Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Opioid Supply Lawsuit Against Drug Distributor Cencora Limited By Judge
Reuters: Judge Trims US Lawsuit Accusing Cencora Of Fueling Opioid Epidemic
A federal judge on Monday pared back a U.S. government lawsuit accusing drug distributor Cencora, formerly called AmerisourceBergen, of fueling the nation's deadly opioid epidemic by failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders of prescription painkillers. U.S. District Judge Jerry Pappert in Philadelphia federal court ruled that the government could only seek penalties for alleged failure to report suspicious orders after October 2018, when the federal Controlled Substances Act was amended to explicitly require such reports. The government's lawsuit, filed last December, claimed that the company failed to report suspicious orders going back to 2014. (Pierson, 11/6)
AP: US Orders Puerto Rico Drug Distribution Company To Pay $12 Million In Opioid Case
One of Puerto Rico’s biggest distributors of pharmaceutical drugs was ordered to pay $12 million after being accused of not reporting hundreds of suspicious orders for controlled substances, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday. Drogueria Betances, LLC is accused of not reporting at least 655 orders for fentanyl and at least 113 orders for oxycodone from 2016 through June 2019. The orders were considered suspicious given in part their frequency and size, the department said. (11/6)
In related news about the drug crisis —
WLRN 91.3 FM: All Miami-Dade Public Schools Now Stock Overdose Reversal Drugs
Every public school in Miami-Dade County now stocks the overdose reversal drug naloxone, which in nasal spray form is known as Narcan. School district officials announced the development Thursday as they launched a countywide awareness campaign around the deadly risks of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. (Payne, 11/6)
Axios: U.S. Health Outcomes Worse Than OECD Nations On Most Measures
The U.S. performs worse than the average developed nation on 77% of health status indicators like life expectancy, obesity and opioid mortality rate, according to an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report. U.S. health spending as a share of gross domestic product yet again far outpaces the other 37 OECD nations while the country continues to have poor outcomes, the OECD Health at a Glance 2023 report shows. (Reed, 11/7)
AP: Mind-Altering Ketamine Becomes New Pain Treatment
As U.S. doctors scale back their use of opioid painkillers, a new option for hard-to-treat pain is taking root: ketamine, the decades-old surgical drug that is now a trendy psychedelic therapy. Prescriptions for ketamine have soared in recent years, driven by for-profit clinics and telehealth services offering the medication as a treatment for pain, depression, anxiety and other conditions. The generic drug can be purchased cheaply and prescribed by most physicians and some nurses, regardless of their training. (Perrone, 11/6)
NBC News: Why Are There No Treatments For Cocaine And Meth Addiction?
More people in the U.S. are overdosing from cocaine, methamphetamine and prescription stimulants and there's no approved medication to help them get off the drugs. ... Although the FDA has never ruled it out, in draft guidance released last month, the agency expressed openness for the first time to trials for new treatments that reduce the use of cravings for illegal stimulants, rather than solely looking at complete drug abstinence, a move welcomed by addiction specialists. (Lovelace Jr., 11/7)
