WASHINGTON — The heads of several drug distribution companies are scheduled to appear Tuesday at 8 a.m. mountain before a congressional panel to face questions over their culpability in the opioid epidemic, which kills an average of 115 Americans per day according to federal figures.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, who serves as the top Democrat on the investigating subcommittee, is expected to press the CEOs on whether they’ve done enough to stop prescription opioids from falling into the wrong hands.
One particular area of interest is a recent flood of drugs into West Virginia. Between 2007 and 2012, more than 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills were sent there — about 433 doses per person, according to statistics released by the subcommittee.
The deluge of drugs didn’t come without consequence; more than 1,700 West Virginians died from overdosing on hydrocodone and oxycodone during that time period.
Three distribution companies were responsible for delivering half those pills — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — and CEOs for each of them are slated to appear before the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
The situation in West Virginia, however, is far from isolated and the committee also is expected to examine drug distribution practices in Colorado and other states.
One likely area of discussion: the work of McKesson in Colorado, which was the target of both federal authorities and a joint investigation by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes. Among their findings was that McKesson did little to prevent a flood of drugs flowing from its Aurora warehouse.
