Senate Opioid Package Hits Snag As Democrats Pump The Brakes Over Provision Benefiting PhRMA-Backed Group

The Hill: Democrats Hold Up Senate Opioids Bill Over 'Earmark' For PhRMA-Backed Group 
Democrats are objecting to a bill in the Senate aimed at curbing the opioid crisis because of a GOP provision they say is an earmark for one PhRMA-funded advocacy group. The provision, added by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), has sparked concern among Democrats, who say it would only benefit the Addiction Policy Forum, an advocacy group funded by PhRMA, according to a source familiar. (Hellmann, 9/5)

CQ: Senate Opioid Package Encounters Hiccup
The Cornyn provision was added to a bill (S 2789) that the Senate Judiciary Committee had approved. That bill was tucked into the broader opioids legislation. The language was carefully written to benefit only the industry-backed center. The provision would authorize $10 million for each of the fiscal years from 2018 to 2022. The language would require the expansion of call center services to help individuals and their families impacted by a substance use disorder. It also calls for the development of health information technology systems that aid in prevention, drug intervention, and the operation of treatment and recovery resources. (Raman, 9/5)

Kaiser Health News: States Looking To Tax Opioids Pin Hopes On November Elections
After almost slapping a tax on makers of opioid pills earlier this year, Minnesota lawmakers are set to try again when they meet in January. The drug manufacturers that helped create the opioid addiction crisis should help fix it, said state Sen. Chris Eaton, whose daughter died of an overdose. “I’m definitely going to pursue it” in the next legislative session, said Eaton, a Democrat. “Whether it has a chance or not kind of depends on the election.” (Hancock and Luthra, 9/6)

The Associated Press: Report: Fentanyl Deaths In Alaska Quadrupled In 2017
Overdose deaths in Alaska involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl more than quadrupled last year, according to a new report. Alaska State Troopers released its latest annual drug report Wednesday, saying the state's overall illegal drug problem continues to worsen. With it has come associated crimes including thefts, burglaries and violence. (D'Oro, 9/5)

NPR: A Researcher Takes Lessons From Cancer To Develop New Pain Treatment
The explosion of deaths related to opioid misuse has underscored a pressing need for better ways of treating pain, especially chronic pain. Duquesne University pharmacology associate professor Jelena Janjic thinks she's on to one. It involves using a patient's own immune system to deliver non-opioid pain medication to places in the body where there's pain. (Palca, 9/5)

Nashville Tennessean: Blue Cross To Stop Covering OxyContin In Tennessee Next Year
The largest health insurance company in Tennessee will stop covering OxyContin prescriptions next year as part of sweeping policy changes intended to combat opioid addiction and make pain pills less valuable on the black market. The shift is a major blow to one of the drugs that ignited the nationwide opioid epidemic. In place of OxyContin, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will instead encourage doctors to prescribe two other painkillers that are engineered to be more difficult to abuse. (Kelman, 9/6)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Orleans Jail Staff Failed To Take Vital Signs Of Man Who Died Detoxing From Opioids, Lawsuit Says
The protocol for caring for people coming down from heroin at the Orleans Parish jail includes taking their vital signs at least every eight hours, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed this week. The family of a detoxing man who died last November after going into cardiac arrest while seated in the jail's medical clinic claims in the suit the staff at the jail failed to take Narada Mealey's vital signs for two days before he collapsed in the chair. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, also claims staff mostly ignored Mealey's repeated complaints of severe abdominal pain and nausea, even as he vomited in the cell where he was being held -- a cell in the booking area that did not have a bed. (Lane, 9/5)

Medpage Today: How Calif. Medical Board's Opioid Accusations Went Down
If one had to identify a physician to symbolize its "Death Certificate Project," an aggressive effort by the Medical Board of California to nab doctors who overprescribe opioids, a likely candidate would be Harold S. Budhram, MD, of Shasta Lake. (All cities named in this article are in California.) Triggered by deaths of two of his patients attributed to opioid overdoses, the board investigated his practice and, in April, filed a 39-page complaint listing 16 separate accusations. (Clark, 9/5)

USA Today: I Lost My Son To The Opioid Crisis And Nothing Can Bring Him Back
Whenever I meet someone new at a social gathering, the question typically comes up within a few minutes of casual conversation: How many children do you have? Until nine months ago, this innocent question had a simple answer. Now it triggers a rapid and painful mental calculation. I could say two. My daughter is in New York and my son is in Philadelphia. That’s the easy answer, I suppose. But it doesn’t feel right. No, that doesn’t feel right at all. (Sternberg, 9/5)

USA Today: Social Isolation And Loneliness Epidemic Harm Mental, Physical Health
Rushing to get to work, I almost didn’t stop. But my friend and neighbor, Carol Bell, was right by the driver’s side window so I lowered it to say hello. “Did you hear the man up the street died two weeks ago?” she asked. I hadn’t. And it was the 65-year-old husband of a woman I was close to when our kids, now 18, were toddler friends. We still loved to chat when we bumped into each other. (O'Donnell, 9/5)