Doctors Are Prescribing Fewer Opioids, Says AMA
The number of opioid prescriptions in the U.S. dropped 22 percent between 2013 and 2017, leading to an estimated 55 million fewer scripts, according to the doctors' group. These numbers are part of the American Medical Association's argument against proposed federal clinical practice legislation. Also in the news, an exposé on the marketing techniques used by some corners of big pharma regarding these medicines. Meanwhile, updates on California's experiment in distributing fentanyl tests.
The Hill:
Number Of Opioid Prescriptions Falls For Fifth Year In A Row
The number of opioid prescriptions issued nationwide has dropped by 22 percent between 2013 and 2017, which a doctors group touted as progress in fighting the epidemic of opioid addiction. The report from the American Medical Association (AMA) finds there were 55 million fewer prescriptions over that time period and the number of prescriptions has dropped for five years in a row. (Sullivan, 5/31)
Mother Jones:
“Behave More Sexually:” How Big Pharma Used Strippers, Guns, And Cash To Push Opioids
Around 2015, just before overdoses sweeping the country started making national news, a pharmaceutical sales representative in New Jersey faced a dilemma: She wanted to increase her sales but worried that the opioid painkiller she was selling was addictive and dangerous. The medication was called Subsys, and its key ingredient, fentanyl, is a synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than morphine. When the rep, who requested to go by her initials, M.S., voiced her concerns to her manager, she was told that Subsys patients were “already addicts and their prospects were therefore essentially rock-bottom,” according to a recently unsealed whistleblower lawsuit that M.S. filed after leaving Insys in 2016. To boost her numbers, the manager allegedly advised M.S. to “behave more sexually toward pain-management physicians, to stroke their hands while literally begging for prescriptions,” and to ask for the prescriptions as a “favor.” (Lurie, 5/31)
Stat:
Another Insys Sales Rep Pleads Guilty To Bribing Docs To Prescribe Subsys
Yet another former Insys Therapeutics (INSY) sales rep has pleaded guilty to bribing doctors to write prescriptions for the Subsys opioid painkiller, which contains fentanyl and carries a high risk of dependency. Michelle Breitenbach, 38, who worked in New Jersey for the drug maker, paid kickbacks and bribes to an unspecified number of physicians in the form of speaking fees for purported education events, according to the New Jersey attorney general. She faces up to five years in prison. (Silverman, 5/31)
The Associated Press:
California Experiments With Distributing Fentanyl Tests
Michael Marquesen, executive director of needle exchange Los Angeles Community Health Project, said distributing the strips allows him to warn people about fentanyl and teach them how to use the anti-overdose medication naloxone. The tests have shown that 40 percent of the heroin in Hollywood contains fentanyl, he said. “The overdose rates in Hollywood are through the roof,” Marquesen said. “They keep rising every month.” (6/1)