Walden continues 2018 investigation into opioid manufacturers’ role in national epidemic

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), ranking member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, this week sent notice to the nation’s top opioid manufacturers that he has reopened an investigation into their role in America’s ongoing opioid crisis.

Rep. Walden was joined by U.S. Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) in sending Jan. 13 letters to Insys Therapeutics, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, and Purdue Pharma requesting detailed information from them about their involvement in the crisis. The renewed interest from the Energy and Commerce Committee members now extends their August 2018 inquiry into the three manufacturers.

“We are continuing our work investigating the causes and effects of the opioid epidemic,” wrote Rep. Walden and his colleagues. “We write today to reactivate the investigation started on August 2, 2018, that examined potential breakdowns in the controlled substances supply chain, which may have contributed to the nation’s opioid epidemic, and the role of certain opioid manufacturers in such potential breakdowns.”

During the last session of Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee began bipartisan investigations into fentanyl, opioid manufacturing, opioid distribution, and the substance use disorder treatment industry. And in their August 2018 letters, they requested that the manufacturers provide detailed information about each company’s actions related to the spread of the nationwide epidemic.

According to committee staff, the members specifically asked Insys about an alleged kickback scheme designed to boost sales of Subsys, a sublingual fentanyl spray; questioned Mallinckrodt about the company’s efforts to monitor its opioid sales for suspicious orders; and asked Purdue Pharma about when the company first knew about the dangers of OxyContin.

Rep. Walden and his colleagues requested in their new letters that each company fully answer all of the questions posed by committee members in their August 2018 letters, as well as new questions related to more recent concerns, by Feb. 13.

The renewed investigation comes three months after Rep. Walden requested an update from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and top opioid distributors on recommendations contained in the report on pill dumping in West Virginia, according to the congressman’s office.