Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Day Of Opioids Trial: Memos Warned Of 'Suspicious' Prescriptions
NPR: Employees Warned Pharmacy Chains They Needed More Safeguards For Prescription Opioids
Internal documents cited during the opening session of a landmark opioid trial in Cleveland suggest the nation's biggest pharmacy chains were warned by employees about the dispensing of highly addictive pain pills. Mark Lanier, lead attorney for two Ohio counties suing CVS, Giant Eagle, Walgreens and Walmart, read the documents into the court record as part of his opening statement. "Walgreens is not verifying the legitimacy of suspicious orders, which could lead to the fulfilment of an illicit order," said one Walgreens memo cited by Lanier. (Mann, 10/5)
Bloomberg: CVS Executive Defends Pharmacy Chain’s Handling Of Opioid Drugs
A CVS Health Corp. executive acknowledged in court that some of the company’s U.S. pharmacies filled illegitimate opioid prescriptions for almost a decade, but he denied any widespread failure to monitor sales of the addictive painkillers. Tom Davis, who oversees safety issues for CVS, told jurors Tuesday in federal court in Cleveland that while the pharmacy chain had settled multiple state and federal probes over opioids between 2008 and 2016, those cases were outliers. (Feeley, 10/5)
AP: Attorneys: Pharmacy Companies Blameless For Opioid Crisis
There is no evidence that retail pharmacy chains contributed to the opioid crisis that is raging in two Ohio counties outside Cleveland, attorneys for three of the companies said during opening statements on Tuesday. Lake and Trumbull counties have sued CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle in federal court in Cleveland claiming the companies created a public nuisance by dispensing pain pills that were diverted for illegal use. The cost of abating the crisis for each county is around $1 billion, their attorneys contend. (Gillispie, 10/5)
In other news —
Stat: AstraZeneca To Pay $560,000 To Settle Discrimination Claims
Following a federal investigation, AstraZeneca (AZN) has agreed to pay $560,000 to hundreds of sales reps who claimed they were paid less than their colleagues due to racial and gender-based discrimination. The U.S. Department of Labor found the company paid a lower base salary to 23 Hispanic women primary care sales reps compared to others doing the same job, and 295 women specialty care reps were also paid a lower base salary than men who were sales reps. The discrimination, which is prohibited by government contractors under federal law, occurred between October 2015 and September 2016. (Silverman, 10/5)
Stat: Vedanta Touts Positive New Data For Its C. Diff Microbiome Therapeutic
Vedanta Biosciences is touting positive new Phase 2 results for a microbe-based treatment for C. difficile, the fourth major biotech to take this approach toward the life-threatening bacterial disease. People who received a relatively high dose of Vedanta’s drug, which is made from eight strains of bacteria, had 80% fewer recurrences of C. diff than people who received a placebo, the company said Tuesday. The absolute difference in the proportion of people whose C. difficile infections recurred was more than 37 percentage points. (Sheridan, 10/5)
