WASHINGTON -- A Democratic senator is seeking information from manufacturers of the top-selling opioid products in the United States to determine whether drugmakers have contributed to an overuse of the painkillers.
Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said that sales of prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, exacting a financial toll on the government and a deadly toll on thousands of consumers.
McCaskill's letter was sent to the chief executive officers of Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma Inc., Mylan NV, Insys Therapeutics Inc., and Depomed Inc., demanding documents and information related to the sales, marketing and education strategies the companies used to promote opioid painkillers. The selected companies are the top five prescription opioid manufacturers in the United States, she said.
"This epidemic is the direct result of a calculated sales and marketing strategy major opioid manufacturers have allegedly pursued over the past 20 years to expand their market share and increase dependency on powerful -- and often deadly -- painkillers," McCaskill said in a prepared statement issued Tuesday. "They show an industry apparently focused not on preventing abuse but on fostering addiction as a central component of its business model."
She is investigating whether such practices continue today. McCaskill requested that the companies respond by April 25.
Purdue spokesman John Puskar and Depomed spokesman Chris Keenan said their companies are reviewing the letter and will respond accordingly. Spokesmen for Mylan, J&J and Insys didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some of the records she is asking for from the five companies include expenses for entertaining physicians, payments made to health care advocacy groups, as well as marketing and business plans.
"We have an obligation to everyone devastated by this epidemic to find answers," McCaskill said in the statement. "All of this didn't happen overnight. It happened one prescription and marketing program at a time."
More than 52,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2015, and roughly two-thirds of them had used prescription opioids like OxyContin or Vicodin or illegal drugs such as heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those overdoses have jumped 33 percent in the past five years alone, with some states reporting the death toll had doubled or more.
Congress worked on a bipartisan basis last year in a bid to boost funding for treatment programs. McCaskill is the ranking Democratic lawmaker on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The Republican chairman, Sen. Ron Johnson, did not sign the letter seeking the information from the drug manufacturers but was sent copies of her letters.
The opioid epidemic has also attracted the attention of President Donald Trump's administration, which is drafting an executive order to create a commission to address the crisis, according to a report from Stat News on Tuesday. The Washington Post reported Sunday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would head the effort.
Information for this article was contributed by Kevin Freking of The Associated Press and Katherine Greifeld of Bloomberg News.
Business on 03/29/2017