Last Thursday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that the national opioid settlement will net Arizona over $380 million. In total, $18.75 billion is owed to state and local governments from drug manufacturers Allergan and Teva, as well as retail pharmacies CVS, Walgreens and Walmart.
More than $50 billion has been...Arizona News
Sexual and reproductive healthcare in the U.S. has received a barrage of policy changes and proposed legislation this spring, specifically on the topics of maternal healthcare, anti-abortion legislation and laws that seek to curb treatment for transgender children.
Maternal Health Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...National News
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it garnered more than $5.6 billion in judgements and settlements from False Claims Act cases, the largest since 2014. Over $5 billion of those claims are related directly to the healthcare industry.
From the DOJ press release:
Health care fraud was once again the leading...
On Wednesday, October 5, there were 2,041 new cases of COVID-19 in Arizona, with 39 new deaths. Arizona’s COVID-19 death total of 20,000 amid the state’s third virus surge, is a heartbreaking reminder of COVID's lethality. Under 60% of Arizonans have received one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. Only 7% of hospital intensive care unit...
On December 17, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an official health advisory as the U.S. experiences a surge in fatal drug overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
About 81,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the U.S. in the 12 months ending May 2020, with the largest spike after the COVID-19 public...Arizona News
Founder of opioid maker Insys Therapeutics John Kapoor, 76, was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison. The former billionaire, along with other executives, were convicted of organizing a national bribery scheme that ultimately was found to have fueled the opioid epidemic.
Kapoor was given his 66 month sentence for the role he played...Arizona News
The manufacturer of a potent fentanyl spray, Subsys, appears to be shutting down operations after filing for bankruptcy last summer and years of litigation.
Insys Therapeutics agreed to vacate its Chandler headquarters by Dec. 31, 2019 and according to bankruptcy filings, any property belonging to debtors that remain after Dec. 31...Arizona News
Chandler-based drug manufacturer Insys Therapeutics, infamous for the questionable marketing practices of its highly-addictive opioid fentanyl spray Subsys, announced plans to sell off assets to Wyoming-based BTcP Pharma and London-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals in a series of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
After...Arizona News
Several big names in healthcare are facing billion dollar suits seeking compensation for their role in forming and exacerbating the opioid crisis. Many companies have reaped the rewards of manufacturing and shepherding the sale of opioids across the nation and now are looking to quell thousands of lawsuits with massive...Arizona News
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed five Indian Health Services (IHS) hospitals last month and concluded they do not always follow necessary guidelines when prescribing and dispensing opioids to patients.
The audit was spurred by a national opioid epidemic that continues to be fueled by prescription opioids and a...Arizona News
Last week, a federal jury found Arizona billionaire John Kapoor and four other executives of Insys Therapeutics guilty of conspiring to bribe doctors to inflate sales for the pain drug Subsys, an opioid approved to treat breakthrough cancer pain that's 100 times stronger than morphine.
Kapoor, the founder and former CEO of Insys...Arizona News
Just this month a former head of sales for Phoenix-based Insys Therapeutics Alec Burlakoff, testified in a Boston federal court recounting directions he followed for years including: recruiting and bribing doctors to increase sales for Subsys. Burlakoff is the second to testify on the highly-addictive drug, following former CEO Michael...Arizona News
On Jan. 17, Pima County and the City of Tucson filed lawsuits in Pima County Superior Court for the drugmakers' role in the opioid crisis. The municipal and county duo are the latest to sue the firms, including the Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics; more than 1,500 local and state governments have filed complaints against drug...National News
This past weekend, Nov. 10 - 13, the American Medical Association (AMA) held their annual House of Delegates 2018 Interim Meeting to talk policy changes including those on gender identification fluidity, public health data collection, identification for the homeless and the detention of migrant children.
AMA President Barbara L....Arizona News
Grant funding provided by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
AHCCCS will administer the grant and work with other state agencies, health plans, and community partners to address specific initiatives. This is the first installment of a two-year grant...National News
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released guidelines to ensure that states have the necessary tools to properly address a nationwide epidemic—the opioid crisis.
The guidelines include information on resources available to states and the different approaches available to combat the crisis; it also...Arizona News
Dr. Christian Moher recognized as a national leader in changing the way opioids are prescribed and treating patients with chronic pain.
Moher, chief medical officer at Community Partners Integrated Healthcare, a division of Tucson-based Community Partners Inc., will be the first family physician to be recognized as “Doctor of the...National News
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by local jurisdictions against manufacturers and distributors of powerful opioid painkillers that are fueling the nation's drug abuse crisis.
The move is part of a broader effort to more aggressively target prescription drugmakers for their role in the epidemic, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said....National News
Purdue Pharma LP said on Saturday that it will stop promoting opioids to physicians, following widespread criticism of the ways that drugmakers market addictive painkillers.
Purdue and other drugmakers have been fighting lawsuits by states, counties and cities that have accused them of pushing addictive painkillers through deceptive...Arizona News
In 2016, Mohave County had more opioid prescriptions than people.The vast rural county in northwest Arizona dispensed 127.5 opioid prescriptions per 100 residents that year, making it Arizona's most prolific county by that measure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC data shows that Arizona's rate of...
