DEMOCRAT SHAKEDOWN: Walgreens to Pay San Francisco $230 Million for FDA Created Opioid Crisis

This is the new Democrat grift – blame anyone and everyone for their failed vicious policies and make them pay.

The fact it is the government who is responsible for the opioid drug crisis. The FDA, the federal gatekeeper for prescription medication, could have prevented it. OxyContin became one of the most prescribed narcotics in the country because of this claim, “Delayed absorption as provided by OxyContin tablets, is believed to reduce the abuse liability of a drug.” Before a drug reaches the market, the FDA approves the label, also known as the package insert. It’s one of the most powerful tools the FDA has in regulating a drug’s use.

OxyContin’s original package insert was approved by the FDA in 1995. Among the usual clinical study information and side effect profile was the crucial sentence:

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The sentence would remain on OxyContin’s label for more than five years before the FDA removed it and put a “black box warning” on the drug, signifying the drug’s serious or life-threatening risks. FIVE YEARS.

“I think this may be the best example in history of a regulatory agency failure leading to a public health catastrophe,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy. (NBC News)

The American Medical Association:

The FDA’s regulatory failures with respect to opioids have not gone unnoticed. In 2017, the President’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis found that the opioid crisis was caused in part by “inadequate oversight by the Food and Drug Administration,” and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) publicly called on the FDA to overhaul its opioid policies.^{9, 10} Last year, a former FDA Commissioner rebuked the agency he had previously led, saying on the television program 60 Minutes that the FDA was wrong to allow promotion of opioid use for chronic pain.¹¹

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Despite this mounting criticism, FDA policies for approving and labeling opioids remain largely unchanged. The FDA has not undertaken a root cause analysis of its regulatory errors that contributed to this public health catastrophe, let alone instituted any major reforms.¹¹ To the contrary, the agency has adopted a defensive posture and sought to shift blame. For example, in response to a critical letter from Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, the FDA’s top official at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research since 1994 offered a blanket defense of the FDA’s handling of opioids, claiming that the agency has properly enforced the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.¹²

Walgreens to pay San Francisco $230M for its role in city’s opioid crisis

By Sheri Walsh, UPI, May 18, 2023:

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announces a $230 million settlement with Walgreens on Wednesday from the steps of city hall after a federal court found that the pharmaceutical chain “substantially contributed” to the city’s opioid epidemic. Photo courtesy of San Francisco City Attorney’s office

May 18 (UPI) — Walgreens has agreed to pay San Francisco nearly $230 million for its role in the city’s opioid crisis, making it the largest award to a local jurisdiction since the beginning of the opioid epidemic.

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Walgreens will make payments over the next eight years, with the first $57 million to be paid by June of 2024……

 

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