States Push Ahead With Investigation Into Opioid Painkillers
September 19 2017 - 6:35PM
Dow Jones News
By Thomas MacMillan
A bipartisan group of states investigating the opioid painkiller
industry and the causes of widespread addiction has stepped up its
probe with a fresh demand for documents from drugmakers and
distributors.
States including New York, California and Tennessee announced
the moves, saying a group of 41 attorneys general served subpoenas
on manufacturers Endo International PLC, Janssen Pharmaceuticals,
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Allergan PLC, and Purdue
Pharma.
They also demanded documents from the three companies that
account for about 90% of the country's opioid distribution:
AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health, and McKesson Corp.
"For millions of Americans, their personal battle with opioid
addiction did not start in a back alley with a tourniquet and
syringe," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said at a
press conference. "They got hooked on medicine they were prescribed
for pain or that they found in a medicine cabinet."
The investigation marks the latest step in an investigation
publicly announced by attorneys general this summer.
States including Ohio and Mississippi have gone further, filing
lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, alleging they
misrepresented the addictive risks of their painkillers.
Representatives for Allergan, Teva, Janssen, Purdue,
AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Cardinal Health said that they
were cooperating with the investigation.
A spokesman for Endo declined to comment. A spokesman for
Allergan said the company's two opioid products account for less
than 0.08% of all those prescribed in the U.S. in 2016.
Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a national trade group, said
distributors welcome a discussion of the opioid epidemic but aren't
responsible for an increase in painkiller prescriptions.
"While distributors play a vital role as logistics companies, to
suggest that they are responsible for the volume of opioids
prescribed lacks a fundamental understanding of how the supply
chain works and is regulated, " the group said.
Mr. Schneiderman said the attorneys general have asked the
companies for marketing materials, internal research about opioid
efficacy, internal memos on opioid addiction and documents
detailing how painkillers are controlled.
The attorneys general want to determine whether manufacturers
misled doctors and patients about the addictive power of the drugs
or used incentives to encourage employees to sell more drugs, Mr.
Schneiderman said. They also hope to investigate whether
distributors may have neglected their legal obligation to alert the
Drug Enforcement Administration of suspicious orders, according to
Mr. Schneiderman.
Mr. Schneiderman said that while the effort is focused on
fact-finding, it may result in litigation if misconduct is found.
"We hope that this will lead to some reforms by the industry
itself," he said.
In several New York counties, drug overdoses account for more
than 20% of deaths of people between the ages 15 and 44, including
41% in Sullivan County, Mr. Schneiderman said.
Nora Milligan, a critical-care nurse who said she is in
long-term recovery from substance abuse, applauded Tuesday's
announcement. She said she witnessed a shift in culture in
hospitals, from opioids being prescribed with care and concern to
being handed out with little fear of addiction.
"Families are being misled to think that these medications are
harmless and it's OK to just leave them in your house," Ms.
Milligan said.
Tuesday's announcement follows the news that 37 attorneys
general -- including Mr. Schneiderman -- on Monday called upon
insurance companies to examine policies that they say may have led
to the overprescription of opioids.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 19, 2017 18:20 ET (22:20 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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