In Counties Where Drugmakers Gave Large Number Of Gifts To Doctors There Were More Overdose Deaths

The New York Times: Study Links Drug Maker Gifts For Doctors To More Overdose Deaths
A new study offers some of the strongest evidence yet of the connection between the marketing of opioids to doctors and the nation’s addiction epidemic. It found that counties where opioid manufacturers offered a large number of gifts and payments to doctors had more overdose deaths involving the drugs than counties where direct-to-physician marketing was less aggressive. The study, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, said the industry spent about $40 million promoting opioid medications to nearly 68,000 doctors from 2013 through 2015, including by paying for meals, trips and consulting fees. (Goodnough, 1/18)

The Washington Post: Drug Company Payments To Doctors May Influence Opioid Overdose Deaths, Study Finds
“What seems to matter most wasn’t the amount of money doctors were paid, it was the number of times they were paid,” said Magdalena Cerdá, an associate professor of population health and director of the Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy at the NYU School of Medicine. Michael Barnett, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who has studied the role of physicians in the opioid epidemic, called the findings “deeply concerning for the raging [opioid] crisis that we’re all quite aware of.” (Bernstein, 1/18)

Bloomberg: Big Pharma Marketing Spending Tied To Opioid Deaths, Study Finds 
“Areas in this country hardest hit by the prescription opioid crisis were the same areas targeted by drug companies marketing opioids,” said Scott Hadland, a pediatrician and researcher at the Grayken Center who was the lead author of the study. Cabell County, West Virginia, for example, received 32 times more dollars in prescription opioid marketing than the national average. Opioid manufacturers spent $11,676 on marketing per every thousand residents living in the region at the foothills of the Appalachians. (Griffin, 1/18)

Kaiser Health News: County By County, Researchers Link Opioid Deaths To Drugmakers’ Marketing
Researchers sketched a vivid line Friday linking the dollars spent by drugmakers to woo doctors around the country to a vast opioid epidemic that has led to tens of thousands of deaths. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, looked at county-specific federal data and found that the more opioid-related marketing dollars were spent in a county, the higher the rates of doctors who prescribed those drugs and, ultimately, the more overdose deaths occurred in that county. (Knight, 1/18)

Politico: ‘I’m Trying Not To Die Right Now’: Why Opioid-Addicted Patients Are Still Searching For Help
The Trump administration, Congress and states are pouring billions of dollars into addiction treatment to fight the opioid crisis, but accountability for the burgeoning industry hasn’t kept pace with those efforts — leaving patients vulnerable to ineffective care, fraud and abuse. Interviews with patients in recovery and nearly two dozen advocates, officials and public health and addiction experts in and out of government reveal a fragmented addiction care industry, with a patchwork of state regulations and spotty oversight. (Ehley and Roubein, 1/20)

And in news from the states —

Bloomberg: U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Eased In 10 States, CDC Data Show 
America’s drug overdose epidemic eased in ten states, primarily in the West, with flat or declining levels between June 2015 and June 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, overdose deaths rose by about 500 or more in ten states, with Florida accounting for an increase of more than 2,000 deaths. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois and Ohio posted increases topping 1,000 fatalities. (Tanzi, 1/19)

The Associated Press: Ohio Health Department Investigates Doctor For Deaths
The state Department of Health is investigating a doctor accused of ordering potentially fatal doses of the powerful painkiller fentanyl for 27 gravely ill patients who died at an Ohio hospital system. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Health Department is investigating Dr. William Husel, a former Columbus-based Mount Carmel Health System physician, on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (1/19)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Hospitals Review Policies On Painkillers Amid Mount Carmel Investigation
When announcing that a doctor had been fired and a total 20 pharmacists and nurses placed on leave in an investigation into excessive doses of painkillers given to hospital patients who died, Mount Carmel Health System executives acknowledged that their processes were insufficient to prevent the administration of the potentially fatal drugs. Among the many questions from administrators and the community: How could this have happened? (Viviano, 1/20)

The Washington Post: In Alexandria, Four Apparent Opioid Overdoses Leave Two Dead
Four people are said to have overdosed on opioids — two fatally — over the holiday weekend in Alexandria, prompting city officials to warn on Monday about the dangers posed by the illegal use of narcotics. The overdoses occurred within a 72-hour period in different parts of the city, said Capt. Gregg Ladislaw of the Alexandria Police Department’s criminal investigations division. One of the people who fatally overdosed was a 50-year-old woman who died in the west end of Alexandria; the other was an Alexandria resident who was brought to a hospital but could not be revived, he said. (Barrios and Sullivan, 1/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Chico’s Mass Overdose Highlights Severe New Phase Of Opioid Epidemic
The incident is among the worst mass overdose events in Northern California since the opioid epidemic hit the state a decade or so ago. It offers a window into a still-new phase of that epidemic, as the ultra-potent drug fentanyl snakes into the supply of not just heroin and other opiates, but recreational drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy. (Allday, 1/21)