Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report 9/19/17

Traditional Media Coverage

1. Christie Outlines Federal Partnership with Pharma to Combat U.S. Opioid Epidemic (Updated)

   Sep 19, 2017 | NJ Spotlight

   By Lilo H. Stanton
   
   
   White House panel led by governor wants to curb addiction crisis with sweeping effort that will include expedited development of nonaddictive pain treatments.
2. Christie announces national Pharma agreement to collaborate on nonaddictive painkillers, treatment meds

   Sep 19, 2017 | Bucks County Courier Times

   By David Levinsky
   
   
   Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to work together and with federal authorities to develop nonaddictive pain medicines, overdose cures and medication therapy for people already addicted to opioids.
3. Tackling the opioid crisis — Pharma companies agree to work together on new meds

   Sep 19, 2017 | New Jersey 101.5

   By David Matthau
   
   
   The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis met with leaders of the pharmaceutical industry in Trenton on Monday to discuss ways to address America’s epidemic of opioid abuse and addiction.
4. Christie: Pharma and Feds to Partner on Battling Opioid Addiction

   Sep 19, 2017 | Observer

   By Christian Hetrick
   
   
   Drug companies and the federal government will partner to develop new pain medications that are less addictive than the drugs that fueled the nation’s opioid epidemic, Gov. Chris Christie said Monday.
5. City asks judge to let case against OxyContin maker proceed

   Sep 19, 2017 | Associated Press

   By Phuong Le
   
   
   A Washington city that says the pain medication OxyContin has devastated the community asked a federal judge Monday to let it move forward with its lawsuit seeking to hold the pill's manufacturer accountable for damages.
6. Two central Louisiana sheriffs sue several pharmaceutical companies

   Sep 19, 2017 | KATC

   By Dannielle Garcia
   
   
   Two central Louisiana sheriffs are suing large pharmaceutical companies, working to combat the opioid epidemic from the top.
7. Lawsuits on behalf of Avoyelles, Rapides sheriffs target 'Big Pharma'

   Sep 19, 2017 | The Town Talk

   By Melissa Gregory
   
   
   Lawsuits filed Monday on behalf of the Avoyelles and Rapides sheriffs are among the first in Louisiana against pharmaceutical companies that attorneys say bear blame for an opioid crisis that public entities are ill equipped to handle.
8. Portland set to join nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

   Sep 19, 2017 | BDN Maine

   By Jake Bleiberg
   
   
   Maine’s largest city is set to join a nationwide lawsuit against the makers of prescription painkillers that have contributed to state’s deadly opioid epidemic.
9. Maine city joins nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

   Sep 19, 2017 | Portland Press Herald

   By Randy Billings
   
   
   The Portland City Council voted unanimously – and without discussion – Monday to join a nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.
10. Elyria Council initiates process to sue over opioids

    Sep 19, 2017 | The Chronicle Telegram (OH)

    By Lisa Roberson
    
    
    Council wants Elyria to join the legal war against big pharmaceutical companies, including manufacturers and distributors, for their role in the region’s opioid epidemic.
11. Georgia AG joins 36 states to demand answers from insurers on opioids

    Sep 19, 2017 | The Atlanta Journal - Constitution

    By Ariel Hart
    
    
    Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on Monday joined three dozen other states’ attorneys general in firing a shot across the bow of insurance companies in regards to the opioid crisis. Opioid addiction among Americans is at epidemic proportions.
12. Missippi AG, Counterparts Urge Health Insurers To Review Policies in Opioid Fight

    Sep 19, 2017 | Appsfopcdaily

    By Beatrice Santos
    
    
    With the United States in the grip of an opioid epidemic, many insurers limit access to pain medications that carry a lower risk of addiction or dependence, according to an investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times. The safer drugs are more expensive.
13. Insurers asked to ante up with financial incentives to curb opioid epidemic

    Sep 19, 2017 | Courier Journal

    By Beth Warren
    
    
    Andy Beshear, Kentucky's attorney general, has joined 37 other states in announcing a new approach to reduce the flow of addictive opioid pain medicine.
14. Beshear, other AGs pressure health insurance companies to assist with solutions to opioid crisis

    Sep 19, 2017 | Northern Kentucky Tribune

    By Staff
    
    
    Attorney General Andy Beshear and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey are calling on health insurance companies to assist in finding workable solutions to the nation’s opioid epidemic.
15. STATE OF ADDICTION: Kentucky joins states asking insurance companies to fight opioid epidemic

    Sep 19, 2017 | WLKY

    Kentucky is joining 36 other states pressing health insurance companies help find solutions to the nation’s opioid epidemic.
16. West Virginia Opioid Crisis: AGs Urge Insurers To Review Pain Pill Policies

    Sep 18, 2017 | Associated Press

    West Virginia's attorney general is among 35 calling on health insurers to review their pain management treatment policies to encourage alternatives to opioid prescriptions amid a nationwide opioid crisis.
17. Attorney General Janet Mills Joins 37 States, Territories in Fight against Opioid Incentives

    Sep 18, 2017 | WAGM

    Attorney General Janet Mills joined a coalition of 37 states and territories urging health insurance companies to examine the financial incentives that contribute to the opioid epidemic in Maine and across the nation.
18. AGs urge health insurance companies to find opioid alternatives

    Sep 18, 2017 | The Parthenon

    By Tom Jenkins
    
    
    Just one week after the Netflix documentary “HEROIN(E)” showed the current state of the opioid fight in Huntington, State Attorney Generals of Kentucky and West Virginia visited Marshall University’s campus to discuss a new initiative involving 36 other states, to find new ways of treating pain without the use of opioids.
19. Morrisey leads states in fight against opioid incentives

    Sep 18, 2017 | WDTV

    By Nicole Porter
    
    
    Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is leading a fight against opioid incentives, as another way to fight the growing opioid epidemic.
20. Morrisey, 36 attorneys general voice concerns about opioid incentives

    Sep 19, 2017 | Metro News

    By Staff
    
    
    West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday he is helping lead 36 other attorneys general in asking health insurance companies to examine the incentives connecting to prescribing opioids.
21. Beshear asks health insurance companies to help with opioid crisis

    Sep 19, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette

    By Diane Wilson
    
    
    "We were in downtown Lexington probably three blocks from the city court", Beshear said.
22. AGs want health insurers to review policies in opioid fight

    Sep 19, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette

    By Sheryl Bailey
    
    
    The letter notes the number of opioid prescriptions have quadrupled since 1999, despite Americans reporting a steady amount of pain.
23. Attorneys general push alternatives to opioids

    Sep 19, 2017 | The Herald Dispatch

    By Taylor Stuck
    
    
    At 3 p.m. on a Thursday, while sitting in traffic in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, with two staff members, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear saw a person banging on the window of a vehicle a few cars in front of them.
24. Attorney General Morrisey Leads 37 States, Territories In Fight Against Opioid Incentives

    Sep 19, 2017 | Huntington News

    By Staff
    
    
    West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey leads a coalition of 37 states and territories urging health insurance companies to examine financial incentives that contribute to the opioid epidemic in West Virginia.
25. Attorneys General In 37 States Urge Insurance Industry To Do More To Curb Opioid Epidemic

    Sep 19, 2017 | ProPublica

    By Charles Ornstein
    
    
    Attorneys general for 37 states sent a letter Monday to the health insurance industry’s main trade group, urging its members to reconsider coverage policies that may be fueling the opioid crisis.
26. Attorneys general turn opioid-fighting focus to medical industry

    Sep 19, 2017 | WIZM

    By Mitch Reynolds
    
    
    Some of the nation's top law enforcement officers are turning their collective gaze on what could be one of the roots of the problem in what's been called an opioid addiction epidemic.
27. States Ask Insurers to Prioritize Non-Opioid Pain Treatment

    Sep 19, 2017 | NBC Boston

    By Geoff Mulvihill and John Raby
    
    
    Attorneys general representing the majority of states asked health insurers Monday to encourage pain treatment through means other than prescriptions for opioid painkillers, which are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths a year in the U.S.
28. New Mexico AG joins coalition against opioids

    Sep 18, 2017 | KOB 4

    By Staff
    
    
    Attorneys general from 37 states and territories, including New Mexico, are taking on health insurance companies and urging them to review their policies in order to promote alternatives to opioids.
29. Georgia's Attorney General joins coalition aiming to examine insurance industry's role in opioid epidemic

    Sep 18, 2017 | Deklab Neighbor

    By Staff
    
    
    Attorney General Chris Carr on Monday announced that the state of Georgia joined a coalition of 37 states and territories asking health insurance companies to examine financial incentives that contribute to the opioid epidemic in Georgia.
30. A.G. Derek Schmidt joins others in letter asking insurance industry to help stop opioid epidemic

    Sep 18, 2017 | The Topeka Capital Journal

    By Morgan Chilson
    
    
    A coalition of attorneys general that included Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt on Monday took the battle against the opioid epidemic to insurance companies with a letter asking the industry to re-examine the way it may support over-prescription of the potentially deadly and addictive drugs.
31. Beshear joins 36 state attorneys general in urging insurance companies to create financial incentives for non-opioid pain management

    Sep 18, 2017 | Insider Louisville

    By Joe Sonka
    
    
    Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear and the chief law enforcement officials of 36 states signed onto a letter Monday calling on health insurance companies to create financial incentives for the use of non-opioid pain management techniques, citing the role that the overprescription of addiction painkillers has played in the country’s current opioid epidemic.
32. Trump Still Hasn’t Officially Declared The Opioid Crisis A National Emergency

    Sep 19, 2017 | Huffington Post

    By Marina Fang
    
    
    More than a month after President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced that he would declare a national emergency on the opioid crisis, he has yet to make it official.

Broadcast Media Coverage

33. KIRO 7 News at 5AM

    Sep 19, 2017 | KIRO (CBS)

    By Seattle, WA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455665?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
34. WTVA 9 News at 8am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WLOV (FOX)

    By Columbus, MS
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455700?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
35. WANE News Channel 15 First News in the morning at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WANE (CBS)

    By Ft. Wayne, IN
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455750?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
36. WCSH Morning Report at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WCSH (NBC)

    By Portland, ME
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455760?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
37. KPLC 7 News Sunrise at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | KPLC (NBC)

    By Lake Charles, LA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455857?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
38. KATC Good Morning Acadiana at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | KATC (ABC)

    By Layfayette, LA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455860?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
39. WFMY Good Morning Show at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WFMY (CBS)

    By Greensboro, NC
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455865?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
40. SPNWSAU Spectrum News All Night at 3am

    Sep 19, 2017 | SPNWSAU (Spectrum News)

    By Austin, TX
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29455887?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
41. KCRA 3 Reports at 4pm

    Sep 19, 2017 | KCRA (NBC)

    By Sacramento, CA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456211?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
42. NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WNJT (PBS)

    By New York, New York
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456255?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
43. KHBS 40/29 News Sunrise at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | KHBS (ABC)

    By Ft. Smith Arizona
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456323?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
44. WCAU 10 News Today at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WCAU (NBC)

    By Philadelphia, PA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456330?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
45. WRGB 6 News Morning News at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WRGB (CBS)

    By Albany, NY
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456332?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
46. WPHL 17 Morning News at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WPHL (MNT)

    By Philadelphia, PA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456336?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
47. KYW Eyewitness News at 11pm

    Sep 19, 2017 | KYW (CBS)

    By Philadelphia, PA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456517?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
48. WAPT News at 10pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WAPT

    By Jackson, MS
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29456523?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
49. WTIC Fox News at 11pm

    Sep 19, 2017 | WTIC (FOX)

    By Hartford, CT
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29457031?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
50. WMDT News at 11pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WMDT (ABC)

    By Salisbury, MD
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29457035?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
51. WTXF News at 10pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WTXF (FOX)

    By Philadelphia, PA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29457272?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
52. KMBC 9 News at 9 p.m.

    Sep 18, 2017 | KCWE (MNT)

    By Kansas City, MO
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29457273?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
53. WPSG Eyewitness News on the CW Philly at 10pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WPSG (CW)

    By Philadelphia, PA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29457289?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
54. WJCL News at 7pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WJCL (ABC)

    By Savannah, GA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29457325?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
55. KFVS Heartland News at 6 pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | KFVS (CBS)

    By Paducah, KY
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29457617?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
56. WPVI Action News at 6pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WPVI (ABC)

    By Philadelphia, PA
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29458139?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
57. WMBC News at 5pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WMBC (WMBC)

    By New York, New York
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29458726?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24
58. WRKN News 2 at 4pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WRKN (ABC)

    By Nashville, TN
    
    
    Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/29458732?token=16c47f4b-854e-4afc-8554-389c012b9b24

Traditional Media Coverage

1. Christie Outlines Federal Partnership with Pharma to Combat U.S. Opioid Epidemic (Updated)

   Sep 19, 2017 | NJ Spotlight

   By Lilo H. Stanton

   White House panel led by governor wants to curb addiction crisis with sweeping effort that will include expedited development of nonaddictive pain treatments.

   Federal officials will work with 17 pharmaceutical companies — including Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Celgene, and others based in New Jersey — to expedite the development of new nonaddictive pain treatments and medicines to help drug addicts better manage their disease as part of a national effort to curb the opioid crisis.

   Gov. Chris Christie, chair of the White House’s opioid panel, announced the public-private partnership yesterday after a two-hour meeting in Trenton with drug company leaders, the head of the National Institutes of Health, officials from the Federal Drug Administration, presidential advisor (and Garden State native) Kellyanne Conway, and other federal representatives.

   The collaboration is rooted in past efforts through which pharmaceutical companies worked together to more quickly provide new drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and various cancers, officials said. While an AIDS diagnosis once essentially ensured a patient’s mortality, treatments developed through this same kind of partnership mean that today the disease is “treated as a chronic disease, not a death sentence,” Christie noted.

   There is no set timeline for this effort to combat addiction, but officials said the process would reduce the traditional competition between drugmakers and enable the NIH to act as an intermediary as they share knowledge, fast-track the review process, and get products to the public sooner than would otherwise be possible.New nonaddictive drugs

   The group will focus on creating new nonaddictive drugs to combat pain, reducing the potential for substance use disorder; developing additional medication-assisted treatment options for addicts in recovery; and crafting stronger formulations to reverse opioid overdoses. The most common product now in use as an antidote to opioid overdoses — naloxone or Narcan — is not strong enough to overcome the deadly power of some substances, like Fentanyl, which are becoming more popular.

   Christie underscored the urgency of what he called a “national emergency” by noting that in 2015, opioids killed some 52,000 people, the equivalent to the death toll of 17 separate 9/11 events; last year, some 64,000 people lost their lives to these substances, he said.

   In January the governor declared it a public health crisis in New Jersey, where an estimated 2,000 people were killed by opioid addiction last year, and he has dedicated much of his efforts this year to prevention, treatment, and harm-reduction programs. Over the next few days, Christie said he would outline $200 million in additional state programs aimed at expanding treatment to poor patients, beefing up healthcare services for babies born addicted, and investing more in housing and other support services.

   The pharmaceutical partnership comes six weeks after the President’s Commissionon Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis released an interim report that called for better education for prescribers in an effort to reduce opioid use, the creation of far more treatment beds, strengthening prescription-monitoring databases nationwide, and expanding access to medication-assisted treatment — prescribed drugs that can help patients avoid a relapse — and overdose antidotes like naloxone, among other things.Trump has yet to act

   The report, which was delayed several times, also urged President Donald Trump to officially declare opioid addiction a national emergency, but Trump has yet to act despite pledging to do so. Christie defended the president’s commitment to the issue yesterday and insisted his staff was working carefully to get the order right. (The president extended the panel’s mandate by a month, to November 1, after Christie requested more time to complete a final report and other aspects of their mission, before the group disbands.)

   Christie said it has been clear all along that the pharmaceutical industry had to play a role in reversing the potentially deadly trend of opioid addiction, and Trump was supportive of the collaboration when the two spoke about it in late July. The NIH, which oversees medical research, has also been working with the Federal Drug Administration, pharma leaders, and other stakeholders on the concept since early June.

   The agreement “takes what has been gathering a lot of momentum — this idea of a public-private partnership — and turns it into reality,” said NIH director Dr. Francis S. Collins. “I heard nearly unanimous agreement” during yesterday’s meeting “that this is an idea whose time has come,” Collins added. “The scope and magnitude of the addiction and overdose crisis in our country requires all hands on deck.”

   Collins said the first step is to draft a work plan with timelines, goals, and key decision points, following steps used in the past to collaborate effectively with pharmaceutical companies to identify cures for other diseases. The FDA’s cooperation means these products will still undergo a safety review, but the process can be fast-tracked, the group noted. “It’s an unprecedented partnership that has the goal of getting things to happen much faster than they would otherwise,” Collins said.‘No silver bullet’

   Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group for drugmakers, who also attended the meeting, praised the “comprehensive nature of the response” outlined in the panel’s interim report. Opioid addiction is a “complex public health challenge — there’s no silver bullet,” he said.

   While dozens of new products are now under development, Ubl said companies traditionally operate in “silos” that don’t encourage information-sharing, something the collaboration should help overcome. “Our industry stands ready to work in any way we can with the commission going forward,” he added.

   This was good news to Jim Curtin, the president and CEO of Daytop New Jersey, a recovery center with seven locations, who praised the governor’s leadership on the issue; Christie has served on the Daytop board for nearly two decades.Medication-assisted treatment

   Currently, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) depends on three substances: methadone, which has existed for decades, and the relatively newer options, suboxone and vivitrol. But as treatment becomes increasingly patient-centric — and as patients come from diverse backgrounds and cultures — there is a growing needfor additional MAT formulations, Curtin said.

   “As a treatment provider, having a tool belt that is a little wider, and having more options, is certainly something we would embrace,” he said. “There are so many different pathways to addiction and substance use disorders, so there have to be many different pathways to recovery.”

   The pharmaceutical partnership also includes New Jersey-based firms Eisai Inc., Otsuka, Pacira, Chromocell, and Amicus Therapeutics; other companies involved include BMS (Bristol-Myers Squibb), Perdue Pharma, and Pfizer, among others.

   Several firms — including Johnson & Johnson and Perdue — now face class-action lawsuits from the attorneys general of a number of states hit hard by opioid addiction, alleging they were irresponsible in how they marketed and promoted the highly addictive pain medicines that have helped fuel the crisis. New Jersey has not joined this litigation.

   When asked about the litigation yesterday, Christie said it would be resolved through the legal process and would have been inappropriate to raise the issue in the meeting with pharma leaders. “They wouldn’t have talked about it anyway,” he noted.

   Return to headline | Return to top

2. Christie announces national Pharma agreement to collaborate on nonaddictive painkillers, treatment meds

   Sep 19, 2017 | Bucks County Courier Times

   By David Levinsky

   Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to work together and with federal authorities to develop nonaddictive pain medicines, overdose cures and medication therapy for people already addicted to opioids.

   New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced the agreement Monday afternoon at a news conference following a roundtable meeting with the leaders from over a dozen pharmaceutical companies, plus the chief of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the director of the National Institute of Health, and officials from the Food and Drug Administration.

   Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy also participated in the roundtable, which was convened by Christie in his role as chairman of the White House's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

   The commission found that some 142 people a day die of opioid overdoses across the country, according to a report it released earlier this year. Bucks County hasn't been immune. 

   From just more than 40 in 2001, drug-related deaths in the Bucks County have steadily risen, skyrocketing to 168 in 2016. Bucks County is on pace to eclipse the 200 mark this year, Coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell said earlier this month.

   "This problem will not be addressed sufficiently in our country if we don't have the active involvement and partnership with the pharmaceutical companies," Christie said. "Without their help and their participation, it would be near impossible to be able to accomplish what we need to accomplish."

   Several of the pharmaceutical companies present at Monday's roundtable are based in New Jersey.

   The agreement calls for the National Institute of Health to serve as a clearinghouse for research on alternative pain medicines and addiction treatment. A similar arrangement helped develop drugs for HIV/AIDS patients in the 1980s and 1990s.

   Dr. Francis H. Collins, director of the institute, said public-private partnerships have also led to breakthroughs in new drugs for diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. He called addressing the opioid addiction epidemic an "all-hands-on-deck enterprise" that requires similar collaboration.

   "What I heard was essentially unanimous agreement that this is an idea whose time has come," Collins said, adding that the next steps would involve developing work plans with milestones, budgets and time goals.

   "We will get this underway in a way that's pretty unprecedented," he said.

   Conaway, who frequently serves as a spokeswoman for Trump and the White House, said the issue requires the bipartisan cooperation of lawmakers, law enforcement, researchers, doctors and pharmaceutical companies.

   "This is no longer someone else's co-worker, someone else's community, someone else's kid," Conaway said. "Opioid addiction is the scourge across the land. It's literally touched every state, every demographic group. … Since it's touched everyone in that way, we believe it’s a challenge that should be shared by all."

   Christie said that there was no established timeline for developing alternative drugs and pain medicines, but that he was confident the agreement would result in a future breakthrough.

   "We can't predict today how much time it will take and when we will find it. But I am confident today now we will find, because of this partnership, new treatments and new treatments for pain and those who are already addicted," he said. "That will mean an enormous difference in the lives of lots of families across the country who are suffering from this problem right now."

   The governor has made ending the stigma surrounding addiction and devising ways to combat the crisis the top priorities of his final year as governor, which will end in January.

   With only a few months left, Christie said he expects to spend $200 million in state funds on initiatives to help underserved populations like the uninsured or Medicaid enrollees, pregnant mothers and addicted newborns get treatment or counseling.

   Christie also said he's expecting to hear soon from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services about the state's application for relief from a federal Medicaid rule that prevents treatment centers with more than 16 beds from billing Medicaid.

   "We have every reason to believe that waiver will be granted very soon," he said. The federal rule, known as the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Diseases exclusion.

   Christie repeated his assertion that the loss of life from addiction demands an unprecedented national- and state-level response. He cited the 64,000-plus overdose deaths from 2016, which he said were the equivalent of 17 Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a year.

   "Can you imagine the people in this country knowingly put up with 17 9/11s a year in terms of loss of human life?" he said. "It's unacceptable. That's why it's a national emergency. That's why the president believes it's a national emergency." 

   Return to headline | Return to top

3. Tackling the opioid crisis — Pharma companies agree to work together on new meds

   Sep 19, 2017 | New Jersey 101.5

   By David Matthau

   The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis met with leaders of the pharmaceutical industry in Trenton on Monday to discuss ways to address America’s epidemic of opioid abuse and addiction.

   Gov. Christie, who chairs the Commission, said those in attendance agreed to be part of a partnership with the National Institutes of Health to help develop non-opioid pain medication, and “to put that on the fast track in partnership with NIH.”

   They also agreed to help develop medication-assisted treatment for those already suffering from addiction.

   Steve Ubl, the president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said moving forward the focus will be “how can we streamline and bring to patients more quickly non-opioid alternatives? Our companies have over 40 compounds under development.”

   He said right now there are “silos and barriers to information-sharing — clinical trial design issues that can be modified to make sure those products make their way to patients more expeditiously.”

   Christie said the 17 pharmaceutical company leaders that participated in the meeting “said that they are willing to share information that they previously said they had not shared with each other before about these 40 compounds that are under study in the pipeline right now.”

   He said the companies agreed to work with the National Institutes of Health as a “fair broker clearing house” for that information, to determine which compounds being developed work best, and what has the most potential.

   When Christie was asked how long this will take, he said he couldn’t give a timeframe.

   “If I did I’d be tempted to buy the stock of the company that I thought was the best one,” Christie said.

   He added with all of these companies working together to create new, non-addictive pain medications “the solution to this problem is going to come much faster after today, than it would have if we didn’t have today, and so we’re hopeful.”

   CDC statistics indicate there were 64,000 drug related deaths last year in America. Christie said “that means we have a 9/11 loss of life every three weeks.”

   “It’s unacceptable and that’s why it’s a national emergency, and that’s why the president agrees it’s a national emergency,” Christie said.

   He said “this problem will not be addressed sufficiently in our country if we don’t have the active involvement and partnership with the pharmaceutical companies.”

   “Without their help and their participation it will be near impossible to accomplish what we need to accomplish in terms of dealing with the opioid crisis and the overdose crisis in our country,” Christie said.

   During a briefing with reporters, Christie said while efforts will be made to fast-track development of new non-opioid drugs the National Institutes of Health will make sure safety is not compromised.

   “The NIH is going to work with the FDA to make sure we do this in a way that is both efficient and effective, and that may mean some changes to some of the protocols,” he said.

   Ubl said those in the pharmaceutical industry “want to bring together the best and brightest in the industry like we do across many public health challenges to address this particular challenge.

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4. Christie: Pharma and Feds to Partner on Battling Opioid Addiction

   Sep 19, 2017 | Observer

   By Christian Hetrick

   Drug companies and the federal government will partner to develop new pain medications that are less addictive than the drugs that fueled the nation’s opioid epidemic, Gov. Chris Christie said Monday.

   Christie, who chairs President Trump’s commission on combatting opioid addiction, announced a plan for a public-private partnership to fast track the creation of non-opioid drugs and alternative treatment options for those already addicted. He made the announcement after meeting with Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway and several leaders of the pharmaceutical industry, National Institute of Health and Federal Drug Administration.

   The governor said 17 pharmaceutical companies agreed to share information on roughly 40 compounds they’re developing and are willing to work with the NIH to determine which ideas work best. A public-private partnership to develop alternatives to opioid-based drugs was one of the recommendations Christie’s commission made in a report issued in July.

   “Up to this point, these things were siloed,” Christie said of development of less addictive pain killers. “What I can tell you is the solution to this problem is going to come much faster after today than it would have if we didn’t have today.”

   Christie said he could not estimate when the new drugs will hit the market. But he said the FDA is open to changing its protocols on how it approves prescription medications due to the “nature of the crisis.”

   The top recommendation of the president’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis was to declare a national health emergency. Such a declaration would free up resources, empower the administration and pressure Congress to provide more funding to address the issue, the commission’s report said.

   Trump endorsed the idea in August, but hasn’t signed an executive order to do so. Christie said Trump intends to issue the order, but said the White House is still working on language to make sure it passes legal muster and includes all the resources needed.

   “They want to make sure they get it right,” Christie said. “(Trump) considers this a national emergency and has instructed his staff to come up with the appropriate executive order to do that, and as recently as this past week when I spoke to the president he reiterated his commitment to getting that done.”

   Conway, who lived in Bergen County before moving to Washington D.C., joined Christie in the news conference along with NIH Director Francis Collins and Stephen Ubl, the chief executive officer of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Conway said Trump feels the urgency of the issue of opioid addiction and has made it a major priority of his administration.

   “Opioid addiction is a scourge across the land,” she said. “It literally has touched every state, every demographic. So we feel that since it’s touched everyone in that way that it’s a challenge that should be shared and born by all.”

   Christie will serve as chair of the opioid commission Nov. 1, when the commission issues its final report. The governor has staked his legacy on battling drug addiction, a crisis he likens to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks because of the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year due to drug overdoses.

   Christie is planning to do events all week related to opioid addiction initiatives. He told NJ Advance Media that he plans to commit $200 million toward addiction and recovery efforts. And he said a state commission report on opioid commission will be released this week too.

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5. City asks judge to let case against OxyContin maker proceed

   Sep 19, 2017 | Associated Press

   By Phuong Le

   A Washington city that says the pain medication OxyContin has devastated the community asked a federal judge Monday to let it move forward with its lawsuit seeking to hold the pill's manufacturer accountable for damages.

   Everett, a working-class city of about 108,000 north of Seattle, sued Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma in January, alleging the company knowingly allowed pills to be funneled into the black market and into the city and did nothing to stop it.

   Purdue filed a motion to dismiss in March. Before hearing arguments Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez called the case an interesting one with some novel legal issues.

   Purdue attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told the judge the case should be tossed for a number of reasons. Among them, the city fails to show a direct relationship between the company's conduct and the alleged harms.

   "It's a textbook example of remoteness," Fitzgerald said. He argued there are nine steps — including wrongdoing by pharmacies and criminal gangs — between Purdue's conduct and the expenses the city incurred in responding to the problems of opioid addiction.

   The lawyer for the city, Christopher Huck, told the judge that emails and other internal documents show that Purdue knowingly put their painkillers into a supply chain they knew ended at an organized drug ring, and the city has suffered for it. The city should be allowed to make its case at trial, he said.

   "OxyContin has devastated the community and inflicted enormous harm," said Huck, who was joined at the table by Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson. The injury here is the diversion and misuse of OxyContin and the damages is what the city had had to deal with that harm, Huck said.

   Three city council members, the police chief and others filled the benches in the courtroom Monday.

   "Our city has been significantly damaged. Obviously, we hope the case is not dismissed and goes forward on its merits," the mayor said outside the courtroom. "Our community needs help. And clearly we believe our city has been damaged by this crisis."

   Purdue knew their pills were going into the black market, had an obligation to report it and they didn't do that, Stephanson said.

   Fitzgerald argued in court that there's no proof Purdue was dealing to drug dealers and noted that Purdue provided pills to a wholesaler.

   The company argued Monday that the statute of limitations has passed for the city to file the lawsuit. In court documents, it also argued that city can't hold it responsible for illegal trafficking when law enforcement officials knew and were already investigating criminal trafficking at issue.

   The lawsuit doesn't say how much money the city is seeking. Stephanson said that will be determined in the weeks and months to come.

   Everett filed its lawsuit after the Los Angeles Times reported that Purdue had evidence that pointed to illegal trafficking of its pills but in many cases did nothing to notify authorities or stop the flow. That newspaper investigation prompted the city's lawsuit.

   Last week, a second city in Washington state, Tacoma, sued Purdue Pharma and two other opioid manufacturers, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. That lawsuit alleges the companies made false and misleading statements about the benefits and risks of opioids to doctors and patients over the past two decades.

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6. Two central Louisiana sheriffs sue several pharmaceutical companies

   Sep 19, 2017 | KATC

   By Dannielle Garcia

   Two central Louisiana sheriffs are suing large pharmaceutical companies, working to combat the opioid epidemic from the top.

   Monday, the sheriffs of both Rapides and Avoyelles parishes announced they are joining forces to fight the opioid problem-- in court.

   "A lot of people who are addicted to drugs, they're not there by choice. They just become a victim of maybe something a doctor prescribed or maybe something they did on their own. But they are a victim, and we don't need those people in jail," said Rapides Parish Sheriff William Hilton.

   It's an epidemic that has swept the nation.

   "Last year there were more opioid related deaths in the US than there were auto mobile related deaths or gun violence related deaths," said Derrick Earls with Laborde Earls Law Firm, the law firm that is handling the case.

   And it has especially hit home here in Louisiana, last year there were a greater number of opioid prescriptions in Louisiana than the number of people who live in the state.

   "The justice system isn't designed or equipped to deal with the problem that its dealing with. The local jails and the sheriffs can tell you and they've told us that the jails have become rehab facilities for opioid addicts," said David Laborde, another partner from the firm.

   In the lawsuit, the sheriffs site drug company advertising misleads the American people and they hope this lawsuit will hold those large companies accountable.

   "You look at the dozens and dozens and dozens of drug commercials for the pharmaceutical companies, to me, as a parent and grandparent, all that is doing is teaching our kids that there is a drug that will fix any problem that I may have," said Sheriff Hilton.

   This lawsuit isn't going to cost taxpayers anything, the attorneys are handling it pro-bono.

   "We firmly and whole heartedly believe it will work. Public funds have been used and exhausted fighting this epidemic created by "Big Pharma" so our aim is to get "Big Pharma" to reimburse those public funds that have been used," said Earls.

   If this lawsuit helps to take down the big drug companies, the payout will be used for treatment programs.

   "Treatment is a big, big issue here. Treatment centers are very limited and it's hard to get people in. And that would probably really help," said Avoyelles Parish Sheriff Doug Anderson.

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7. Lawsuits on behalf of Avoyelles, Rapides sheriffs target 'Big Pharma'

   Sep 19, 2017 | The Town Talk

   By Melissa Gregory

   Lawsuits filed Monday on behalf of the Avoyelles and Rapides sheriffs are among the first in Louisiana against pharmaceutical companies that attorneys say bear blame for an opioid crisis that public entities are ill equipped to handle.

   The Lafayette law firm Laborde Earles filed the 73-page lawsuits Monday morning in district courts. Both name companies and individuals and include a host of allegations, including that the defendants "knew that, barring exceptional circumstances, opioids are too addictive and too debilitating for long-term use for chronic non-cancer pain lasting three months or longer."

   Through July, there have been 15 opioid-related deaths in Rapides Parish, according to the Rapides Parish Coroner's Office. Toxicology results in seven deaths are pending, so that toll could be higher.

   Regardless, the death toll so far this year already is higher than the total number of deaths in 2016, which was 12.

   Louisiana Department of Health records don't reflect any opioid-related deaths in Avoyelles Parish for 2015 or 2016, but do show fewer than five such deaths in 2013 and 2014.

   Still, Avoyelles Sheriff Doug Anderson says opioids "are a big issue," along with others drugs like synthetic cannabinoids. 

   "We're seeing more and more grandkids stealing from their grandparents, stealing their medicine, stealing their money, to get these prescription pills because they're addicted," said Anderson at a press conference announcing the lawsuits.

   Anderson said people have nowhere to turn for help. David Laborde, a partner in the firm, said the opioid crisis is bringing chaos like that upon local communities and systems.

   "Our criminal justice system isn't equipped or designed to deal with the problem that it's dealing with," he said. "The local jails, as the sheriffs can tell you — they've told us — have become detox and rehab facilities for opioid addicts. And the district attorneys don't have the time or the resources to prosecute them. The jails don't have the housing to house them and certainly don't have the medical personnel that are trained to address the epidemic or the addicts."

   Derrick “Digger” Earles, another partner with the law firm, said there were more prescriptions for opioids in Louisiana last year than there are residents in the state. Opioid-related deaths outnumbered gun and traffic fatalities, he said.

   He mentioned lawsuits filed against pharmaceutical companies by several states and called the district-level lawsuits "the next leg of that litigation."

   In addition to Avoyelles and Rapides, the law firm also has filed lawsuits on behalf of the sheriffs in Jefferson Davis and Lafayette parishes.

   The lawsuits, which are not costing taxpayers any money, seek to recoup "out-of-pocket and expenses and the resources that they're having to exhaust by fighting this epidemic," said Earles.

   He said "Big Pharma's" aggressive marketing campaign misled Americans about how opioids can be so addictive.

   "We believe that Big Pharma needs to be held accountable for their actions," he said. "Our jails are stretched to the limits, our sheriff's resources and all of law enforcement's resources are stretched to the limits, and we aim to help hold Big Pharma accountable for their actions."

   In a press release after the news conference, Rapides Sheriff William Earl Hilton he's seen "so many good people of Rapides, duped by these false claims, falling into addictions they cannot control and that destroy their lives."

   Among the defendants are four doctors in the pain management field, some of whom already have been named in other lawsuits. One is from the Shreveport area, Dr. Randall Brewer.

   The lawsuits call these physicians "instrumental in promoting opioids for sale and distribution" both nationally and in the parishes.

   The lawsuits accuse some and/or all the defendants of false advertising, misbranding drugs or devices, deceptive acts and practices, racketeering, creation of an unreasonably dangerous product, negligence/creation of an unreasonable risk, fraud and enrichment without cause — all violations of Louisiana law.

   In addition to the Laborde Earles firm, attorneys from New York and Illinois law firms also are listed as representing the sheriffs.

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8. Portland set to join nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

   Sep 19, 2017 | BDN Maine

   By Jake Bleiberg

   Maine’s largest city is set to join a nationwide lawsuit against the makers of prescription painkillers that have contributed to state’s deadly opioid epidemic.

   On Monday evening, the Portland City Council voted unanimously — and without discussion — to join legal actions that a New York law firm is bringing against opioid manufacturers.

   The resolution claims that drug companies have engaged in “fraudulent and negligent marketing and distribution of opioids.” It would entitle Portland to part of any financial winnings or settlement in the case, but won’t cost the city a dime, according to Danielle West-Chuhta, the city’s top lawyer.

   Like many other cities and towns across the country, Portland has had to “bear the brunt” of combatting the opioid addiction and “suffered massive damages” from the crisis, West-Chuhta wrote in a memo to the City Council.

   “Governments in charge of caring for addicts with social services programs, homeless shelters and police enforcement, among many other services, are now seeking to persuade the courts that the drug manufacturers bear some responsibility for these social costs and should help pay for them,” West-Chuhta wrote.

   Last year, a record 376 Mainers died of drug overdoses, including 42 people in Portland. That death toll represents a 39 percent increase over the previously record setting number of overdose deaths in 2015. More than 83 percent of last year’s overdose deaths were attributed to opioids.

   Four out of five new heroin users were first addicted to prescription painkillers, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

   The resolution adopted Monday allows the city to engage two law firms to prosecute its civil claims against opioid manufacturers and producers: Napoli Shkolnik PLLC and Trafton, Matzen, Belleau & Frenette LLP.

   Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is based in New York and has brought similar suits against drug companies — such as Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson — on behalf of other cities, towns and counties. Its clients in these suits reportedly span the country, from New Hampshire to New Mexico.

   Trafton, Matzen, Belleau & Frenette is based in Auburn.

   West-Chuhta said the city will pay nothing to bring the suit and would keep two-thirds of any winnings, with the rest going to the firms.

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9. Maine city joins nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

   Sep 19, 2017 | Portland Press Herald

   By Randy Billings

   The Portland City Council voted unanimously – and without discussion – Monday to join a nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.

   The move ensures that Maine’s largest city would be entitled to a portion of any potential financial settlement.

   The lawsuit also seeks to limit the availability of the drugs that often lead to addiction, according to Danielle West-Chuhta, the city’s top attorney.

   “The opioid epidemic has been and continues to be a crisis in the United States, in Maine, and more particularly in the City of Portland,” West-Chuhta said in a memo.

   West-Chuhta said the city has suffered “massive damages.”

   “Governments in charge of caring for addicts with social services programs, homeless shelters, and police enforcement, among many other services, are now seeking to persuade the courts that the drug manufacturers bear some responsibility for these social costs and should help pay for them,” she said in the memo.

   Four out of five new heroin users were first addicted to prescription opioids, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

   For the second consecutive year, an average of one person a day is dying of an overdose in Maine. Last year, a record 376 Mainers died of drug overdoses, including 42 in Portland. That was a 40 percent increase statewide over the previous year.

   And Maine is on pace to see this year.

   In June, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills joined a multistate investigation into what role opioid manufacturers played in creating the current overdose epidemic. Mills did not specify which states were involved in the investigation and did not say whether the probe was criminal or civil in nature.

   An anecdotal spike in deaths over the summer caused public health officials in Portland to worry that drug dealers were lacing heroin with fentanyl or carfentanil, an elephant tranquilizer.

   Last spring, the Press Herald published its “Lost” series, a 10-part series that looked at addiction and its victims.

   The resolution adopted Monday authorizes the city attorney to engage the services of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC and Trafton, Matzen, Belleau & Frenette LLP on behalf of the city of Portland with respect to prosecution of any “legal claims against manufacturers and distributors of opioids arising out of the manufacturers’ and distributors’ fraudulent and negligent marketing and distribution of opioids.”

   The resolution says that police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and other city staff, including those working at the homeless shelter, respond to people struggling with addiction. The city is reallocating resources in an effort to combat the epidemic, the resolution states.

   “The ease with which these drugs have been obtained, as a result of drug companies’ campaign to make them readily prescribed for common aches and pains, has led many people to become addicted,” it says. “Opiate drug companies have enjoyed enormous profits with the sales of opiate drugs, promoting them relentlessly among physicians and paying doctors to promote these drugs at conferences, while failing repeatedly to successfully tailor the drugs to make abuse impossible.”

   West-Chutha said Monday the lawsuit will not cost the city any money.

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10. Elyria Council initiates process to sue over opioids

    Sep 19, 2017 | The Chronicle Telegram (OH)

    By Lisa Roberson

    Council wants Elyria to join the legal war against big pharmaceutical companies, including manufacturers and distributors, for their role in the region’s opioid epidemic.

    At Monday’s City Council meeting, local attorney Brian Balser, who worked on litigation against the makers of the banned Fen-Phen diet drug, said the lawsuit is the city’s way of fighting back against the companies that served as catalysts for the state’s drug problem.

    “This litigation will take some time. It is in its infancy, but the time to get involved is now,” Balser said. “… They are not concerned about community safety. The laws are in place because of community safety, and I am a big proponent that lawsuits are also about community safety.”

    Law Director Scott Serazin said the lawsuit would not cost the city anything up front. Balser will represent the city on a contingency basis and will receive payment only if the lawsuit is successful.

    “They are not class-action suits, but the lawsuits will end up grouped together to be dealt with,” he said. “It will have to address multiple plaintiffs and the same defendants. The cost of that can be expensive, but it will not be on the city.”

    Serazin said if the lawsuit was something Council wanted to consider, he would begin drafting legislation to authorize Balser to sue on the city’s behalf.

    “This is bigger, and requires a special expertise,” he said. “… It is going to take years for sure, but we need someone who will represent us. We have a drug unit. We have had a lot of deaths here. Really, all of Northeast Ohio is the epicenter of this thing.”

    Council members seemed to agree Monday, urging Serazin to immediately take the next steps to sue.

    By filing a lawsuit, Elyria joins cities including Lorain and Dayton in the fight for financial compensation. The lawsuit also will be similar to one filed by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

    Donna Mitchell, D-6th Ward, worried about how the doctors would fare in the lawsuit, meaning the pharmaceutical companies could just shift the blame.

    “Don’t the doctors bear some of the responsibility?” she said. “They are the ones prescribing the drugs.”

    Balser explained to Mitchell that the pharmaceutical companies likewise deceived the medical community by telling them their drugs would be good for patients and were not addictive.

    “We rely on our doctors, and our doctors rely on these companies,” he said. “I don’t have to take the time to explain the harm that has been done because of this epidemic. Not when 80 percent of heroin users have reported it started because of opioid prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies were deceptive of what the drugs would do.”

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11. Georgia AG joins 36 states to demand answers from insurers on opioids

    Sep 19, 2017 | The Atlanta Journal - Constitution

    By Ariel Hart

    Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on Monday joined three dozen other states’ attorneys general in firing a shot across the bow of insurance companies in regards to the opioid crisis. Opioid addiction among Americans is at epidemic proportions.

    This weekend, ProPublica and The New York Times published an investigation into the role insurance companies have played in the opioid epidemic. It found patients who had tried to use pain medication for their conditions that was less addictive but who said they were were thwarted by their insurance companies, and they wound up using more addictive opioids instead.

    The problem, according to the findings: Opioids are cheaper for the insurance companies.

    Insurance companies replied that they are dedicated to reducing opioid misuse and funding drugs that have proved to help the patients.

    The investigation detailed one Smyrna patient who had tweeted about her predicament. Her crippling abdominal pains had been soothed by the drug patch Butrans. But her insurance company suddenly stopped covering Butrans. Instead, the patient now is on long-acting morphine.

    According to the report, morphine is more addictive and carries a higher risk of overdose.

    But the Butrans, which contains a less risky opioid, cost the insurer $342 for a four-week supply. The morphine: $29.

    Other roadblocks that customers encountered included denials they had to appeal — with no guarantee of success — to obtain the expensive but safer drugs, as well as requirements for pre-approval.

    To get national data, the reporters analyzed Medicare prescription drug plans. Examples listed in the findings showed that only one-third of the people covered had any access to Butrans; and every drug plan that covered lidocaine patches, which are not addictive but cost more than other generic pain drugs, required that patients obtain prior approval for them.

    The letter from the attorneys general did not mention the investigation published the day before. But the signers were following in the footsteps of their New York colleague, Eric Schneiderman, who received prominent mention in the investigation for his letter to three pharmacy benefit managers asking that they explain their role in the crisis.

    In the letter the attorneys general sent, they told the insurance companies that they wished to reduce over prescription of opioids and promote reasonable pain management, and to “initiate a dialogue concerning your members’ incentive structures in an effort to identify those practices that are conducive to these efforts and those that are not.”

    The officials continued that the current system, “in which there may be financial incentives to prescribe opioids for pain which they are ill-suited to treat, is unacceptable.”

    “We ask that you quickly initiate additional efforts,” they wrote, “so that you can play an important role in stopping further deaths.”

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12. Missippi AG, Counterparts Urge Health Insurers To Review Policies in Opioid Fight

    Sep 19, 2017 | Appsfopcdaily

    By Beatrice Santos

    With the United States in the grip of an opioid epidemic, many insurers limit access to pain medications that carry a lower risk of addiction or dependence, according to an investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times. The safer drugs are more expensive.

    The attorneys general want health insurance companies to adopt a financial incentive structure for the use of non-opioid pain management techniques for chronic, non-cancer pain - promoting pain management alternatives that may not now be covered at the same level as prescription opioids.
    

    Dr. Frieden said it's easier for patients to get opioids than it is for them to get addiction treatment.

    Other co-sponsors of the effort are attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah and Virginia. The letter notes the number of opioid prescriptions have quadrupled since 1999, despite Americans reporting a steady amount of pain.

    Drugmakers, pharmaceutical distributors, pharmacies, and doctors have come under intense scrutiny in the opioid crisis, but the role of insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) has received less attention.

    Kentucky is joining 36 other states pressing health insurance companies help find solutions to the nation's opioid epidemic. They contend incentives that promote use of non-opioid techniques will increase the practicality of medical providers considering such treatments, including physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care and non-opioid medications.

    Last week, the NY state attorney general's office sent letters to the three largest pharmacy benefit managers - CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx - asking how they were addressing the crisis.

    Describing the opioid epidemic as "the preeminent public health crisis of our time", the 37 attorneys general will send a letter to industry trade groups and major insurance providers nationwide. "Recent research shows that non-opioid medications, even over-the-counter medication like ibuprofen, can provide just as much relief as opioids".

    Insurers say they have been addressing the issue on many fronts, including monitoring patients' opioid prescriptions, as well as doctors' prescribing patterns. At least two large PBMs announced this year that they would limit coverage of new prescriptions for pain medications to a 7- or 10-day supply. Conversely, every plan covered commonly prescribed opioids, most without requirements for prior approval.

    We analyzed Medicare prescription drug plans covering 35.7 million people in the second quarter of this year. Additionally, all plans that covered non-addictive, painkilling lidocaine patches required patients to get prior approval for the drug. Right now, he noted, it is easier for most patients to get opioids than treatment for addiction.

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13. Insurers asked to ante up with financial incentives to curb opioid epidemic

    Sep 19, 2017 | Courier Journal

    By Beth Warren

    Andy Beshear, Kentucky's attorney general, has joined 37 other states in announcing a new approach to reduce the flow of addictive opioid pain medicine.

    Beshear and his counterparts, including Curtis T. Hill Jr. in Indiana, are urging health insurance companies to create financial incentives for pain management treatment other than prescribing opioids, unless the medication is for cancer patients. 

    "Right now, we're asking nicely," Beshear said.

    He didn't say what would happen if insurance companies in Kentucky and beyond don't comply. But during a news conference Monday, he alluded to lawsuits attorneys general brought against the tobacco industry for its addictive and deadly products.

    "Ask the tobacco companies how that works out," Beshear said — referencing the billions of dollars the companies lost in settlements — during a joint news conference in Huntington, West Virginia, with its attorney general, Patrick Morrisey.

    The drug epidemic, years in the making, requires an attack on multiple fronts, Morrisey said.

    "I'm a big believer that you follow the money and you look at the financial incentives that are in place," he said. "That has not been done before."

    More than 197 million doses of prescription opioids were dispensed in Jefferson County from 2012 through mid-2017, Mayor Greg Fischer said last month. That's more than 258 doses for every man, woman and child.

    "Eighty percent of heroin users start with prescription pills," Beshear said.

    "If we can reduce opioid prescriptions and use other forms of pain management treatment, we will slow or even reverse the rate of addiction," he said.

    This effort is aimed at preventing new addictions, Beshear said. He pointed to cases across the commonwealth of doctors prescribing injured school athletes large bottles of opioids before other pain relieving methods were exhausted, Beshear said.

    Dr. James Patrick Murphy, a nationally recognized pain and addiction specialist, said he agrees that other alternatives should be used, and funded, more frequently. He often encourages his patients from Kentuckiana to try heat, ice, medicated rub, stretching, physical therapy, massages and swimming in warm water. He also uses epidurals and a radiofrequency procedure to temporarily deaden nerves to block pain. 

    But some of his patients can't work, walk or even bathe themselves due to crushing back pain, severe rheumatoid arthritis or other conditions — so opioids may be needed, he said.

    Murphy said he is concerned the new push by the attorney general could result in insurance companies decreasing the portion they pay for opioids and passing that cost to patients with legitimate pain.

    "There’s a large group [of chronic pain sufferers] that has limited, to no, insurance and they’re already strapped," the doctor said.

    When Kentucky and other states passed laws years ago to make it harder for patients to keep getting opioids over long periods of time from their doctors, pill addicts turned to street dealers peddling heroin — creating an even deadlier crisis.

    Fatal overdoses from all drugs skyrocketed 90 percent in Jefferson County since 2012 — averaging nearly one death per day last year, Fischer said at an August news conference announcing that Louisville filed a federal lawsuit seeking millions of dollars from three major drug distributors over the deadly opioid epidemic.

    Morrisey said he hasn't recommended many specifics on how insurance companies should structure the incentives, as that isn't the role of a state attorney general.

    Along with decimating lives, addiction is "the single greatest threat to economic growth," with businesses finding it hard to find employees who aren't battling addiction, Beshear said. 

    "We have to try each and every option," he said.

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14. Beshear, other AGs pressure health insurance companies to assist with solutions to opioid crisis

    Sep 19, 2017 | Northern Kentucky Tribune

    By Staff

    Attorney General Andy Beshear and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey are calling on health insurance companies to assist in finding workable solutions to the nation’s opioid epidemic.

    Beshear and Morrisey, officially made the announcement Monday afternoon in West Virginia. They are joining with 36 other state attorneys general to press health insurance companies to adopt a financial incentive structure for the use of non-opioid pain management techniques when viable for chronic, non-cancer pain.

    The AGs are reaching out to insurance companies to promote non-opioid pain management alternatives that may not be currently covered at the same level as prescription opioids.

    “Nearly 80 percent of heroin users first become addicted through prescription pills,” Beshear said. “If we can reduce opioid prescriptions and use other forms of pain management treatment, we will slow or even reverse the rate of addiction.”

    Beshear said the issue is not a Republican or Democratic issue, and thanked AG Morrisey for continuing his nonstop efforts to work with the Kentucky Office of Attorney General to find workable solutions to the opioid epidemic.

    Kentucky, like West Virginia, is facing the challenge of “our lifetime” with its drug epidemic, Beshear said, who joined Morrisey and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine last year for an addiction summit in West Virginia.

    “We have to ensure that financial incentives, or a lack thereof, for the provision of certain items and services do not contribute unintentionally to this deadly problem,” Morrisey said.

    Insurance companies can play an important role in reducing opioid prescriptions and making it easier for patients to access other forms of pain management treatment, the AGs said.

    “Simply asking providers to consider providing alternative treatments is impractical in the absence of a supporting incentive structure,” the AGs said. “All else being equal, providers will often favor those treatment options that are most likely to be compensated either by the government, an insurance provider or a patient paying out-of-pocket.”

    The AGs want to create a dialogue with the entire insurance industry concerning its incentive structure along with state insurance commissioners in an effort to identify best practices.

    Beshear is co-chair on the National Association of Attorneys General Substance Abuse Committee.

    Beshear’s participation in this initiative is the latest effort in his ongoing work to address the opioid crisis in Kentucky.

    In August, he launched the Kentucky Opioid Disposal Program, the state’s first initiative to allow Kentuckians to safely dispose of opioid medications at home. The program has the potential to dispose of more than 2.2 million unused opioids.

    In June, Beshear announced that his office intends to file multiple lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers where there is evidence that they contributed to the opioid epidemic by illegally marketing and selling opioids to Kentuckians.

    To support this litigation, Beshear issued a request for proposal (RFP) for legal services to assist the Commonwealth in multiple lawsuits and to ensure that Kentucky tax dollars are not used for the costs of the litigations.

    The AG’s office previously settled a $24 million lawsuit with Purdue Pharma regarding OxyContin. Beshear’s office has provided $8 million from that settlement directly to 15 substance treatment centers across Kentucky.

    From a different drug company settlement, the office dedicated $2 million to expand and enhance Rocket Docket programs that expedite drug cases, generate significant cost savings and allow select defendants rapid access to substance abuse treatment.

    Beshear is currently working with local law enforcement and community leaders to host substance abuse awareness forums across the state. The office has also been instrumental in numerous drug related arrests, including working with federal authorities on arresting a fentanyl dealer whose drugs had killed several Kentuckians.

    Bordering state AGs participating in this effort include Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia and West Virginia.

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15. STATE OF ADDICTION: Kentucky joins states asking insurance companies to fight opioid epidemic

    Sep 19, 2017 | WLKY

    Kentucky is joining 36 other states pressing health insurance companies help find solutions to the nation’s opioid epidemic.

    Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey made the announcement Monday afternoon.Advertisement

    The attorneys general want health insurance companies to adopt a financial incentive structure for the use of non-opioid pain management techniques for chronic, non-cancer pain -- promoting pain management alternatives that may not currently be covered at the same level as prescription opioids.

    “Nearly 80 percent of heroin users first become addicted through prescription pills,” Beshear said. “If we can reduce opioid prescriptions and use other forms of pain management treatment, we will slow or even reverse the rate of addiction.”
    

    The AGs want to create a dialogue with the insurance industry about its incentive structure along with state insurance commissioners in an effort to identify best practices.

    Beshear is co-chair on the National Association of Attorneys General Substance Abuse Committee.

    In June, Beshear announced that his office intends to file multiple lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors and retailers where there is evidence that they contributed to the opioid epidemic by illegally marketing and selling opioids to Kentuckians.

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16. West Virginia Opioid Crisis: AGs Urge Insurers To Review Pain Pill Policies

    Sep 18, 2017 | Associated Press

    West Virginia's attorney general is among 35 calling on health insurers to review their pain management treatment policies to encourage alternatives to opioid prescriptions amid a nationwide opioid crisis.

    Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced the bipartisan coalition's efforts on Monday in the fight against opioid addiction.
    

    The coalition wants health insurers to avoid contributing unintentionally to the deadly problem, Morrisey said in a release. West Virginia has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States at 41.5 per 100,000 residents — more than twice the national average.

    Other co-sponsors of the effort are attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah and Virginia.
    

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17. Attorney General Janet Mills Joins 37 States, Territories in Fight against Opioid Incentives

    Sep 18, 2017 | WAGM

    Attorney General Janet Mills joined a coalition of 37 states and territories urging health insurance companies to examine the financial incentives that contribute to the opioid epidemic in Maine and across the nation.

    The bipartisan coalition announced Monday a two-step strategy to identify problematic policies and to increase the use of non-opioid alternatives for treatment of chronic non-cancer pain.

    “Last year Maine enacted a law limiting opioid prescriptions and that law is beginning to have a positive impact,” said Mills. “Now health insurers need to reduce any financial incentives to prescribing these addicting narcotics and offer greater coverage for alternative therapies.”

    Maine had the highest rate in the nation of prescriptions issued for long-term, extended-release opioids, according to a 2014 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since then the numbers have decreased but Maine is still seeing an average of almost one drug overdose death each day. The CDC estimates 75 percent of patients that abuse heroin started with prescription medications.

    Describing the opioid epidemic as “the preeminent public health crisis of our time,” the 37 attorneys general wrote to the insurance providers’ industry trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, urging insurers to review their coverage and payment policies as the starting point for focusing on incentive structures across the insurance industry.

    The attorneys general noted that they have witnessed firsthand the devastation the opioid epidemic has wrought on their states in lives lost and costs imposed on the healthcare system and on the broader economy.

    The attorneys general contend that incentives that promote use of non-opioid therapies will encourage medical providers to consider physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care and non-opioid medications, instead of narcotic drugs.

    Increased reliance on these alternatives will combat a significant factor contributing to the epidemic.

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18. AGs urge health insurance companies to find opioid alternatives

    Sep 18, 2017 | The Parthenon

    By Tom Jenkins

    Just one week after the Netflix documentary “HEROIN(E)” showed the current state of the opioid fight in Huntington, State Attorney Generals of Kentucky and West Virginia visited Marshall University’s campus to discuss a new initiative involving 36 other states, to find new ways of treating pain without the use of opioids.

    “Eighty percent become addicted to prescription pills,” Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear said. “That means kids, adults and others that aren’t buying a street level drug. Their addiction is not starting by a decision they make on the street. They’re starting in our medicine cabinet.”

    To try and stop this issue of over prescribing, these 38 attorney generals are putting pressure on insurance companies to find non-opioid solutions to pain. However, these solutions are still unknown.

    When asked about possible substitutions for non-opioid treatment, Beshear and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey did not have an answer. They said that would be up to the physicians, and their effort was to provide financial incentives to these companies for the use of non-opioid pain management.    

    “We have to ensure that financial incentives, or lack thereof, for the provisions of certain items and services do not contribute unintentionally to this deadly problem,” Morrisey said.

    Last year, the two attorney generals met in Huntington along with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine for the West Virginia addiction summit, where they sought help through the faith based communities in the Tri-State area.

    Beshear talked about his personal experiences with opiates having lost a neighbor to addiction last year and just this past week being involved with an overdose situation in the middle of downtown Lexington, Kentucky.

    “We were in downtown Lexington probably three blocks from the city court,” Beshear said. “And we were about ten cars back, and we thought we were in a traffic jam, and we notice a woman beating on a car window door… One of our investigators, who is also a paramedic, noticed it was an overdose.”

    Beshear said they helped him out of the car and after giving him naloxone and performing CPR several times, paramedics were able to revive him. Beshear said that incident was an eye-opening experience to him and really shows that this is happening everywhere.

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19. Morrisey leads states in fight against opioid incentives

    Sep 18, 2017 | WDTV

    By Nicole Porter

     Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is leading a fight against opioid incentives, as another way to fight the growing opioid epidemic.

    On Monday, along with Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, he announced a bi-partisan coalition urging health insurance companies to examine financial incentives that contribute to the epidemic.

    The two-step strategy, announced at Marshall University, intends to identify what they call "problematic policies" and encourage reforms to spur increased use of non-opioid alternatives for treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain. Thirty-seven attorneys general will send a letter to industry trade groups and major insurance providers. The letter urges them to review their policies.

    "Given that the underlining opiates aren't treating the specific disease condition, if you can look at the alternatives, whether they're medication-based or whether it's physical therapy or other forms that are designed to improve their condition of the patient, we think that's going to be more effective," said Attorney General Morrisey.

    Attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah and Virginia are co-sponsors of this effort.

    Other attorneys general signing the letter are Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

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20. Morrisey, 36 attorneys general voice concerns about opioid incentives

    Sep 19, 2017 | Metro News

    By Staff

    West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday he is helping lead 36 other attorneys general in asking health insurance companies to examine the incentives connecting to prescribing opioids.

    Morrisey, who was joined by Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear at Marshall University, said it is important to make sure opioid addiction is addressed from every angle.

    “For a very long period of time, I’ve always believed that there are financial incentives that exist within the coverage and payment policies of various types of products that may be unintentionally contributing to the opioid epidemic,” he said.

    “Today is the beginning because we’re trying to ensure that the incentives are appropriate because many people shouldn’t be on opiates in the first place. We recognize that opiates can be appropriate for certain type of people who need it.”

    According to Morrisey, a letter from the attorneys general was sent to most major health insurance providers, national trade associations and government associations.

    The attorneys general said they hope insurance companies make it easier for patients to access non-opioid treatment options and begin a conversation on how to eliminate harmful policies.

    “Adopting an incentive structure that rewards the use of non-opioid pain management techniques for chronic, non-cancer pain will have many benefits,” the letter said.

    “Given the correlation between increased supply and opioid abuse, the societal benefits speak for themselves. Beyond that, incentivizing opioid alternatives promotes evidence-based techniques that are more effective at mitigating this type of pain, and, over the long-run, more cost-efficient.”

    Morrisey said they are not pointing fingers at this moment and instead want to start a dialogue.

    “We know that some insurers and companies have led in this area, and we applaud those who have. At the same time, we know there are some who have lagged behind,” Morrisey said. “We want to make sure every single company take a look at what they’re doing and ultimately do the right thing so we don’t continue to perpetuate the problem with over-prescription.”

    The letter notes opioid painkiller prescriptions have quadrupled since 1999, and more than 50 percent who misuse opioids obtained them from a friend or relative.

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21. Beshear asks health insurance companies to help with opioid crisis

    Sep 19, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette

    By Diane Wilson

    "We were in downtown Lexington probably three blocks from the city court", Beshear said.

    Beshear told The Daily Independent the attorneys general don't "want to go in with threats" but instead open a dialogue with the insurers, and it would be a "long way down the road" before any type of litigation is considered. "We start how you're supposed to start - asking nicely", said Beshear. "We think there may be some financial incentives or lack thereof that is influencing that referral".

    "When you look at coverage and payment policies, you want to make sure that if you're an insurance company that some of the non-opioid alternatives - maybe it's physical therapy - and you look at the duration that physical therapy is going to be covered", Morrisey said. "That's a tangible example". They said the deadliest overdose epidemic in US history is a bipartisan issue. "We've got a lot of people who are out there right now and they need our help".

    "All else being equal, providers will often favor those treatment options that are most likely to be compensated, either by the government, an insurance provider, or a patient paying out-of-pocket", wrote the attorneys general.

    "There are steps that should be taken before subjecting a young mind to the power of these addictive pills", Beshear said. "Their addiction is not starting from a decision they make to buy drugs on the street".

    In the letter, the attorneys general asked insurers to promote non-opioid pain management alternatives that may not be now covered at the same level as prescription opioids - rather than highly-addictive pain pills. "If we can reduce opioid prescriptions and use other forms of pain management treatment, we will slow or even reverse the rate of addiction". That's down from 111.3 per 100 in 2015.

    At a press conference in Huntington, W.Va., Beshear joined West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in a press conference to promote the bipartisan effort of state law enforcement officials, as their states have been two of the hardest hit by a flood of opioid painkillers being prescribed over the last decade, which has created a base of opioid addicts now moving on to cheaper and more lethal opioids like heroin and fentanyl.

    To try and stop this issue of over prescribing, these 38 attorney generals are putting pressure on insurance companies to find non-opioid solutions to pain.

    Other attorneys general signing the letter are Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.
    

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22. AGs want health insurers to review policies in opioid fight

    Sep 19, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette

    By Sheryl Bailey

    The letter notes the number of opioid prescriptions have quadrupled since 1999, despite Americans reporting a steady amount of pain. 

    Attorneys General from West Virginia, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah, and Virginia co-sponsored this effort.

    While opioids, such as hydrocodone and morphine, are often prescribed to relieve pain, they also have been linked to abuse and dependence.

    Matthew Wiggin, a spokesperson with the insurer, told the Times, "All opioids are addictive, which is why we work with care providers and members to promote non-opioid treatment options for people suffering from chronic pain".

    Attorneys General Morrisey and Beshear agree the opioid epidemic is not a Republican or Democratic issue, and join other attorneys general in finding a solution.

    Describing the opioid epidemic as "the preeminent public health crisis of our time", the 37 attorneys general will send a letter to industry trade groups and major insurance providers nationwide. But health plans and PBMs have, for the most part, not been examined as closely. Insurers say they have seen marked declines in monthly opioid prescriptions in the past year or so. Moreover, at least two large pharmacy benefit managers, which run insurers' drug plans, announced this year that they would limit coverage of new prescriptions for pain pills to a seven- or 10-day supply. Just one-third of covered individuals had access to Butrans, a painkilling skin patch that contains the less addictive opioid buprenorphine.

    "In contrast, nearly every plan covered common opioids and very few required any prior approval", according to the article. Dr. Frieden said it's easier for patients to get opioids than it is for them to get addiction treatment. The attorneys general, in acknowledging the important role insurance companies play in reducing opioid prescriptions, hope to assess the positive and negative impacts incentive structures have on the opioid epidemic. "Insurers must take a hard look at the systemic problems in our healthcare system that result in the over-prescription of opioids and fuel the cycle of addiction". 
    

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23. Attorneys general push alternatives to opioids

    Sep 19, 2017 | The Herald Dispatch

    By Taylor Stuck

    The driver of the vehicle had overdosed on carfentanil, and one of Beshear's staff members revived the person with a dose of naloxone.

    "That's what we are facing," Beshear said. "I saw it that day. You don't watch someone go from blue to purple knowing what's next and that not make a deep impact on you."

    Beshear joined West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey at Marshall University on Monday to announce a coalition of 37 states and territories urging health insurance companies to examine financial incentives that contribute to the opioid epidemic. The two attorneys general co-lead the coalition.

    "What we are doing today is looking at financial incentives because there is an absence of incentives sometimes to prescribe these non-opiate therapy options," Morrisey said. "Given that the underlying opiates are not treating the specific disease condition, if you can look at the alternatives, whether they are medication based or physical therapy or other forms that are designed to improve the condition of the patient, we think that is going to be more effective. We think there may be some financial incentives or lack thereof that is influencing that referral."

    The 37 attorneys general will send a letter to industry trade groups and major insurance providers nationwide that urges insurers to review their coverage and payment policies as the starting point in a dialogue focused on incentive structures across the industry.

    "When you look at coverage and payment policies, you want to make sure that if you're an insurance company that some of the non-opioid alternatives - maybe it's physical therapy - and you look at the duration that physical therapy is going to be covered," Morrisey said. "You want to make sure there's not a financial incentive in place that says rather than get the physical therapy, I'm going to get the opiate instead. That's a tangible example."

    Morrisey said they aren't doctors and they aren't trying to tell companies what a formula should look like, but they do want to start that open dialogue.

    He said he is optimistic the companies will be willing and open to make a positive change to help curb the epidemic. Beshear said if they are not, they should take a look at what happened to tobacco companies when they refused to work with attorneys general.

    "I believe this action is aimed at curbing or reducing the rate of new addiction," Beshear said. "We've got a lot of people who are out there right now and they need our help. A lot of what we do to remove street-level drugs or even clean out existing medicine cabinets can help those people. Getting them in treatment helps those people. But we look at 80 percent of people who use heroin first becoming addicted through prescription pills, math tells us if we can lessen the number of prescription pills that are being prescribed and that are out there, we can truly impact the supply that's driving a new addiction."

    According to a 2016 study from the National Institutes of Health, 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain and 25.1 million Americans have been experiencing pain every day for the past three months. To manage that pain long-term, 5 to 8 million use prescription opioids.

    West Virginia has made strides to reduce the number of opioids prescribed, reaching 96 prescriptions dispensed per 100 people in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's down from 111.3 per 100 in 2015.

    Morrisey said this will not affect those who truly need an opioid prescription for pain management, like cancer patients.

    Morrisey and Beshear are joined by attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah and Virginia as co-sponsors of this effort.

    Other attorneys general signing the letter are from Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

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24. Attorney General Morrisey Leads 37 States, Territories In Fight Against Opioid Incentives

    Sep 19, 2017 | Huntington News

    By Staff

    West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey leads a coalition of 37 states and territories urging health insurance companies to examine financial incentives that contribute to the opioid epidemic in West Virginia.

    The bipartisan coalition announced Monday a two-step strategy intended to identify problematic policies and encourage reforms to spur increased use of non-opioid alternatives for treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain.
     
    Attorney General Morrisey and Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, co-leader of the initiative, will speak about the coalition’s plans at a press conference Monday afternoon at Marshall University in Huntington.
     
     “We have to ensure that financial incentives, or a lack thereof, for the provision of certain items and services do not contribute unintentionally to this deadly problem,” Attorney General Morrisey said.
     
    Attorneys General Morrisey and Beshear agree the opioid epidemic is not a Republican or Democratic issue, and join other attorneys general in finding a solution.
     
    “Nearly 80 percent of heroin users first become addicted through prescription pills,” Attorney General Beshear said. “If we can reduce opioid prescriptions and use other forms of pain management treatment, we will slow or even reverse the rate of addiction.”
     
    Describing the opioid epidemic as “the preeminent public health crisis of our time,” the 37 attorneys general will send a letter to industry trade groups and major insurance providers nationwide. It urges insurers to review their coverage and payment policies as the starting point in a coalition-initiated dialogue focused on incentive structures across the insurance industry.
     
    “We have witnessed firsthand the devastation that the opioid epidemic has wrought on our States in terms of lives lost and the costs it has imposed on our healthcare system and the broader economy,” Attorney General Morrisey wrote in leading the coalition. “As the chief legal officers of our States, we are committed to using all tools at our disposal to combat this epidemic and to protect patients suffering from chronic pain or addiction.”
     
    The attorneys general, in acknowledging the important role insurance companies play in reducing opioid prescriptions, hope to assess the positive and negative impacts incentive structures have on the opioid epidemic. They contend incentives that promote use of non-opioid techniques will increase the practicality of medical providers considering such treatments, including physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care and non-opioid medications.
     
    Increased reliance on these alternatives will combat a significant factor contributing to the epidemic – the over-prescription of opioid painkillers. The letter notes the number of opioid prescriptions have quadrupled since 1999, despite Americans reporting a steady amount of pain.
     
    West Virginia Attorney General Morrisey joined attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah and Virginia as co-sponsors of this effort.
     
    Other attorneys general signing the letter are Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

    A copy of the letter is available at http://bit.ly/2xK3PCF.
    

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25. Attorneys General In 37 States Urge Insurance Industry To Do More To Curb Opioid Epidemic

    Sep 19, 2017 | ProPublica

    By Charles Ornstein

    Attorneys general for 37 states sent a letter Monday to the health insurance industry’s main trade group, urging its members to reconsider coverage policies that may be fueling the opioid crisis.

    The letter is part of an ongoing investigation by the state officials into the causes of the opioid epidemic and the parties that are most responsible. The group is also focusing on the marketing and sales practices of drug makers and the role of drug distributors.

    On Sunday, ProPublica and The New York Times reported that many insurance companies limit access to pain medications that carry a lower risk of addiction or dependence, even as they provide comparatively easy access to generic opioid medications. The safer drugs are more expensive.

    In their letter to America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade group based in Washington, D.C., the attorneys general urged insurers to revise their rules “to encourage healthcare providers to prioritize non-opioid pain management options over opioid prescriptions for the treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain.”

    “The status quo, in which there may be financial incentives to prescribe opioids for pain which they are ill-suited to treat, is unacceptable,” the letter said. “We ask that you quickly initiate additional efforts so that you can play an important role in stopping further deaths.”

    The signatories include the attorneys general of California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

    While opioids, such as hydrocodone and morphine, are often prescribed to relieve pain, they also have been linked to abuse and dependence. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50, and more than 2 million Americans are estimated to misuse opioids. While the crisis has placed the practices of drug makers, pharmaceutical distributors, pharmacies and doctors under scrutiny, the role of insurers in enabling access to cheap, addictive opioids has received less attention.

    The Department of Health and Human Services is now studying whether insurance companies make opioids more accessible than other pain treatments. An early analysis suggests that insurers are placing fewer restrictions on opioids than on less addictive, non-opioid medications and non-drug treatments like physical therapy, said Christopher M. Jones, a senior policy official at the department.

    Last week, the New York state attorney general’s office sent letters to the three largest pharmacy benefit managers — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — asking how they were addressing the crisis.

    In a written statement to ProPublica, Cathryn Donaldson, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, said that, “We share the state attorneys general’s commitment to eradicating the opioid epidemic in America.”

    “Health plans cover comprehensive, effective approaches to pain management that include evidence-based treatments, more cautious opioid prescribing, and careful patient monitoring,” Donaldson wrote. “Recent research shows that non-opioid medications, even over-the-counter medication like ibuprofen, can provide just as much relief as opioids.”

    Insurers say they have been addressing the issue on many fronts, including monitoring patients’ opioid prescriptions, as well as doctors’ prescribing patterns. A number of companies say they have seen marked declines in monthly opioid prescriptions in the past year or so. Moreover, at least two large pharmacy benefit managers, which run insurers’ drug plans, announced this year that they would limit coverage of new prescriptions for pain pills to a seven- or 10-day supply.

    “Patients and their care providers should talk openly and honestly about pain and how to manage it — from lifestyle changes and exercise to over-the-counter options and clearly understanding the dangers of opioids,” Donaldson said.

    Nonetheless, ProPublica and The New York Times found that companies are sometimes refusing to cover less risky drugs prescribed by doctors while putting no such restrictions on opioids.

    We analyzed Medicare prescription drug plans covering 35.7 million people in the second quarter of this year. Only one-third of the people covered, for example, had any access to Butrans, a painkilling skin patch that contains a less-risky opioid, buprenorphine. And every drug plan that covered lidocaine patches, which are not addictive but cost more than other generic pain drugs, required that patients get prior approval from the insurer for them.

    Moreover, we found that many plans make it easier to get opioids than medications to treat addiction, such as Suboxone. Drug plans covering 33.6 million people include Suboxone, but two-thirds require prior authorization. And even if they do approve coverage, some insurance companies have set a high out-of-pocket cost for Suboxone, rendering it unaffordable for many addicts, a number of pharmacists and doctors said.

    “Everyone — including and especially insurance companies — have an obligation to address the opioid epidemic,” New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a press release today. “Insurers must take a hard look at the systemic problems in our healthcare system that result in the over-prescription of opioids and fuel the cycle of addiction.”

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26. Attorneys general turn opioid-fighting focus to medical industry

    Sep 19, 2017 | WIZM

    By Mitch Reynolds

    Some of the nation's top law enforcement officers are turning their collective gaze on what could be one of the roots of the problem in what's been called an opioid addiction epidemic.

    Wisconsin's Attorney General is among those taking aim at the medical industry over prescription painkillers.

    Brad Schimel says health insurance companies changing their incentives for prescribing opioids could have a big impact on the number of people who become addicted to the drugs.

    A letter signed by 37 attorneys general was sent to the president of the nation's largest trade association for health insurance companies, urging proactive steps to combat opioid abuse. The letter is calling for reforms to how insurance companies pay health providers for opioid prescriptions.
    
    Opioid prescriptions have quadrupled in the U.S. in about the last 15 years. At the same time, opioid addictions and deaths have also skyrocketed.

    The assumption of the group seems to be the incentivizing of opioid painkillers rather than other pain management techniques are contributing to the nation's opioid problem.

    A state drug task force recently reported the number of opioid deaths in Wisconsin has gone from about 50 in 1999 to close to 400 in 2015.

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27. States Ask Insurers to Prioritize Non-Opioid Pain Treatment

    Sep 19, 2017 | NBC Boston

    By Geoff Mulvihill and John Raby

    Attorneys general representing the majority of states asked health insurers Monday to encourage pain treatment through means other than prescriptions for opioid painkillers, which are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths a year in the U.S.

    The top government lawyers in 35 states signed a letter to the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans. The group, which also includes attorneys general for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, asked insurers to make coverage of non-opioid treatments such as physical therapy and massage a priority.

    "The status quo, in which there may be financial incentives to prescribe opioids for pain which they are ill-suited to treat, is unacceptable," the attorneys general wrote.

    The letter targets prescribing powerful drugs for chronic pain, a practice several studies have found is not effective.

    The insurers group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Opioid-related overdoses have hit especially hard in the Appalachian states. On Monday, the attorney generals from two of them, Kentucky and West Virginia, held a joint news conference to highlight the pressure on the health insurance industry.

    "If we can get the best practices changed with insurance companies and the payment incentives are just a bit different than what they are today, I think that's going to continue to see the number of pills prescribed and dispensed drop dramatically," said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican. "This is an important new front to open up."

    Kentucky's Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said the number of overdoses might not fall quickly if companies follow the requests, but said it could help prevent more people from becoming addicted in the future.

    The nation is in the thick of an opioid epidemic. In 2015, more than 52,000 people across the country died from drug overdoses — more than from car crashes or shootings.

    Nearly two-thirds of those overdoses were from opioids, including prescription drugs such as OxyContin and Vicodin and illicit drugs including heroin and fentanyl. Often, abusers switch between prescription and illegal drugs.

    A few years ago, governments were reacting mostly through measures such as creating databases of prescriptions to identify abusers or by increasing the availability of a drug that counteracts overdoses.

    Lately, they've been getting more aggressive.

    More than 60 local and state governments have filed, announced or publicly considered lawsuits against drug makers or distributors. In June, several attorneys general announced a multi-state investigation of the industry.

    Since last year, states have been adopting laws limiting initial prescriptions to opioids in the hopes of cutting down on misuse.
    

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28. New Mexico AG joins coalition against opioids

    Sep 18, 2017 | KOB 4

    By Staff

    Attorneys general from 37 states and territories, including New Mexico, are taking on health insurance companies and urging them to review their policies in order to promote alternatives to opioids.

    Opioids are commonly prescribed to treat pain, but the attorneys general coalition says insurers may be unintentionally contributing to the country's opioid problem by not covering anything else.

    "New Mexico is in a state of emergency with the opioid crisis that is ravaging our youth, families, law enforcement, healthcare system, economy and local government agencies," New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said.

    Balderas is one of eight co-sponsors in the battle. The others are from Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

    Other attorneys general in the coalition are from Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

    The National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, the president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, to address their concerns. Click here to read that letter.

    "Massive pharmaceutical companies will no longer be allowed to reap enormous profits by inundating our suffering communities with opioids, and I will hold them accountable to fund our efforts to attack this crisis in New Mexico," Balderas said.

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29. Georgia's Attorney General joins coalition aiming to examine insurance industry's role in opioid epidemic

    Sep 18, 2017 | Deklab Neighbor

    By Staff

    Attorney General Chris Carr on Monday announced that the state of Georgia joined a coalition of 37 states and territories asking health insurance companies to examine financial incentives that contribute to the opioid epidemic in Georgia.

    “Georgians are witnessing firsthand the devastation that the opioid epidemic has wrought on our state and nation in terms of lives lost and the costs it has imposed on our healthcare system and the broader economy,” said Carr, who is from Dunwoody. “The Office of the Attorney General remains committed to using all tools at its disposal to combat this epidemic and to protect patients suffering from chronic pain as well as addiction. We look forward to this dialogue with the insurance industry, so that, working together, we can best determine solutions to combat this modern-day plague.”

    The bipartisan coalition announced Monday a two-step strategy intended to identify problematic policies and encourage reforms to spur increased use of non-opioid alternatives for treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain.

    Describing the opioid epidemic as “the preeminent public health crisis of our time,” the 37 attorneys general will send a letter to industry trade groups and major insurance providers nationwide. The letter urges insurers to review their coverage and payment policies as the starting point in a coalition-initiated dialogue focused on incentive structures across the insurance industry.

    The attorneys general, in acknowledging the important role insurance companies play in reducing opioid prescriptions, hope to assess the positive and negative impacts incentive structures have on the opioid epidemic.

    Attorneys General from West Virginia, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah, and Virginia co-sponsored this effort. The following attorneys general also signed the letter: Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.

    A copy of the letter is posted on www.law.ga.gov.

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30. A.G. Derek Schmidt joins others in letter asking insurance industry to help stop opioid epidemic

    Sep 18, 2017 | The Topeka Capital Journal

    By Morgan Chilson

    A coalition of attorneys general that included Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt on Monday took the battle against the opioid epidemic to insurance companies with a letter asking the industry to re-examine the way it may support over-prescription of the potentially deadly and addictive drugs.

    In a three-page letter calling the opioid epidemic the “preeminent public health crisis of our time,” Schmidt and attorneys general from 37 states and territories encouraged insurance industry trade groups and providers to review their coverage and payment policies for pain treatments.

    “Insurance companies can play an important role in reducing opioid prescriptions and making it easier for patients to access other forms of pain management treatment,” the letter said. “All else being equal, providers will often favor those treatment options that are most likely to be compensated, either by the government, an insurance provider, or a patient paying out-of-pocket.”

    In a recent symposium about opioid addiction hosted by the Kansas Health Institute, Kenneth Mishler, corporate pharmacist for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, talked about efforts that company is making to address the issues nationwide.

    “The Blues, in general, across country recognize their responsibility to be part of the solution,” he said. “Early in 2016, the Blues association in Chicago formed a workgroup to address the opioid crisis.”

    The group assembled strategies and goals, Mishler said, and recently rolled them out publicly at www.bcbs.com.

    “The vision of this group, and I was a part of that group, was that in five years we would see the number of opioids prescribed dramatically reduced,” he said. “More importantly, the number of individuals receiving evidence-based treatment for substance abuse disorders will be dramatically increased.”

    BCBS of Kansas recently partnered with Walgreens to fund 10 additional disposal units across the state where people can drop off unused drugs, Mishler said. It also is funding research on opioid issues at Harvard University and tapping into Blues claims data from across the state to learn about what is going on in the payer market.

    When asked about paying for alternative treatments, such as acupuncture and massage, that can be used as options for pain management, Mishler said the Blues system is looking at studying the idea and acknowledged such treatments can be effective.

    Alternative non-opioid methods of treatment were mentioned by the attorneys general as potentially being more effective and, over the long run, more cost-efficient.

    “The status quo, in which there may be financial incentives to prescribe opioids for pain which they are ill-suited to treat, is unacceptable,” the letter said. “We ask that you quickly initiate additional efforts so that you can play an important role in stopping further deaths.”

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31. Beshear joins 36 state attorneys general in urging insurance companies to create financial incentives for non-opioid pain management

    Sep 18, 2017 | Insider Louisville

    By Joe Sonka

    Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear and the chief law enforcement officials of 36 states signed onto a letterMonday calling on health insurance companies to create financial incentives for the use of non-opioid pain management techniques, citing the role that the overprescription of addiction painkillers has played in the country’s current opioid epidemic.

    At a press conference in Huntington, W.Va., Beshear joined West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in a press conference to promote the bipartisan effort of state law enforcement officials, as their states have been two of the hardest hit by a flood of opioid painkillers being prescribed over the last decade, which has created a base of opioid addicts now moving on to cheaper and more lethal opioids like heroin and fentanyl.

    The letter signed by 37 state attorneys general was addressed to America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) — the national political advocacy and trade organization for health insurance companies. It urged them “to take proactive steps to encourage your members to review their payment and coverage policies and revise them, as necessary and appropriate, to encourage healthcare providers to prioritize non-opioid pain management options over opioid prescriptions for the treatment of chronic, non-cancer pain.”

    Citing the “unnecessary over-prescription of opioid painkillers” as a “significant factor” in the nationwide opioid crisis, the letter calls on insurers to go beyond merely asking providers to consider alternative treatments for pain like non-opioid medications, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage and chiropractic care, but make it a clear financial incentive.

    “All else being equal, providers will often favor those treatment options that are most likely to be compensated, either by the government, an insurance provider, or a patient paying out-of-pocket,” wrote the attorneys general. “Insurance companies thus are in a position to make a very positive impact in the way that provider treat patients with chronic pain.”

    According to a New York Times report on Sunday, many insurance companies limit access to pain medications with a lower risk of addiction or dependence, while providing easier access to generic opioid medications that are cheaper.

    The letter closes by stating that the attorneys general in the near future “hope to initiate a dialogue concerning your members’ incentive structures in an effort to identify those practices that are conducive to these efforts and those that are not. We hope that this process will highlight problematic policies and spur increased use of non-opioid pain management techniques. The status quo, in which there may be financial incentives to prescribe opioids for pain which they are ill-suited to treat, is unacceptable.”

    In the joint press conference at Marshall University, Beshear emphasized that the attorneys general were “pressing” the insurers to change policies in a way that will further decrease the amount of opioid painkillers that are prescribed, stating that “80 percent of heroin users first become addicted through these prescription pills.”

    “Folks, those are kids, adults and others that aren’t buying a street-level drug,” said Beshear. “Their addiction is not starting from a decision they make to buy drugs on the street. They’re starting in our medicine cabinet. So we have an opportunity here to address the supply that’s truly causing the majority of our addiction.”

    Noting that insurance companies had to be pressed to change practices, Beshear added that “ultimately they are the payers, and if they change incentives to where people don’t make as much for prescribing (opioids), or groups don’t provide them as quickly, then we will lessen the number.”

    Cathryn Donaldson, the spokeswoman for AHIP, said in a lengthy statement responding to Monday’s letter that their insurance company members shared the attorneys general’s commitment to eradicating the opioid epidemic, as “health plans cover comprehensive, effective approaches to pain management that include evidence-based treatments, more cautious opioid prescribing, and careful patient monitoring.”

    “Many health plans have instituted new programs that are helping to dramatically reduce how much – and how often – opioids are prescribed,” stated Donaldson. “By working together, doctors, hospitals, health plans, and policy leaders can provide people with better pathways to healing – without putting their lives in danger because of opioids.”

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32. Trump Still Hasn’t Officially Declared The Opioid Crisis A National Emergency

    Sep 19, 2017 | Huffington Post

    By Marina Fang

    Trump designated this week Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week ― something his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, also did to draw attention to the addiction crisis.

    But it is mostly a symbolic measure. Declaring the national emergency, by contrast, would allocate more federal funding to state and local officials dealing with the crisis and pressure lawmakers to take more long-term steps.

    “The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I’m saying officially right now it is an emergency. It’s a national emergency,” Trump said on Aug. 10, before adding that he was “drawing documents now” to make the official declaration.

    Trump’s description of the crisis as “a serious problem, the likes of which we have never had,” was seemingly made off-the-cuff, just two days after Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said the administration believed the epidemic “can be addressed without the declaration of an emergency.”

    Later that day, the White House released a statement affirming that Trump had issued instructions “to use all appropriate emergency and other authorities to respond to the crisis caused by the opioid epidemic.”

    But since then, the administration hasn’t said when Trump will make the official declaration and what that would entail.

    Public health officials in a number of states ravaged by the crisis, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, say they have yet to hear from the White House on specific guidance.

    The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters last week that Trump was “absolutely taking [the declaration] very seriously,” attributing the delay to administrative and legal matters.

    “The commission and members of the administration have continued to meet and work on the details of that national declaration. And that’s certainly a big priority for the administration, and we’ll continue to focus on pushing that through,” she said. “It’s a much more involved process, and that’s something that they’re working through on the legal side, the administrative side, and making sure that it’s done correctly.”

    On Thursday, Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.), who chairs the White House’s opioid commission, said that there was no timeline for when Trump would officially make the emergency declaration, explaining that the president is “awaiting the best advice that is very soon to come to him.”

    Price similarly provided no details in New Hampshire on Thursday, when he announced more federal grants to help community health centers address substance abuse and mental health issues.

    “The president has talked recently about raising the level of the opioid crisis to an emergency, and we’re working on that with his staff, literally as we speak, to bring greater clarity and focus to that,” Price said.

    It is unclear how the national emergency declaration would be implemented, as the action is usually designed for addressing short-term epidemics and natural disasters, not long-term public health problems like the opioid crisis.

    “We’re understanding that, as we see the urgency placed upon these other national disasters, we need to appreciate that there’s an urgency around this national disaster that merits the same comprehensive approach,” former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), a member of the White House opioid commission, said on Thursday.

    But administration officials have said that relief efforts for recent natural disasters like hurricanes Harvey and Irma may limit the availability of funding to stem the opioid crisis.

    Declaring a national emergency was among the White House opioid commission’s extensive list of recommendations in July. The panel also suggested measures to expand treatment options and to improve medical education on addiction. Trump has not said whether he will implement any of those proposals.

    More broadly, members of his administration have sent mixed messages on drug policy. Despite pledging compassion for victims of the opioid crisis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has proposed an aggressive approach to drug enforcement, and Trump’s pick to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), has called for more criminalization of drug use, which could undermine efforts to treat addiction as a public health issue.

    The White House commission met again on Monday, with Christie holding a press conference to announce a partnership between the National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies.

    Asked about the delay, Christie said White House officials “want to make sure they get it right.” He added that Trump is “waiting for his staff to come up with the appropriate way to do this,” and noted that the declaration was “an unprecedented move.”

    “The president and I speak regularly, and every time we speak, we talk about this issue,” Christie said. “And he is completely resolved to this being done.” 

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Broadcast Media Coverage

33. KIRO 7 News at 5AM

    Sep 19, 2017 | KIRO (CBS)

    By Seattle, WA

    Rough Transcript: a federal judge could decide in a few weeks whether everett can legally sue the company that makes the controversial pain killer, oxycontin. purdue pharma wants a judge to throw out the lawsuit. yesterday its lawyer argued in federal court that the company sells oxycontin to wholesalers-- not the general public. snohomish county is dealing with major opioid issues. and the city's mayor believes purdue pharma is to blame. purdue pharma denies that.now a judge will decide if the lawsuit will go ahead. we told you this past week -- tacoma is suing several pharmaceutical companies.city officials say purdue -- endo -- and janssen pharmaceuticals pushed opioids on doctors and patients without giving real warnings about the dangers. tacoma says half of its homeless population is addicted and it's spent millions on dealing with the crisis. this morning

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34. WTVA 9 News at 8am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WLOV (FOX)

    By Columbus, MS

    Rough Transcript: over in louisiana, two sheriff deputiesand a law firm filed a lawsuit this morning against drug companies over opioid cris. the suits are against multiple pharmaceutical companies and physicians for their role in the opioid and drug addiction epidemic. one attorney said local jails have become housing detox centers for addicts, and the criminal justice system is not equipped to deal with the cris. "we believe that big pharma needs to be held accountable for their actions. our jails are stretched to the limits, our sheriff's resources and all of law enforcement's resources are stretched to the limits the plan aims to recoup money that has been expended to resolve the drug problem by creating education and rehabilitation programs.

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35. WANE News Channel 15 First News in the morning at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WANE (CBS)

    By Ft. Wayne, IN

    Rough Transcript: attorneys general from 35 states are asking the insurance industry to encourage pain treatment through means other than opioid painkillers. the group includes indiana attorney general curtis hill. they signed a letter sent monday to the trade group "america's health insurance plans." it asks insurers to make coverage of non-opioid treatments - like physical therapy and massage - a priority. opioid overdoses are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the u-s every year. governor holcomb has named the state's next health commissioner. dr. kristina box will start in her new role on october 16th. she'll replace dr. jerome adams, who left to become the u-s surgeon general. box has been an ob-gyn with the community health network for more than 30-years. governor holcomb says she'll focus on curbing indiana's infant mortality rate and reducing the impact of the opioidcrisis.

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36. WCSH Morning Report at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WCSH (NBC)

    By Portland, ME

    Rough Transcript: the portland council also unanimously voted to join a nationwide lawsuit against opioid manufacturers during last night's meeting. the move ensures the city would be entitled to a portion of any settlement stemming from the legal action against the makers of prescription painkillers. according to a city attorney, the lawsuit also seeks to limit the availability of opiods in portland. the lawsuit will not cost the city any money.

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37. KPLC 7 News Sunrise at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | KPLC (NBC)

    By Lake Charles, LA

    Rough Transcript: authorities in central louisiana announce lawsuits filed against drug companies over opioid crisis. laborde earles law firm joined rapides parish sherif wiliam hilton and avoyelles parish sherif douglas anderson to discus the lawsuits filed by both sheriff's ofices. the suits are against multiple pharmaceutical companies and physicians for their role in the opioid and drug addiction epidemic. one attorney said that local jails have become housing detox centers for addicts, and the criminal justice system is not equiped to deal with the crisis. "digger" earles/partner at laborde earles "we believe that big pharma needs to be held acountable for their actions. our jails are stretched to the limits, our sherif's resources and all of law enforcement's resources are stretched to the limits and we aim to hold big pharma accountable for their actions."

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38. KATC Good Morning Acadiana at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | KATC (ABC)

    By Layfayette, LA

    Rough Transcript: monday..the sheriffs of both rapides and avoyelles parishes announced are joining forces to fight the opioid problem-- in court. david laborde, partner, laborde- earles lawfirm "the justice system isnt designed or equipp to deal with the problem that its dealing with. the local jails and the sheriffs can tell you and they've told us that the jails have becaome rehab facilities for opioid addicts " in the lawsuit..the sheriffs site drug company advertising misleads the american people-- and they hope this lawsuit will hold those large companies accountable. sheriff william hilton ÷ rapides parish sheriff's office "you look at the dozens and dozens and dozens of drug commercials for the pharmaceutical companies, to me, as a parent and grandparent, all that is doing is teaching our kids that there is a drug that will fix any problem that i may have." we firmly and whole hearyedly believe it will work. public funds have been used and xhausted fighting this epuidemic created by big pharma so our aim is to get big pharma to reimburse those public funds that have been used if this lawsuit helps to take down the big drug companies...the payout will be used for treatment programs sheriff doug anderson ÷ avoyelles parish sheriff's "treatment is a big, big issue here,treatment centers are very limited and it's hard to get people in. and that would probably really help." in alexandria dga katc tv 3 this lawsuit isn't going to cost taxpayers anything..the attorney are handling it pro bono.

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39. WFMY Good Morning Show at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WFMY (CBS)

    By Greensboro, NC

    Rough Transcript: north carolina's atorney general joining in a letter asking health insurers to encourage pain treatment through non- opioid means. attorneys general of 35- states signed the letter, which is part of an ongoing investigation into the causes of the opioid epidemic. nationwide overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999 ... with more than 64-thousand deaths in 2016. in north carolina alone more than 11-hundred people died from an opioidoverdose in 2015. that's a 73-percent increase over the past decade. forsyth county had the third highest number of deaths in the state with 53-in 2015, a more than 30-percent increase from a decade before. guilford county was fourth with 47-deaths, a 74-percent jump. governor cooper has come up with a plan he believes will cut down the opioid crisis in our state over the next five years. the opioid action plan's goal is to reduce overdose deaths by 20-percent by the year 2021. it will reduce the oversupply of prescription opioids and the flow of ilegal drugs. the plan also makes the life saving drug narcan that reverses overdoses more readily available and gets survivors better access to care.

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40. SPNWSAU Spectrum News All Night at 3am

    Sep 19, 2017 | SPNWSAU (Spectrum News)

    By Austin, TX

    Rough Transcript: bexar county leaders are considering taking pharmaceutical companies to court. last week during their executive sesion, comissioners decided to ask the district attorney to lok into filing a lawsuit. the county has one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in texas.and of those, nearly half are attributed to heroin and prescription opioids. the county also leads the state in the number of infants undergoing opioid withdrawal. if they decide to file a lawsuit, it would go after some of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture strong opioids. "for example, they do manufacture fenentanyl which is an opioid synthetic derivative of opium - 50 to 10 times more adictive than heroin. just think about that one, how dangerous that is." judge wolff says he hopes to hear back from the da at the october 3rd meeting to se if - and how - the county could move forward.

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41. KCRA 3 Reports at 4pm

    Sep 19, 2017 | KCRA (NBC)

    By Sacramento, CA

    Rough Transcript: In our state of addiction coverage. california is expanding an investigation about possible illegal practices by opioid manufacturers. state attorney general xavier beccera has requested information from the 3 largest distributers and makers, at issue, whether the companies helped create or prolong the opioid crisis through marketing and sales. 36 other states are also investigating such practices. opioid overdoses accounted for more than 33,000 deaths in the u.s. in 2015. that includes nearly 2,000 californians, the third most in the country that year.

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42. NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WNJT (PBS)

    By New York, New York

    Rough Transcript: hello, thank you for joing us. we begin with a collaboration 6:32 AMin curbing the opioid epidemic. governor christie convening representatives from the white house, congress, fda and nih to work with big pharma to tackle the cris. chief correspondent michael aron reports. >> our friends are dying and our children are dying. that was among chris christie's opening remarks to pharmaceutical executives. 20 people representing a dozen large drug companies participated in the 2 our roundtable. the idea was to bring the industry into partnership with president trump's national up your commission which governor christie chairs. adding a bit of stark-- star power was kelly and conway-- kellyanne conway. at a press conference later, christie said they would be working toward goals. >> to develop non-opioid predication treatment-- medication treatment and put 6:33 AMthat on a fast track with the partnership from nih and to help develop medication assisted treatment for those folks already suffering from this disease. to have additional options beyond the three main options that are available right now. >> the national institutes of health will serve as a clearinghouse for drug development. its director stressed the urgency. >> anyone can probably relate stories of people whose lives have been threatened or last. -- threatened or lost. more people have been diagnosed that have died of aids at the peak of that epidemic. this is a public health emergency of the most significant sort. conway said it is a major priority, one that trump entrusted to christie and that trends politics. >> it's a bipartisan commission because opioidaddiction is a nonpartisan issue starving for bipartisan solutions. of all of the bipartisan-- of 6:34 AMall of the issues in trenton and washington dc, certainly this is one that we should bring together people right left and center. >> the pharmaceutical industry chief spokesman said designing new painkillers that are not addictive is a complex problem. >> how can we streamline and bring to patients more quickly, non-opioid alternatives? our companies have under 40-- have 40 compounds under development but there are silos and barriers to information sharing. cynical trial design issues that can be modified to ensure those products make their way to patients more expeditiously. >> they recommended in july that trump declare a national opioid emergency and that hasn't happened yet. >> we have confidence in needs to be done and as the president stated at the beginning of august, he considers this a national emergency and has instructed staff to come up with the appropriate executive order to do that. as recently as this past weekend when i spoke to the president he would get rated his commitment to getting that done. >> thousands of americans died in 2015, 64,000 died in 2016. >> we have a loss of death of 9/11 every three weeks. 17 9/11's a year in this country. can you imagine the people in this country knowingly put up with-- putting up with 17 9/11 a year in terms of loss of human life? >> he will rule out a state initiative as the week unfolds and his duties as chairman of the national up your commission will end in december.

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43. KHBS 40/29 News Sunrise at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | KHBS (ABC)

    By Ft. Smith Arizona

    Rough Transcript: in our state of addiction coverage, arkansas attorney general leslie rutledge is helping lead a bipartisan team from 37 states urging health insurance companies to step up their game in the fight against the nation's opioid epidemic. 6:46 AMrutledge and the other attorney's generals sent a letter asking for insurance companies to review their coverage and payment policies. rutledge says the coalition hopes the companies will consider giving incentives for non-opioid treatments. the state crime lab says drug overdose deaths are on the rise in arkansas, increasing between 2015 and 2016. an oklahoma school is now carrying the lifesaving overdose drug narcan. putnam city school district's campus police carry the drug on all high school and middle school campuses. officers say so far they have not had to use the drug. >> i guess one of the good things about it if we come , across a student who might be under the influence or going into an overdose situation, even if it's not narcan, it's in such a way that we are not going to harm them with a dose of narcan. paul: putnam's police chief says they are happy to be doing their part on campus protecting students. in new jersey, chris christieholding a roundtable on opioids. he says pharmaceutical companies have to be part of the solution. he says the company's he met with haptic -- have a great to work on non-opioid pain medication and additional medical treatment.

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44. WCAU 10 News Today at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WCAU (NBC)

    By Philadelphia, PA

    Rough Transcript: chris christie held round tables as chair of the opioid addiction problem. he introduced initiatives that hoe hopes will help -- that he hopes will help improve the way the state addresses drug abuse. he says it's important to work together.

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45. WRGB 6 News Morning News at 6am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WRGB (CBS)

    By Albany, NY

    Rough Transcript: down in new york city attorney general schneiderman is making an announcement about the opioid epidemic. fighting the crisis in the united states has been a top pry yrt for the trump administration chris christie, who is chairman of the committee to fight it said there's an agreement to develop nonopioid pain medications. the opioid crisis led to 33,000 deaths in the country. that's 91 per day.

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46. WPHL 17 Morning News at 5am

    Sep 19, 2017 | WPHL (MNT)

    By Philadelphia, PA

    Rough Transcript: the pharmaceutical industry will be helping the federal government combat the nation's deadly opioid epidemic. new jersey governor chris christiewas joined by white house counselor kellyanne conway, as he made the announcement yesterday in trenton. christie said the pharmaceutical companies have agreed to work on pain medications that are non- adictive, as well as other treatments to deal with opioid addiction. christie chairs the white house opioid commission. he says the lives lost due to the epidemic continue to be staggering. "we have a 9/11 loss of death every three weeks. every three weeks. that means we have 17 9/11s each year in this country." conway, who is a new jersey native, called the opioid cris...quote..."a non-partisan issue starving for bi-partisan solutions."

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47. KYW Eyewitness News at 11pm

    Sep 19, 2017 | KYW (CBS)

    By Philadelphia, PA

    Rough Transcript: chris christie says the white house opioid commission is making head way on new ways to fight the opioid crisis. as chair of that commission, christie discussed the topic today with 17 pharmaceutical companies. he said all of them agreed to help the national institutes of health develop new non-opioid pain medications and develop additional medication-assisted treatment for people already suffering from addiction. >> this problem will not be addressed sufficiently in our country if we don't have the active involvement and partnership with the pharmaceutical companies. >> this is no longer someone else's coworker or someone else's community, someone else's kid. opioid addiction is a scourge across the land. it literal hi has touched every state, every demographic route. >> conway, a native of atco camden county is the point person for the white house on the opioid cris.

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48. WAPT News at 10pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WAPT

    By Jackson, MS

    Rough Transcript: in our state of addiction coverage tonight, new jersey governor chris christie held a roundtable discussion today on the opioid commission he chairs. governor christie says the problem will not be addressed sufficiently if we don't have pharmaceutical companiesn board to hp deal with the opioidcrisis in the country. gov. christie: this problem will not be addressed sufficiently if we don't have the active partnership of the pharmaceutical companies in dealing with the opioid and overdose crisis in our country. keegan: christie says the companies he met with have agreed to develop a new non-opioid pain medication and additional medical treatment.

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49. WTIC Fox News at 11pm

    Sep 19, 2017 | WTIC (FOX)

    By Hartford, CT

    Rough Transcript: chris christie and white house counselor kelly and conway met to talk about the obi eide epidemic the two said the opioid an epidemic is not a partisan issue christie's said pharmaceutical companies will have to do their part without their help herr will be near impossible to be able to accomplish what we need to for the american people in terms of dealing with the appeal it cris. >> krusteaz says the pharmaceutical companies he met with earlier today have agreed to work on developing a new non opioid pain medication.

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50. WMDT News at 11pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WMDT (ABC)

    By Salisbury, MD

    Rough Transcript: today governor chris christie of new jersey held a press conference in trenton addressing the opioid crisis. according to our affiliate in philadelphia w-p-v-i-- christie says pharmaceutical companies have agreed to work on non-addictive pain medications and additional treatments to combat opioidaddiction. the announcement came shortly after a white house opioid commission meeting that he chairs. president trump's counselor kellyanne conway attended the press conference saying that the opioid epidemic is a bipartisan commission because opioid addiction is a non-partisan issue which requires bipartisan solutions.

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51. WTXF News at 10pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WTXF (FOX)

    By Philadelphia, PA

    Rough Transcript: new jersey governor chris christie is announce add new move to battle the opioid cris. he says the state will spend to hundred million dollars on initiatives to improve substance abuse treatment and prevention. the money will target programs for under served populations such as the uninsured, medicaid recipients and babies born with addiction.

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52. KMBC 9 News at 9 p.m.

    Sep 18, 2017 | KCWE (MNT)

    By Kansas City, MO

    Rough Transcript: president trump is calling on communities to recognize the opioid crisis. he's proclaiming this week prescripti opioid and he epidemic awareness week. new jersey governor chris christie leads the commission on opioid abu. >> this problem will not be. addressed sufficiently in our country if we do not have the active involvement and partnership with the pharmaceutical companies. without their participation, it will be near impossible to caucus what we need to push. haley: to action to fight the opioid cris. attorneys general from 35 states , puerto rico, and the district of columbia urging health insurers to review their policies for pain management treatment. kansas attorney general derek schmidt among the list of cosponsors hoping health insurers can alternatives to opioid prescriptions.

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53. WPSG Eyewitness News on the CW Philly at 10pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WPSG (CW)

    By Philadelphia, PA

    Rough Transcript: chris christie says the white house opioid commission is making head way on new ways to fight the opioid cris. christie discussed the topic with 17 pharmaceutical companies and he said all of them agreed to help the national institutes of health develop new non-opioid pain medications and develop additional medication assistive treatment from people who already suffer from addiction. >> this problem will not be addressed sufficiently if our country if we don't have the active involvement and partnership with the pharmaceutical companies. >> this is no longer someone else's coworker or someone else's community, someone else's kid opioid addiction is a scourge across the land. it literally has touched every state, every demographic group. >> kellyanne conway a native of atco is the white house's point person on the opioid cris.

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54. WJCL News at 7pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WJCL (ABC)

    By Savannah, GA

    Rough Transcript: attorneys general from across the country are asking the insurance industry to encourage pain treatment through means other than prescriptions for opioid painkillers.) opioid overdoses are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths a year in the u.s.) the top government lawyers in 35 states including georgia and south carolina are asking insurers to make coverage of non-opioid treatments such as physical therapy and massage a priority. meantime-- new jersey governor chris christie says pharmaceutical companies have agreed to work on non-addictive pain medications and additional treatments to deal with opioid addiction. christie says the agreements were a key recommendation that the opioid commission he chairs made in an interim report it sent to president trump in july.

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55. KFVS Heartland News at 6 pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | KFVS (CBS)

    By Paducah, KY

    Rough Transcript: could insurance companies play a role in batling opioid abuse? the top atorneys in 38 states think so. kentucky attorney general andy beshear joined his counterpart in west virginia to call on health insurance companies to help find find workable solutions to the abuse epidemic. the a-g's say insurers can promote pain management alternatives that may not be currently covered at the same level as prescription opioids. update-vo their message comes the same day--- the national opioid commission holds a roundtable with the pharmaceutical companies on how to curb the epidemic. new jersey governor chris christie--- who chairs the commission--- says it will be imposible to do so without those companies on board. update-sotvo without their help and their participation, it will be near impossible to accomplish what we need to accomplish for the american people in terms of dealing with the opioid crisis and overdose crisis in our country. christie says the companies have agred to develop a new non-opioid pain medication and additional medical treatment.

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56. WPVI Action News at 6pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WPVI (ABC)

    By Philadelphia, PA

    Rough Transcript: new jersey governor chris christie today outlined new initiatives to fight the opioid crisis. the governor says pharmaceutical companies have agreed to work on making nonaddictive pain medication. christie gave the details in trenton after a meeting of the white house opioid commission that he chairs. white house adviser kellyanne conway who is from new jersey took part in the announcement today.

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57. WMBC News at 5pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WMBC (WMBC)

    By New York, New York

    Rough Transcript: christie opioid epidemicááánew jersey governor chris christie is expected to announce 200 million dollars in new initiatives that target the opioidcrisis sometime this wee new jersey governor chris christie is planning to spend two hundred million dollars on new initiatives that he hopes will significantly improve the way the state approaches substance abuse treatment and prevention. christie told nj com the money will target programs for underserved populations like the uninsured, medicaid recipients, babies born with addiction and their mothers. he said the money will come from the budgets of eight state departments. the republican governor says the initiatives will put more emphasis on making sure care is geared toward sustained sobriety. that will be done by standardizing data collection and building seamless channels for holistic care for addicts through incentive based programs that reward providers who focus on the long term. christie has made battling opioid abuse a centerpiece of his second term in office.

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58. WRKN News 2 at 4pm

    Sep 18, 2017 | WRKN (ABC)

    By Nashville, TN

    Rough Transcript: health says 1 thousand 631 teneseeans died from drug overdoses in 20- 16. that's the highest number ever recorded in state history. 200 more people died last year from overdose deaths than in 20-15 ... a 12 percent increase. that data also shows fentanyl as the primary cause of increase in overdose deaths. today . kelyane conway weighed in on the opioid epidemic throughout the united states. here's what she had to say: this is no longer someone elses coworker, someone elses community. opioid adiction is a scourge acros the land. it has touched every state every demographic group. and so we fel that its touched everyone in that way, that its a challenge that should be shared and warned by all. conway joined new jersey governor chris christie to discuss how the federal government can combat the opioid addiction epidemic. she assured that president trump's priority is fighting the opioid plague.

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