Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

US subpoenas AmerisourceBergen over opioid products

Reprints

(Reuters) — Drug wholesale distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp. said Thursday it has received a grand jury subpoena from federal prosecutors in Florida seeking documents related to opioid products and its communications with a drugmaker.

AmerisourceBergen said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it received the subpoena in May. The company is among several drug manufacturers and distributors facing lawsuits over their roles in the U.S. opioid epidemic.

The company did not identify the pharmaceutical manufacturer cited in the subpoena. AmerisourceBergen said it is in the process of responding to it.

The Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania-based company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Opioids were involved in more than 42,000 overdose deaths in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hundreds of lawsuits by states, counties and cities have accused drugmakers of pushing addictive painkillers through deceptive marketing and allege that wholesale distributors failed to report suspicious drug orders.

AmerisourceBergen, which is among the defendants, is one of the largest drug distributors in the country. AmerisourceBergen and rivals Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. control 85% of the U.S. prescription drug market.

The subpoena came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

That office previously in January sent grand jury subpoenas to pharmaceutical manufacturers Endo International P.L.C. and Mallinckrodt P.L.C. regarding products they produce that contain the opioid painkiller oxymorphone, both companies have said.

Endo and Mallinckrodt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AmerisourceBergen has previously disclosed receiving subpoenas dating back to 2012 from federal prosecutors in other states regarding its program for controlling and monitoring the diversion of controlled substances into improper channels.

 

Read Next

  • AmerisourceBergen unit to plead guilty in syringe program case

    (Reuters) — A unit of AmerisourceBergen Corp., one of the largest U.S. drug wholesalers, will plead guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge as part of an agreement to pay $260 million to resolve a U.S. probe into the company's pre-filled syringe program.