Tag: West Virginia Board of Pharmacy

More W.Va. Towns, Counties Sue Over Opioid Crisis

Two West Virginia counties have joined numerous others in suing pharmaceutical companies, drugstores and the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy over the state’s opioid crisis.

The Exponent Telegram reports that Barbour and Taylor counties have hired lawyers from West Virginia and Florida to seek temporary and permanent restraining orders to curb practices they say are fueling the crisis, restitution, punitive damages and an insurance award from the Board of Pharmacy.

The lawsuits filed Tuesday says the defendants, including McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal, knew opioids were addictive, yet still flooded the state with the drugs through unscrupulous practices.

The pharmaceutical companies have denied similar claims.

Eleven local West Virginia governments are also suing drug companies who they say failed to follow state and federal law to prevent the distribution and abuse of prescription pain medication that’s created the state’s opioid crisis.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the lawsuits filed in the federal court this week come from governments around the state. The municipalities include Quinwood, Rupert, Rainelle, Milton, Smithers, Sutton, Logan, Summersville and Parkersburg, in addition to Nicholas and Braxton counties.

Gabapentin Contributes to Spike in Overdose Deaths in W. Va.

A West Virginia Board of Pharmacy report says a prescription drug used to treat nerve pain is contributing to a sharp increase of overdose deaths in the state.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the number of fatal overdoses involving gabapentin in West Virginia jumped from three in 2010 to 109 in 2015. The number of 2016 deaths are still being counted.

Pharmacy board administrator Mike Goff, who oversees the state’s drug-monitoring database, says gabapentin is showing up in cocktails of drugs that are linked to overdose deaths. Users seeking a euphoric high mix the drug with opioids or muscle-relaxants and anti-anxiety medications.

“Sometimes, they have prescriptions for all of them,” Goff said.

The increase in deaths has prompted a pharmacy board committee to recommend making gabapentin a controlled substance in West Virginia, enabling the pharmacy board to track prescriptions for the drug, which is sold by Pfizer under the brand name Neurontin.

Goff says currently the volume of gabapentin prescriptions in the state isn’t known.

The gabapentin-related overdose deaths were cited in the pharmacy board’s annual report released last week.

Gabapentin has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat seizures and pain caused by shingles. It also is used by some veterinarians to treat epilepsy and seizures in dogs and cats.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has touted gabapentin as a safer alternative to prescription opioids.

Ohio started requiring pharmacies to report sales of gabapentin on Dec. 1.

W.Va. Panel Identifies 176 Potential 'Doctor Shoppers'

  A West Virginia Board of Pharmacy committee has identified 176 patients who could be “doctor shopping” for prescription drugs.

These patients have received pain medication prescriptions from at least 13 doctors over the past 12 months.

The Charleston Gazette reports that the committee recently warned medical professionals across the state that their patients could be “doctor shoppers.”

The committee sent more than 2,500 letters to medical professionals urging them to check a multistate database to see whether their patients have obtained prescriptions from other medical professionals.

All West Virginia medical professionals who write prescriptions must register their names with the Controlled Substance Monitoring Program database.

A Board of Pharmacy administrator, Mike Goff, says the committee plans to review controlled-substance prescriptions at least every six months.

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