Cardinal, other top distributors investigated

Cardinal Health and the nation’s two other dominant drug distributors are being investigated by a U.S. House committee after reports that the companies did not give proper oversight to a spike in powerful painkiller orders in West Virginia between 2007 and 2012.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has given Cardinal, AmeriSourceBergen and McKesson until June 8 to respond to its questions.

West Virginia, which has the highest drug-overdose death rate in the nation, sued the three distributors over the opioid issue in 2012. All three have reached settlements but face additional suits from several West Virginia counties and municipalities. Combined, the three companies distribute nearly 90 percent of pharmaceuticals sold in the United States.

Dublin-based Cardinal agreed to pay $20 million to the state, one in a string of settlements it and the other distributors have made related to opioid distribution over several years. AmeriSourceBergen settled its West Virginia suit for $16 million. McKesson reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to pay a record $150 million fine in mid-January, a month after Cardinal paid $44 million to settle its own federal lawsuits.

Cardinal said in a statement that “We look forward to working together with the committee and responding to their letter. The people of Cardinal Health care deeply about the devastation opioid abuse has caused American families and communities and are committed to helping solve this complex national public health crisis. We are industry leaders in implementing stateof-the-art controls to combat the diversion of pain medications from legitimate uses, and have funded community education and prevention programs for a decade.”

In January, the company denied West Virginia’s allegations in announcing its settlement with the state but said it “takes its role as a wholesale distribution company seriously and is working collaboratively with all participants in the pharmaceutical supply chain ... to collectively better address the constantly changing tactics utilized by those determined to divert these medications for illegitimate use, while avoiding disruptions for patients with legitimate medical need.”

The committee cited court documents obtained by the Charleston, W.Va., Gazette-Mail that enumerated the level of distribution of powerful, addictive painkillers to the state. Cardinal alone shipped 241 million prescription painkiller pills to West Virginia between 2007 and 2012, more than any other distributor, according to the report.

It also sent a letter to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, requesting information about the agency’s enforcement of “anti-diversion” efforts to ensure that distributors were tracking and flagging suspicious shipments. A Washington Post story last year cited sources who said that the agency pulled back on its enforcement in 2013, faced with pressure from the pharmaceutical industry.