Unusual landed near the top of the list of Alabama politicians who received money from pain care groups, but in a written response, he said that those donations accounted for less than 1 percent of the $5.7 million he received for his campaigns.
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For more than a decade, members of a little-known group called the Pain Care Forum have blanketed Washington with messages about prescription painkillers’ vital role in the lives of millions of Americans, creating an echo chamber that has quietly derailed efforts to curb USA consumption of drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet.
In Ohio, the most Pain Care Forum money went to former Rep. John Boehner, who served as speaker of the House between 2011 and 2015.
PRESCRIPTIONS: Prescriptions for opioid painkillers are common in Nevada, with almost 2.4 million prescriptions issued in 2015.
Preliminary data for the first half of 2016 released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that 66 percent of 2016’s confirmed opioid-related overdose deaths showed a toxicology screen that tested positive for fentanyl, up from 57 percent in 2015. Purdue Pharma, one of the largest opioid producers by sales, said it does not oppose policies “that improve the way opioids are prescribed” even if they result in lower sales.
Johnson & Johnson, $25,425: In 2015, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced that it sold the USA rights to license opioid-based Nucynta for $1.05 billion.
Tennessee politicians received more than $1.6 million in campaign contributions over the past decade from pharmaceutical companies and other members of the Pain Care Forum, a coalition that meets monthly to discuss opioid-related issues.
The same organizations reinforced their influence with more than $140 million doled out to political campaigns, including more than $75 million alone to federal candidates, political action committees and parties. “And it’s only when things get so disastrous that finally there’s enough popular will aroused to push back”.
“The opioid lobby has been doing everything it can to preserve the status quo of aggressive prescribing”, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, founder of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and an outspoken advocate for opioid reform, told the AP. “And most kids start with prescription opiates or mood enhancers”. Marketing for new long-acting painkillers like OxyContin helped fuel the trend, along with other factors. Purdue Pharma, for example, the maker of OxyContin, pleaded guilty in 2007 to charges that it misrepresented the drug as “abuse resistant” as part of its multimillion dollar marketing campaign.
DRUG LOBBYISTS: There have been about 19 lobbyists hired each year for the past decade to represent members of the Pain Care Forum in Oregon.
One of the drugmakers’ most powerful political engines is their financial support for opioid-friendly advocacy groups.
A federal judge blocked the ban, noting the federal Food and Drug Administration had approved the drug.
Then-commissioner Margaret Hamburg used the figure to illustrate the importance of keeping painkillers accessible – despite the escalating toll of opioid addiction and abuse. That includes more than $44,000 given to Idaho Gov. C.L. She said Kasich and others’ actions were proactive as opioid deaths began to spike.
Tiberi, who received the second-highest amount from the Pain Care Forum of any OH politician, has also taken stances against heroin and opioids in recent years.
Lobbyists for opioid manufacturers have been pushing for states to require prescription plans to cover opioids with abuse-deterrent properties.
Ultimately, the agency announced far milder steps than its initial ideas: Drugmakers would fund optional classes for doctors and supply brochures to patients about opioid risks. “I have a very strong record”, she said on combating the opioid addiction epidemic.
But experts said regulators had missed a pivotal chance to curb deadly misuse and abuse with the drugs.
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“Most of the time we’re saying, ‘Gosh, yes, there should be some limits on opioid prescribing, reasonable limits, ‘” Twillman said, “but I don’t think they would be in favor of that”.
