This investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and The Associated Press examines the politics behind the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic. We found:
-Drug companies and allied advocates spent more than $880 million on lobbying and political contributions at the state and federal level over the past decade. That’s more than eight times what the formidable gun lobby recorded for political activities during the same period. The money covered a range of political activities important to the drug industry, including legislation and regulations related to opioids.
-The opioid industry and its allies contributed to roughly 7,100 candidates for state-level offices. They also deployed an army of lobbyists averaging 1,350 per year, covering all 50 state capitals.
-For over a decade, a group called the Pain Care Forum has met with some of the highest-ranking health officials in the federal government, while quietly working to influence proposed regulations on opioids and promote legislation and reports on the problem of untreated pain. The group is coordinated by the chief lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.
-Two of the drug industry’s most active allies, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, have contacted legislators and other officials about opioid measures in at least 18 states, even in some cases when cancer patients were specifically exempted from drug restrictions. State lawmakers often don’t know that these groups receive part of their funding from drugmakers.
-Lawmakers in 35 states introduced more than 100 bills over the last two years dealing with the harder-to-abuse opioids, a profitable but unproven remedy to the crisis. Roughly half included nearly identical language requiring insurers to cover the new formulations, and several of the sponsors said they received the wording from pharmaceutical lobbyists. At least 21 bills related to abuse-deterrent drugs have become state law since 2012, including five that require insurers to pay for the more expensive drugs.
-Such drugs are expected to cost government-funded health programs hundreds of millions of dollars in higher medication expenses while racking up billions in sales for the drugmakers.