive marketing of their drugs. Rather, it names as defendants the drug distributors and is the first to rope in the retail pharmacies.

The lawsuit is captioned McKesson Corp. et al. v. Hembree et al.