By ERIC EYRE
Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In just two years, drug giant McKesson Corp. shipped nearly 5 million prescription painkillers to a single pharmacy in a Southern West Virginia town with 400 residents, according to a letter released Thursday by a congressional committee investigating the opioid epidemic.
McKesson, which ranks No. 5 in the Fortune 500, supplied more than 184,000 hydrocodone pills a month to a drive-thru pharmacy in Kermit in 2006 and 2007, the House Energy & Commerce disclosed in the letter.
McKesson stopped shipping prescription opioids to the now-shuttered Sav-Rite Pharmacy in Kermit between 2008 and 2010, but resumed shipments of powerful painkillers a year later, even after federal authorities raided the drugstore, according to the committee.
“Throughout the course of our investigation, we’ve examined an extensive amount of data and the latest revelations are disheartening and outrageous,” said committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., in a joint statement. “As we continue to intensify our investigation, we need detailed answers and documents from these national distributors as to why large volumes of opioids were distributed to certain areas of the state.”
Read the entire article: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/health/wv_drug_abuse/in-two-years-drug-giant-mckesson-shipped-million-pain-pills/article_2b00569a-d10c-5295-9775-8fb70f2c5840.html
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