Trump says he is holding big Pharma accountable in opioid fight

By Roberta Rampton

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis

 

ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump touted progress in the fight against opioid abuse on Wednesday and promised to hold drugmakers accountable for their part in the crisis, a day after his administration brought its first related criminal charges against a major drug distributor and company executives.

 

America's opioid epidemic, especially damaging in rural areas where Trump is popular, has been a focus for the Republican president.

 

On Tuesday, the government charged drug distributor Rochester Drug Co-operative Inc and company executives for their role in fueling the epidemic. The company agreed to pay $20 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve charges it turned a blind eye to thousands of suspicious orders for opioid pain killers.

 

"We are holding big Pharma accountable," Trump said at the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta.

 

Deaths from opioid overdose in the United States jumped 17 percent in 2017 from a year earlier to more than 49,000 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Deaths from potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl surged 45 percent in that time, according to the CDC.

 

Hundreds of lawsuits by state and local governments accuse drugmakers such as Purdue Pharma of deceptively marketing opioids, and distributors such as AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp of ignoring that they were being diverted for improper uses.

 

Trump said he convinced Chinese President Xi Jinping in a December meeting in Argentina to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance.

 

China last month listed all fentanyl-related substances as controlled narcotics after criticism from Trump, though its government blamed U.S. culture for abuse of the drug and said the amount of fentanyl going from China into the United States was "extremely limited."

 

"Almost all fentanyl comes from China," Trump said on Wednesday. "They are going to make it a major crime."

 

Little has come of Trump's earlier calls for executing drug dealers. But the administration has taken some action to address the crisis on other fronts.

 

Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in October 2017. Last week, U.S. health officials said they will spend $350 million in four states to study ways to best deal with the opioid crisis on the local level, with a goal of reducing opioid-related overdose deaths by 40 percent over three years in selected communities in those states.

 

The Democratic National Committee said in a statement before Trump's remarks that his proposed Medicaid cuts and efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, could make the opioid problem worse.

 

Trump has used the crisis to support his call for building a wall on the border with Mexico, saying it would help keep out heroin and other illegal drugs and curb the crisis.

 

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, David Gregorio and Bill Berkrot)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-25

He does a lot of dumb stuff but this action is to be commended.

 

I think he may get re-elected.

54 minutes ago, webfact said:

The company agreed to pay $20 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve charges it turned a blind eye to thousands of suspicious orders for opioid pain killers.

In light of the $$Billions$$ made in profit, this is a slap on the wrist. I remember when Microsoft was being threatened with a $1 million/day fine, and Gates replied "OK, that's just an operating expense."

11 minutes ago, thequietman said:

He does a lot of dumb stuff but this action is to be commended.

 

I think he may get re-elected.

Humor. I recognize humor. 555

Well we shal see

Holding Big Pharma responsible by appointing Alex Azar to head HHS.

 

 

 

Why a Chinese crackdown cannot solve America's fentanyl problem.

 

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-01-02/china-cant-solve-americas-fentanyl-problem

 

 

Enter Walter White.

This is called "biting the hand that feeds you" but I must agree an A+ for Trump if he means anything more than hot air

It’s right of him to call this out and go after the primary US distribution system (might want to add members of the medical community to this list as well).  The slap on the wrist fine though gives it the optics of just being “political”.  That said, stopping the legal distribution simply drives this underground and for that they have no solution.

4 hours ago, simple1 said:

Why a Chinese crackdown cannot solve America's fentanyl problem.

 

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-01-02/china-cant-solve-americas-fentanyl-problem

 

And China already has a big beautiful Wall.... it’s so big and beautiful that they call it great... a great Chinese wall.

Wants to stop what little universal healthcare they have in the US, wants to further hand it all to the private companies. Give one company a small fine, yeah he is really sticking up for the little people. 

Ridiculous fine indeed, all just for show!

Purdue Pharma alone, the company that came up with Oxycontin earns the Stickler family an estimated billion a year ... so Tiny Hands got nothing much for show there really. 

1600 cities are suing though ... 

 

 

 

Seems to me that while the Pharmaceutical companies make the stuff, it is the doctors and pharmacies that distribute the stuff. Sure the drug companies have sales reps out pushing product but in the end one needs a prescription and a pharmacy to get the stuff.  Seems like they should be going after the doctors prescribing the stuff.  It also seems like somewhere along the line the "suspicious orders" should be examined by the Feds and the people ordering large quantities investigated as well. Article doesn't (as is with most news reports) do any in-depth reporting so we are left to wonder exactly where the problem lies. Is it indeed the drug companies or the doctors and pharmacies distributing the stuff.  Don't understand how it is all the fault of the manufacturer.  The emphasis should be on hitting hard the suspect doctors and pharmacies and start making examples of some of the people directly getting the drugs into the hands of people.  

14 minutes ago, Trouble said:

Seems to me that while the Pharmaceutical companies make the stuff, it is the doctors and pharmacies that distribute the stuff. Sure the drug companies have sales reps out pushing product but in the end one needs a prescription and a pharmacy to get the stuff.  Seems like they should be going after the doctors prescribing the stuff.  It also seems like somewhere along the line the "suspicious orders" should be examined by the Feds and the people ordering large quantities investigated as well. Article doesn't (as is with most news reports) do any in-depth reporting so we are left to wonder exactly where the problem lies. Is it indeed the drug companies or the doctors and pharmacies distributing the stuff.  Don't understand how it is all the fault of the manufacturer.  The emphasis should be on hitting hard the suspect doctors and pharmacies and start making examples of some of the people directly getting the drugs into the hands of people.  

 

You've got a point there of course ... 

Apparently the pharma companies acted in complete denial - much like the tobacco corps did decades ago - so that's where these particular lawsuits are aiming at. 

" Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in October 2017. Last week, U.S. health officials said they will spend $350 million in four states to study ways to best deal with the opioid crisis on the local level, with a goal of reducing opioid-related overdose deaths by 40 percent over three years in selected communities in those states."

 

   It's an even bigger joke than the $ 20 million "fine" for institutions that make billions of bucks and created hundreds of thousands addicts, who later had no other choice than buying heroin, because it's cheaper on the streets than some illegally purchased Oxicodon, or similar, what they were formerly using "legally" prescribed by money hungry doctors, dealers in white. 

 

    Addicts had no other choice than buying heroin which was then stretched with fentanyl and even now you can order it from China, 1 kg, 10, or 1ton. You'll find a company that ships it to you, sent in a package that too often goes thru the customs. 1 kg fentanyl is only $ 10 K, but considering its potential, the dealers use totally different ways and strategies to get it to the customers and the amount to smuggle is tiny, compared to heroin. They don't have to smuggle tons, a sand corn of fentanyl is as toxic as quite a lot of heroin. 

 

  Not even the producers of that heroin with fentanyl, nor the dealers know if their stuff is deadly. The government should control it and check on it to take deadly stuff out and and and...But too many junkies are now on pure fentanyl and the problem had been addressed but only a few people aren't enough to help. 

 

   On average, 115 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. The "crisis" is an epidemic that cost more lives within one year than the two World Wars and the Vietnam war together.

 

   What's $ 350 million in four States? People die every day and most can't even get help and die before there's a place free to get sober.  There are so many YouTube movies about it that it already hurts. Stories of victims and that's what they are. Any next hit can kill any of our kids, but does Trump even know that? Of course not. 

 

      Trump requested $639 billion in defense spending for the 2018 fiscal year. That includes spending on everything from new weapons and overseas operations to a 2.1% pay raise for troops. NATO projects the US will spend $623 billion in dollars equivalent to the $17.79 trillion GDP

 

   Even when many here believe that trump does something that's very important, it's just not true. 

 

      The truth is here and some very good explanations why "trump's generosity" won't help these poor people. The photo shows the deadly dosage of heroin and that of fentanyl. 

 

   I hope it's allowed to post this link here. :  https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/11/18260152/trump-budget-opioid-epidemic-2019

Edited April 25, 20197 yr by Isaanbiker

I guess they wouldn’t let him in the club 

Its always someone elses fault