Iowa expands investigation into prescription-drug companies' roles in addiction epidemic

Iowa’s attorney general is joining most of his colleagues in demanding documents from eight major manufacturers or distributors of prescription painkillers, as part of an investigation into their roles in the nation’s drug-addiction epidemic.

Tom Miller’s office announced Tuesday that it and 41 other attorneys general are looking into the companies’ practices.

“The information that state attorneys general seek will enable the states to investigate and evaluate whether manufacturers and distributors engaged in unlawful practices in the marketing, sale and distribution of opioids,” Miller’s office said in a statement.

Related: Iowa prisons brace for possible uptick in HIV, hepatitis C cases as opioid epidemic

Industry critics contend pharmaceutical companies helped spark a wave of drug addictions and overdoses by downplaying the danger of prescription painkillers. Experts say many people who become addicted to the pills later switch to heroin, an illicit drug that is chemically similar but cheaper.

Although Iowa hasn’t seen as severe a problem as many other states, the epidemic has struck here. Miller’s office noted a state report showing the number of opioid related overdose deaths jumping from 28 in 2005 to 67 in 2016, and the number of treatment admissions for opioid problems climbing from 608 to 2,274 over the same period.

“The opioid epidemic is nothing short of a public health crisis that kills dozens of Iowans every year and more than 100 people a day nationwide,” Miller said in a prepared statement. “Beyond those numbers, this epidemic profoundly impacts affected patients, their families, our communities, and our health care system,” Miller added. “As state attorneys general we can collaboratively use the law to investigate the cause and scope of this problem, and we can work together to help address it.”

The companies targeted in the investigation were identified as Allergan, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, Endo, Janssen, McKesson, Purdue Pharma and Teva/Cephalon.

Several state and local governments have filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for their alleged roles in the epidemic. Iowa has not yet joined any of those suits.

One of the companies, Cardinal Health, responded to the expanded inquiry by pledging to cooperate. "The people of Cardinal Health care deeply about the devastation opioid abuse has caused American families and communities, and we look forward to working with the attorneys general on their multi-state inquiry as they seek to better understand the myriad causes involved in this major public health issue," the pharmaceutical distributor said in a press release. The company said it already has been supporting efforts to limit initial prescriptions of painkillers, and to look for signs of abuse or diversion of the pills.

Several of the other companies offered similar pledges of cooperation with the investigation.