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Opioids Media Report 3/29/17
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This didn't happen overnight': Congressional committee launches investigation into American opioid producers
Mar 29, 2017 | Business Insider
By Sonam Sheth
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri will be leading an investigation into the manufacturers of the nation's top five prescription opioid products, according to a press release by the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee. -
Senate probe keeps heat on J&J, Mylan, Depomed and others for their opioid marketing
Mar 29, 2017 | FiercePharma
By Eric Sagonowsky
Opioid drugmakers have had no shortage of critics in recent years as the United States suffers the sting of a painful addiction epidemic. Now, a top senate Democrat is throwing the weight of her office behind efforts to dig into the industry’s marketing practices for the risky painkillers. -
Sen. McCaskill opens investigation into opioid manufacturers
Mar 28, 2017 | CNN
By Nadia Kounang
Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill has launched an investigation into some of the country's leading prescription drug manufacturers, demanding documents and records dating back the past five years which indicate just what the companies knew of the drugs' risk for abuse as well as documents detailing marketing practices and sales presentations. Her office has sent letters to the heads of Purdue, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Insys, Mylan, and Depomed. -
Democratic senator investigates drugmakers' role in opioid epidemic
Mar 28, 2017 | The Center for Public Integrity
By Kytja Weir
A leading Democratic senator is investigating the nation’s top opioid manufacturers to determine whether they contributed to overuse of the painkillers at the center of a deadly addiction crisis that has led to nearly 200,000 overdose deaths in the past 15 years. -
Sen. McCaskill demands internal documents from 5 leading opioid drugmakers
Mar 28, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has demanded internal documents from five leading opioid manufacturers to assess the companies' possible roles in perpetuating the nation's current prescription painkiller and heroin abuse epidemic, according to USA Today. -
War on drugmakers
Mar 28, 2017 | Vice News
By Alex Thompson
A leading Senate Democrat wants to know whether opioid makers have something to hide. On Tuesday, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill demanded a wide range of documents from five leading opioid manufacturers in an attempt to determine whether the pharmaceuticals companies knowingly hooked Americans on powerful painkillers in order to increase profits. -
Sen. Claire McCaskill launches federal probe of opioid industry (VIDEO)
Mar 28, 2017 | Fox 2 St. Louis
Missouri U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill launches a federal investigation into the top five prescription opioid products. She wants to know if the pharmaceutical companies are contributing to the over prescription of medicines. -
Fox 8 News at 5:30pm
Mar 28, 2017 | Fox New Orleans, LA
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KCTV5 News at 6
Mar 28, 2017 | CBS Kansas City, MO
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ABC 17 News at 6
Mar 28, 2017 | ABC Columbia, MO
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Fox 4 News at 6 PM
Mar 28, 2017 | Fox Kansas City, MO
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News 3 News at 6:30p
Mar 28, 2017 | ABC Paducah, KY
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KYOU News at 9PM
Mar 28, 2017 | Fox Ottuma, IA
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FOX 4 at 9 PM
Mar 28, 2017 | Kansas City, MO
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Today in St. Louis at 4:00
Mar 29, 2017 | NBC St. Louis, MO
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KOMU 8 News Today
Mar 29, 2017 | NBC Columbia, MO
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Fox 4 News at 5 AM
Mar 29, 2017 | Fox Kansas City, MO
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ABC 17 News This Morning
Mar 29, 2017 | ABC Columbia, MO
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KRCG 13 Live at Sunrise
Mar 29, 2017 | CBS Columbia, MO
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First News
Mar 29, 2017 | ABC Omaha, NE
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Mar 29, 2017 | Business Insider
By Sonam Sheth
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri will be leading an investigation into the manufacturers of the nation's top five prescription opioid products, according to a press release by the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee.
The inquiry will look into the practices of Purdue, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Insys, Mylan, and Depomed.
As part of the investigation, which the press release characterized as "wide-ranging," the committee is asking the corporations to provide data about sales, marketing materials, internal addiction studies, details on compliance with government settlements, and donations to third-party advocacy groups.
The press release says the investigation's mission is to "explore whether pharmaceutical manufacturers ... have contributed to opioid over-utilization and overprescription."
McCaskill's investigation comes as the US is struggling to cope with a growing drug epidemic that is sweeping its suburbs, while researchers are uncovering more links between prescription opioid marketing and deaths from drug overdose.
A report by the Associated Press, for example, found that the makers of opioid painkillers outspent the gun lobby on campaign contributions and government lobbying by a ratio of eight to one. Purdue Pharmaceuticals, one of the subjects of McCaskill's investigation and the maker of OxyContin, spent nearly $1 billion in lobbying from 2006 to 2015, which included efforts to support drugs.
The report also found that in 2015 alone, 227 million prescriptions for opioids were given out, which was "enough to hand a bottle of pills to nine out of every 10 American adults." That year, 52,404 people died from drug overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Addressing the epidemic, McCaskill said, "All of this didn't happen overnight — it happened one prescription and marketing program at a time."
She added: "The vast majority of the employees, executives, sales representatives, scientists, and doctors involved with this industry are good people and responsible actors, but some are not. This investigation is about finding out whether the same practices that led to this epidemic still continue today, and if decisions are being made that harm public health."
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Senate probe keeps heat on J&J, Mylan, Depomed and others for their opioid marketing
Mar 29, 2017 | FiercePharma
By Eric Sagonowsky
Opioid drugmakers have had no shortage of critics in recent years as the United States suffers the sting of a painful addiction epidemic. Now, a top senate Democrat is throwing the weight of her office behind efforts to dig into the industry’s marketing practices for the risky painkillers.
Sen. Claire McCaskill is targeting Johnson & Johnson, Mylan, Depomed, Insys and Purdue in her investigation, which is aimed at learning whether the companies had any role in the country’s “overutilization and overprescription” of the meds, according to a release.
In letters (PDF) to J&J CEO Alex Gorsky, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, Depomed CEO Jim Schoeneck, Insys interim CEO Santosh Vetticaden and Purdue CEO Mark Timney, the senator is pressing for answers. Among the documents she’s requesting are internal opioid abuse estimates, info on marketing strategies, sales quotas and contributions to patient groups.
She laid out evidence that suggests companies sought to downplay the risks of the painkillers and positively influence physicians’ perceptions of the meds. She wrote that the allegations “show an industry apparently focused not on preventing abuse but on fostering addiction as a central component of its business model.”
For instance, one former Insys salesperson’s motto for patients was to “Start them high and hope they don’t die,” according to the McCaskill letter. Late last year, former Insys CEO Michael Babich and other former execs were arrested for leading a “nationwide conspiracy” to boost Subsys scripts, a potent painkiller approved by the FDA to treat cancer-related pain.
The problem was, according to the allegations, Insys marketed the med for other types of pains, in some cases leading to disastrous results for patients. The Justice Department is also looking into the company’s marketing practices.
Still, the other drugmakers involved in McCaskill’s probe aren’t strangers to opioid marketing scrutiny.
On multiple occasions, the city of Chicago has taken the opioid industry to court over its own drug abuse epidemic. In October, the city filed suit against Janssen and others alleging “deceptive” risk messaging on the meds.
That followed an attempt in November 2015 to hold Purdue, Teva, Janssen, Depomed, Endo and Allergan accountable for painkiller abuse problems in the city. Additionally, back in 2015, New Hampshire’s attorney general probed drugmakers for suspected false advertising on opioids.
In an attempt to stem the tide of the abuse problem, the CDC last year rolled out guidelines calling for a drastic cutback in opioid prescribing. Chicago, for its part, has implemented a $750 pharma sales rep license aimed at curbing abuse. Separately, Pfizer and the city agreed to a marketing agreement that could be used as a template for other companies marketing the powerful meds.
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Sen. McCaskill opens investigation into opioid manufacturers
Mar 28, 2017 | CNN
By Nadia Kounang
Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill has launched an investigation into some of the country's leading prescription drug manufacturers, demanding documents and records dating back the past five years which indicate just what the companies knew of the drugs' risk for abuse as well as documents detailing marketing practices and sales presentations. Her office has sent letters to the heads of Purdue, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Insys, Mylan, and Depomed.
The companies were targeted based on their role in manufacturing some of the opioid painkillers with the highest sales in 2015.
Overdose deaths quadrupled since 1999.
The United States is in the midst of an opioid epidemic. According to the United Stated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since 1999, the number of drug overdose deaths involving prescription drugs has quadrupled. During the same time period, the sales of prescription drugs have also increased four-fold. In 2014, nearly 2 million Americans abused or depended on prescription drugs.
McCaskill is the senior Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. This is not her first effort in attempting to uncover what has contributed to this epidemic. Earlier this year, she requested the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General open an investigation into the role of drug distributors in the opioid epidemic. In addition, she's also been involved in investigating Medicare Part D's role in preventing abuse of prescription narcotics.
"Single-handedly destroying families"
"I hear it everywhere I go: 'Drug overdose deaths, the vast majority of them related to prescription opioids or heroin, are single-handedly destroying families and communities across Missouri and the country,' and I refuse to just stand by and watch, we have an obligation to everyone devastated by this epidemic to find answers," McCaskill said in a statement.
This is not the first time the Senate has investigated the relationship of drug manufacturers in the opioid epidemic. In 2012 the Senate Finance Committee began looking into the relationship between drug manufacturers and pain organizations that advocated for their use. The findings have yet to be released.
In addition, counties and cities across the country have begun filing lawsuits against manufacturers for their roles in the drug epidemic. In Cabell County, West Virginia a complaint was filed (PDF) earlier this month alleging that between 2007 and 2012, drug companies and distributors, including pharmacies such as Walgreen's and Rite Aid, sold nearly 40 million doses of prescription opiates such as hydrocodone and oxycodone to county pharmacies. The county population during those years grew from just over 94,000 to just over 96,000 people. Similarly, nearby Kanawha County, West Virginia, filed a lawsuit (PDF) at the same time alleging the drug companies sold 66 million doses of these medications during the same time period when the county population ranged from about 191,000 to 192,000 residents.
The cities of Everett, Washington and Chicago, Illinois (PDF) have also filed similar complaints, alleging aggressive marketing and deceptive messaging about the risks of opioid painkillers.
"All of this didn't happen overnight. It happened one prescription and marketing program at a time. The vast majority of the employees, executives, sales representatives, scientists, and doctors involved with this industry are good people and responsible actors, but some are not. This investigation is about finding out whether the same practices that led to this epidemic still continue today, and if decisions are being made that harm the public health," said McCaskill.
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Democratic senator investigates drugmakers' role in opioid epidemic
Mar 28, 2017 | The Center for Public Integrity
By Kytja Weir
A leading Democratic senator is investigating the nation’s top opioid manufacturers to determine whether they contributed to overuse of the painkillers at the center of a deadly addiction crisis that has led to nearly 200,000 overdose deaths in the past 15 years.
Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri on Tuesday asked the manufacturers of the nation’s five biggest selling prescription opioid products for internal information including marketing plans, sales records and contributions to third-party advocacy groups.
"We have an obligation to everyone devastated by this epidemic to find answers," McCaskill said in a prepared statement. "All of this didn't happen overnight. It happened one prescription and marketing program at a time."
The Senate investigation comes in the wake of multiple media reports on drug companies’ role in the ongoing addiction epidemic, including last year’s Politics of Pain series by The Center for Public Integrity and The Associated Press.
McCaskill’s letters to Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Insys Therapeutics, Mylan and Depomed specifically ask for information about any payments the companies made to 17 third-party advocacy groups — including the Pain Care Forum, a little-known but powerful coalition of drug companies and nonprofit groups highlighted in the Politics of Pain series.
At least 13 of the other advocacy groups mentioned in her letters have belonged to that coalition organized by the chief lobbyist for OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, according to the Center for Public Integrity and AP’s review of its membership directories.
The AP/Center for Public Integrity series found that members of the Pain Care Forum met with some of the highest-ranking health officials in the federal government, while quietly working to influence proposed regulations on opioids and promote legislation and reports on the problem of untreated pain.
The drug companies and allied groups adopted a 50-state strategy to help kill or weaken measures aimed at stemming the tide of prescription opioids. The series found they spent more than $880 million nationwide on lobbying and campaign contributions from 2006 through 2015 — more than eight times what the influential gun lobby recorded for similar activities during that same period.
“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 wrote.
McCaskill is the ranking Democratic lawmaker on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The Republican chairman, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, did not sign the letters seeking the information from the drug manufacturers, but was sent copies of them.
Purdue did not respond to the Center for Public Integrity’s request for comment Tuesday. But Bob Josephson, a spokesman for Purdue, told USA Today that the company was reviewing McCaskill’s letter and planned to respond accordingly.
Spokespeople for Depomed and Janssen Pharmaceuticals told the Center they planned to respond, as well.
“We believe that we have acted appropriately, responsibly and in the best interests of patients regarding our opioid pain medications, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about the known risks of the medications on every product label,” said Jessica Castles Smith, a spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Mylan's Nina Devlin said her company hopes the senator expands her interest to include the top 10 suppliers of opioid drugs to the U.S. market, noting that Mylan ranked as the 17th largest supplier of opioids sold in the U.S. in 2016 and represented approximately 1 percent of the domestic opioid market. "Despite being a small player in this area, we are committed to helping find solutions to the issue of opioid abuse and misuse,” she said.
Insys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The AP contributed.
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Sen. McCaskill demands internal documents from 5 leading opioid drugmakers
Mar 28, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has demanded internal documents from five leading opioid manufacturers to assess the companies' possible roles in perpetuating the nation's current prescription painkiller and heroin abuse epidemic, according to USA Today.
Sen. McCaskill specifically requested documents from Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Insys, Depomed and Mylan. The requested materials include internal studies on the possible risk of addiction related to opioids, marketing and business strategies and contributions made to third party groups that may have stifled efforts to strengthen opioid regulations.
"It's time to look at the manufacturers and find out what they knew about addiction ... (and) what marketing practices did they use to push these drugs," Sen. McCaskill told reporters in a conference call Tuesday, according to USA Today. "We want to get to the bottom of why all of a sudden opioids have been handed out like candy in this country."
Currently, Sen. McCaskill only has the support of democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. If the drug companies deny her request, she will need the backing of the committee's Republican chairman, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Sen. McCaskill told reporters she was hopeful Sen. Johnson would work with her, according to USA Today.
"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, the manufacturers of OxyContin, according to USA Today. "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."
In 2007, Purdue paid $600 million in fines after pleading guilty to misleading consumers about the potential addictive qualities of OxyContin. In 2010, the drug maker released a harder-to-crush version of the pill. It became the first drug to receive the "abuse-deterrent" designation from the Food and Drug Administration. The release of the drug has been linked to the recent rise in heroin abuse, as addicts who previously abused OxyContin by crushing the pill to bypass the medications time-release mechanism were no longer able to do so.
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Mar 28, 2017 | Vice News
By Alex Thompson
A leading Senate Democrat wants to know whether opioid makers have something to hide.
On Tuesday, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill demanded a wide range of documents from five leading opioid manufacturers in an attempt to determine whether the pharmaceuticals companies knowingly hooked Americans on powerful painkillers in order to increase profits.
“There are some similar comparisons to the early days investigating the health risks related to tobacco, but we are just at the beginning,” said McCaskill, who launched the inquiry as the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
McCaskill sent letters to the heads of Purdue Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Insys, Mylan, and Depomed asking for information including internal or third-party risk estimates on opioid use, marketing plans to both consumers and physicians, and quotas for sales reps.
As a member of the minority party, however, McCaskill does not have subpoena power to compel the companies to actually produce the documents. The investigation could be damaging to the companies regardless, and McCaskill says she believes Republicans, whose constituents have also been greatly affected by the epidemic, will step up with subpoena power if the companies do not cooperate.
But Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the committee chairman, has yet to sign on to the investigation — and his spokesperson did not appear to share McCaskill’s optimism about Republicans joining her.
“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,” Johnson spokesperson Brittni Palke told USA Today.
President Donald Trump pledged during last year’s campaign to end the epidemic and is expected to sign an executive order establishing a commission to address it. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who spoke frequently about the opioid epidemic while running for president, is reportedlyset to head the effort.
Sales of prescription opioids nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2014, according to the CDC. A 2016 investigation by the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia, a state hit particularly hard by opioid addiction, found that in the previous six years drug wholesalers had shipped 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia alone — the equivalent of 433 pills for every person in the state.
In 2012, the Senate Finance Committee conducted a narrower bipartisan investigation into opioid manufacturers’ relationships with other groups meant to establish opioid use guidelines. But after Republicans took back the Senate in 2014, the investigation was never completed.
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Sen. Claire McCaskill launches federal probe of opioid industry (VIDEO)
Mar 28, 2017 | Fox 2 St. Louis
Missouri U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill launches a federal investigation into the top five prescription opioid products. She wants to know if the pharmaceutical companies are contributing to the over prescription of medicines.
More than 30,000 people died in the u-s in 2015 from opioids and heroin and sales of prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999.
View clip here: http://fox2now.com/2017/03/29/sen-claire-mccaskill-launches-federal-probe-of-opioid-industry/
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Mar 28, 2017 | Fox New Orleans, LA
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627744?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: a u-senator says she is looking into whether drugmakers are contributing to an overuse of pain killers. senator claire mccaskill of missouri is asking u-s manufacturers of the top- selling opioid products for their marketing information, sales records and drug studies. mccaskill says previous government reports show drugmakers are not focused on preventing abuse. she hopes her review will determine whether such practices continue today.
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Mar 28, 2017 | CBS Kansas City, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627749?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: missouri senator claire mccaskill is launching a new investigation that targets opioid manufacturers. the "homeland security an governmental affairs" committee will be examing marketing, sales, and addiction study material from the top five opioid products sold in the u.s. the goal is to figure out if the makers of these drugs have contributed to the overprescription of them... and the number of overdose deaths across the country. and looking at the numbers in missouri.. the c-d-c says in 2015..1066 people died of an opioid overdose. in kansas.... 329 people died of an overdose the same year. kansas.... the investigation that is gong to be run by mccaskill is hoping to eventually help decrease these numbers and make it more difficult to get opioids if you don't need them.
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Mar 28, 2017 | ABC Columbia, MO
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Rough transcript: senator claire mccaskill is launching an investigation into opioid makers in the u-s. the investigation will look into pharmaceutical manufacturers and whether or not they have contributed to over-prescription and overuse of opioids. both of those have been cited as a cause for the rise in overdoses in the last 15 years. the senator is asking the top 5 prescription opioids sellers to hand over sales numbers, internal addiction studies, and donations to third party groups, among other documents.
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Mar 28, 2017 | Fox Kansas City, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627757?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: missouri us senator claire mccaskill is looking into the makers of opioids. mccaskil wants to investigate five of the country's largest prescription opioid producers. the investigation is in response to the growing number of prescription drug overdoses and deaths nationwide. the centers for disease control says death from prescription drug overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.
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Mar 28, 2017 | ABC Paducah, KY
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Rough transcript: u-s senator from missouri claire mccaskill hopes a new wide-ranging investigation into opioid manufacturers will end the epidemic of overdoses. mccaskill is requesting information on sales- marketing- and internal studies from manufactures. opioid use has been linked to an increase in drug related deaths. over the past 15 years, 200,000 people have died from opioid overdoses. senator mccaskill is the top ranking democrat on the senate's homeland security and governmental affairs committee.
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Mar 28, 2017 | Fox Ottuma, IA
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627770?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: missouri senator claire mccasking is looking into whether drug markers are contributing to an overuse of painkillers by americans. she is asking u.s. manufacturers of the top-selling opioid products for their marketing information, sales records and drug studies. mccaskill says previous government and media reports show that the industry not focused on preventing abuse but instead is fostering addiction. she says her investigation will review whether such practices are continuing today. some of the records she wants from five companies includ the sales rep expenses for entertaining physicians, payments made to health care advocacy groups, a well as marketing and business plans.
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Mar 28, 2017 | Kansas City, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627775?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: missouri's u-s senator claire mccaskill wants a closer lok at the companies that make painkillers. she's calling for an investigation into the country's five largest opioid producers. it's a response to the epidemic of drug overdoses and addiction nationwide. the investigation would focus on how the pharmaceutical companies developed and marketed the drugs to doctors.
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Mar 29, 2017 | NBC St. Louis, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627797?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: senator claire mccaskill wants to see if drugmakers are contributing to an overuse of painkillers in america. the missouri democrat is asking the top opioid makers for their marketing information, sales records, and drug studies. she says prescription opioid sales have quadrupled since 1999. mccaskill says her investigation will look into whether the industry is focused on preventing abuse or fostering addiction.
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Mar 29, 2017 | NBC Columbia, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627800?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: along with senator claire mccaskill, the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee will begin an investigation into the pharmaceutical industry today. it targets five of the nation's largest manufacturers of prescription opioids. mccaskill says their marketing tactics could be contributing to the rising number of opioid-related deaths. according to the missouri department of mental health, nearly 235- thousand missourians misused prescription drugs last year. "this is happening in affluent suburbs. it's happening in rural communities. it's happening to farm families. it's happening to families all across our state." this week, the missouri house is expected to discuss a statewide prescription drug monitoring program. it could identify patients who are abusing prescription drugs. president donald trump is expected to launch a commission today to address the nation's grwoing opioid epidemic. the president will sign an executive order setting up the commission, which will outline recommendations and federal resources to tackle drug abuse. deaths from opioid overdoses have reached epidemic status according the c-d-c.
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Mar 29, 2017 | Fox Kansas City, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627809?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: US senator claire mccaskill wants a closer look at the companies that make painkillers. she's calling for an investigation into the country's five largest opioid producers. it's a response to the epidemic of drug overdoses and addiction nationwide. the investigation would focus on how the pharmaceutical companies developed and marketed the drugs to doctors.
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Mar 29, 2017 | ABC Columbia, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627812?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: senator claire mccaskill is launching an investigation into opioid manufacturers in the u-s. the investigation will look into pharmaceutical manufacturers, and whether or not they have contributed to over-prescription. both have been called out as causes for a rise in overdoses in the past 15 years. mccaskill is asking the top 5 prescription opioid sellers to hand over sales numbers. she's also asking for internal addiction studies and donations to third party groups among other documents.
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Mar 29, 2017 | CBS Columbia, MO
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627820?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: senator claire mccaskill says she is looking into whether drugmakers are contributing to an overuse of pain killers by americans.mccaskill is requesting manufacturers of the top-selling opioid products share their marketing information, sales records and drug studies.mccaskill says opioid sales has taken a financial toll on the government and a deadly toll on consumers.
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Mar 29, 2017 | ABC Omaha, NE
View clip here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/26627824?token=f44f7f8b-b349-4574-af3f-a707e4c7806f
Rough transcript: congress is also taking new action on the opioid epidemic. missouri senator claire mccaskill wants marketing information and sales records from 5 leading drug makers to determine whether they have contributed to the overuse of opioid pain killers. you can follow this and other stories in our state of addiction coverage right now on ketv.com and the ketv mobile
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