House panel to grill opioid distributors in May

Republican leaders announced Thursday they will haul executives from top opioid distributors before Congress to testify about their alleged roles in “pill dumping” in West Virginia — a state reeling from the addiction crisis.

The Energy and Commerce Committee said witnesses from the companies will appear May 8 for what promises to be a tough grilling from irate lawmakers.

Members of both parties say the prescription-painkiller industry helped fuel the opioids crisis, which started with overprescribing and lead to legions of heroin and fentanyl users. Tens of thousands of Americans are dying from overdoses per year.

The Energy and Commerce panel wants the companies to explain why millions of pills ended up in small West Virginia towns with populations that were too small to sustain that kind of demand on a legal or justifiable basis.

The Appalachian state now suffers from the worst overdose rate in the nation.

“For one year, the entire committee – Republicans and Democrats – have pressed five distributors with a presence in West Virginia, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for answers as to how tremendous amounts of pills ended up in these small communities,” said Rep. Gregg Harper, Mississippi Republican and chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

“Today, we have a more complete picture of what happened in places like West Virginia, and we will hold all parties accountable for their actions. I, along with my colleagues, urge our witnesses to help us complete this puzzle so we can ensure this will never happen again.”

Witnesses at the hearing will represent McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, AmeriSource Bergen Corporation, Miami-Luken, Inc. and H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug Company.

The Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a national trade association representing wholesale distributors — including McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen — said the industry is ready to work alongside Congress.

“As an industry, we recognize the seriousness of the crisis and have advanced a comprehensive set of policy proposals to reduce overprescribing and address addiction as well as efforts to improve prevention and education,” said John Parker, senior vice president at the alliance. “Further, distributors have invested substantially in the use of state-of-the-art tools to detect and prevent potential diversion. We will continue to work with policymakers to advance meaningful solutions to effectively address this epidemic.”