© 2024 KLCC

KLCC
136 W 8th Ave
Eugene OR 97401
541-463-6000
klcc@klcc.org

Contact Us

FCC Applications
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Oregon Assistant Attorney General Busts Big Pharma

RxList

Oregon’s Assistant Attorney General testified before Congress Tuesday about combating pharmaceutical fraud and opioid abuse. He told the US Senate Finance Committee, Oregon was the first governmental entity in the country to settle with a pharmaceutical company over allegations they deceptively promoted a powerful opioid for off-label uses. KLCC’s Tiffany Eckert reports.

The company Insys makes a Fentanyl spray called Subsys, which is many times more powerful than heroin. Oregon Assistant Attorney General David Hart’s team issued a formal notice of unlawful trade practices to the company. The state alleged the drug maker provided improper financial incentives to doctors to increase prescriptions. Although meant to treat cancer pain, Hart found records showing the drug was deceptively promoted to treat chronic to mild back and neck pain, even migraines—a condition for which Subsys is contra-indicated.

Hart: “I was truly shocked that in 2015, when the scourge of the opioid epidemic is so widely known that a manufacturer of a Schedule II drug would promote in such an unconscionable and irresponsible way.”

The investigation ended in a $1.1 million settlement. Hart testified how that money is being used to address the opioid crisis in Oregon: regional pain guidance groups, addiction treatment training, and expanding the availability of Naloxone, a drug that can reverse the lethal effects of an opioid overdose.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.
Related Content