Tag: opioid

Former Drug Firm Exec Sentenced to More Than 2 Years for Illegal Opioid Sales

NEW YORK—The former chief executive of Rochester Drug Co-operative was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Wednesday for conspiring to distribute opioids illegally, in the first criminal opioid trafficking case against a drug wholesaler and its executives. U.S. District Judge George Daniels sentenced Laurence Doud, 79, to 27 months at a hearing…


FDA Panel Weighs Moving Opioid Antidote Over the Counter

WASHINGTON—U.S. health advisers on Wednesday were weighing whether the overdose-reversal drug naloxone should be made available as an over-the-counter medication to help fight the national opioid crisis. A panel of experts to the Food and Drug Administration will vote on the switch late Wednesday afternoon, following hours of presentations and discussions on whether untrained users…


Doctor Gets Nearly 17 Years in Prison for Vast Opioid Scheme

DETROIT—A Detroit-area doctor was sentenced Monday to nearly 17 years in prison and ordered to pay $30 million for leading a scheme to bill Medicare and private insurers for unnecessary painkiller injections and write prescriptions for millions of opioids. Frank Patino’s fraud lasted years and was one of the most egregious health care schemes in…


West Virginia Announces $83 Million Opioid Settlement With Walgreens

CHARLESTON, W.Va.—West Virginia has settled for $83 million with Walgreens for the pharmacy store chain’s role in perpetuating the opioid crisis in the U.S. state with the most per capita overdose deaths, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Wednesday. That brings the total West Virginia dollars brought in from opioid litigation to more than $950 million,…


San Diego Sheriff’s Detectives Bust Tijuana Man With 240,000 Counterfeit Opioid Pills

OCEANSIDE, Calif.—San Diego County sheriff’s detectives stopped a speeding car near Camp Pendleton and found 32 packages of counterfeit Oxycodone pills inside the vehicle, authorities said Jan. 14. The bust was made at about 7:30 a.m. Friday when detectives from the sheriff’s Border Crime Suppression Team spotted a speeding vehicle and stopped it on the…


Los Angeles County Requires Narcan at Juvenile Rehabilitation Facilities

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion Jan. 10 to make Naxalone readily available at juvenile rehabilitation hall centers. Naxalone, sold under the brand name Narcan, is administered as a nasal spray or injection to reverse an opioid drug, like fentanyl, overdose. The supervisors’ action is part of a larger effort…


FDA Panel to Review Emergent’s Over-the-Counter Opioid Overdose Drug

The U.S. health regulator said on Tuesday its advisory panel will meet on Feb. 15 to review Emergent Biosolutions Inc.’s over-the-counter (OTC) nasal spray to treat suspected opioid overdoses. Emergent is seeking the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval for the prescription-free sale of Narcan, its nasal spray form of the drug naloxone. Narcan is…


Opioid Legal Charge Pushes Walgreens to $3.7 Billion Fiscal First Quarter Loss

A huge opioid settlement dragged Walgreens to a $3.7 billion loss for the first quarter, but the drugstore chain still beat Wall Street forecasts. The company also reaffirmed its earnings forecast for the new year. Walgreens said Thursday that it recorded a $5.2 billion, after-tax charge in the quarter that ended Nov. 30 for opioid-related…


Oklahoma AG Announces 4 New Opioid Settlements Worth $226 Million

OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma entered settlement agreements with three major pharmacy chains and an opioid manufacturer totaling more than $226 million, Attorney General John O’Connor announced Wednesday. Including the new settlements with drugmaker Allergan and pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, Oklahoma has received more than $900 million from opioid makers and distributors to help address the…


Fentanyl Overdose Antidote Required at California K-12 Schools Under New Bill

After several cases of student overdoses due to the synthetic opioid fentanyl, California lawmakers introduced a bill requiring naloxone—a nasal spray that reverses an opioid overdose—on K–12 school campuses. While schools are permitted to carry naloxone on campus, Assembly Bill 19—introduced Dec. 5 by newly-elected Assemblyman Joe Patterson (R-Rocklin)—would require schools to always have at…