Sen. Claire McCaskill opens probe of opioid drugmakers

WASHINGTON — A top Senate Democrat is investigating the role drug companies may have played in fueling the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic— demanding internal documents from five leading drugmakers on the marketing tactics for opioid painkillers and what, if anything, the companies knew about the dangers of those drugs.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., on Tuesday requested reams of information from the nation’s top five opioid manufacturers, including:

• Any internal studies that may have detailed the possible risks of addiction and abuse associated with painkillers such as OxyContin and other powerful opioid medications
• Marketing and business plans — including quotas for sales representatives — to increase sales of opioids
• Contributions made to third-party advocacy groups that may have worked to block efforts to increase regulation of opioids.

"It’s time to look at the manufacturers and find out what they knew about addiction … (and) what marketing practices practices did they use to push these drugs," McCaskill told reporters in a conference call on Tuesday. "We want to get to the bottom of why all of a sudden opioids have been handed out like candy in this country."

McCaskill said her initial effort would focus on five companies that have the largest volume of opioid sales: Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Insys, Depomed and Mylan. But she suggested her probe could expand to include other companies, including generic makers of opioids.

The makers of opioid drugs have strongly defended their practices in the past, saying they have worked to lessen the risks of opioid abuse.

"The opioid crisis is among our nation’s top health challenges, which is why our company has dedicated itself for years to being part of the solution," said Bob Josephson, a spokesman for Purdue, which makes OxyContin. Josephson said OxyContin accounts for "only 2% of the opioid analgesic prescriptions nationally, but we are an industry leader in the development of abuse-deterrent technology and advocating for the use of prescription drug monitoring programs. We are reviewing Senator McCaskill’s letter and will respond accordingly.”

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McCaskill is the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, a post she has used to investigate other drug-company practices. So far, McCaskill only has the panel's Democrats supporting her probe, but she said she expected the committee’s Republican chairman, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to work with her.

"I’m very hopeful that he will participate and be part of it," she said. "But we wanted to plant a flag in the sand and say we’re going to do this no matter what."

But Brittni Palke, a spokeswoman for Johnson, said McCaskill was out for "headlines instead of results" and criticized her for making "substantial and expansive requests" of drug makers without fully consulting him.

"Under Chairman Johnson’s leadership, the Committee has sought to address the opioid epidemic on a collaborative basis," Palke said. "In this case, contrary to the committee’s longstanding bipartisan traditions, Senator McCaskill chose to make her requests unilaterally despite widespread interest in coming together to address the root causes of America’s opioid addiction.”

If the drug companies decline to cooperate, McCaskill would need Johnson's backing to subpoena documents and other information from them.

McCaskill is hardly the first to go after the manufacturers of opioids, which have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as the opioid epidemic spread across the country. The city of Chicago and other localities have sued some of the drug companies, alleging the use of deceptive marketing campaigns that downplayed the risks of addiction.

Last year, a joint investigation by the Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative news organization, detailed how drugmakers used their lobbying firepower and deep pockets to undermine legislation aimed at curbing opioid prescribing practices, among other things.

The sale of prescription painkillers has quadrupled since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Overdose deaths from opioids hit a record high in 2015, claiming the lives of more than 33,000 Americans. The CDC reported that nearly half of all opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid.

“This epidemic is the direct result of a calculated sales and marketing strategy major opioid manufacturers have allegedly pursued over the past 20 years to expand their market share and increase dependency on powerful — and often deadly — painkillers,” McCaskill said in her embargoed statement.