Purdue Pharma's Programs to Reduce Illegal Trafficking
and Abuse of Prescription Medications
Pain affects millions of Americans each year and is one of the top reasons people seek medical care. The annual cost of pain in the U.S. is estimated to be more than $100 billion, including healthcare expenses, lost income, and lost productivity. At the same time, the illegal trafficking (or diversion) and abuse of prescription medicines has become a serious public health problem in the United States.
Purdue Pharma L.P. is working with healthcare professionals, law enforcement and local communities across the country to help curb diversion and abuse of medications, while making sure they remain available for appropriate medical use. The Company has developed an array of programs focused on education, prevention and deterrence.
- EDUCATING HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS ABOUT DIVERSION, ABUSE AND PROPER PAIN MANAGEMENT
Purdue Pharma supports a range of non-promotional education to teach healthcare professionals how to properly assess and address patients suffering from pain, as well as how to recognize and deter common methods used to unlawfully obtain and abuse prescription medications. Some ways in which Purdue provides non-promotional education include:
- Independent educational grants to healthcare professional associations, healthcare institutions and organizations for national, regional, state and local programs
- Distribution of company-developed educational materials, courses and resources through live education sessions, electronic and print-based learning activities and faculty tools
Over the past five years, over 200,000 resources from the Company's Medical Education Resource Catalog have been requested and received by thousands of healthcare professionals.
- COMBATING PRESCRIPTION FRAUD AND PHARMACY THEFT
In response to a reported increase in pharmacy robberies, Purdue developed RxPATROL® (Pattern Analysis Tracking Robberies and Other Losses), an online information clearinghouse designed to collect, analyze, and share information on pharmacy robberies, burglaries and other thefts. RxPATROL helps pharmacists guard against pharmacy theft, and assists law enforcement efforts to apprehend and prosecute pharmacy crime suspects. The database is accessible to authorized personnel at www.rxpatrol.org.
A number of organizations have partnered with Purdue to support this program, including the National Community Pharmacists Association, National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators, the Healthcare Distribution Management Association, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association, and the Pharmaceutical Security Institute.
In 2005, Purdue began working with Crime Stoppers and other community anti-crime organizations around the country to offer cash rewards for information that can help law enforcement investigate and solve pharmacy-related crimes. As of January 1, 2010, this effort has led to arrest of more than 100 pharmacy crime suspects.
- BUILDING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS TO COMBAT PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE
Through its Community Partnerships program, Purdue works with national and local anti-drug abuse organizations to raise awareness of, and help prevent, prescription drug abuse.
The company has a longstanding alliance with the Partnership for a Drug Free America to educate parents and teens about the dangers of medication misuse. Most recently, with funding from Purdue, the Partnership has developed Time to Act, a science-based multimedia resource to help parents take action when they see signs of drug or alcohol use in their children.
Purdue supports the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's efforts to provide education and training programs to help community-based anti-drug abuse organizations combat the abuse of prescription medications.
Additionally, the company developed the Medicine Cabinet education campaign to inform adults about the importance of monitoring, safeguarding and properly disposing of medications in the home. In 2009, Purdue and the U.S. Conference of Mayors launched a public education campaign on safe storage and disposal of medications in cities and town across the country.
Purdue also provides funding and in-kind services to state and local anti-drug abuse coalitions to support awareness and prevention programs at the grass roots level. The company places particular emphasis on supporting evidence-based prevention programs and practices.
- DISTRIBUTING EDUCATIONAL TOOLS AND RESOURCES
Purdue regularly provides healthcare professionals with important information about the proper prescribing of opioid analgesics. Since 1998, Purdue's representatives have distributed materials emphasizing the need to properly select, assess and monitor patients on opioid therapy. The company also provides information on how to recognize signs of abuse and diversion. Purdue representatives have reviewed these materials in depth with tens of thousands of prescribers. Purdue representatives have also distributed more than 600,000 pain management kits to medical professionals to date, and educated them on the proper use of these assessment and documentations tools.
Purdue has also developed an array of educational brochures and materials that help healthcare professionals and patients recognize and prevent abuse and diversion of prescription medicines. More than 900,000 brochures have been distributed to physicians and 750,000 brochures have been distributed to pharmacists nationwide by mail and by Purdue field representatives.
- SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE PRESCRIPTION MONITORING PROGRAMS
"Doctor Shopping" - the practice of misleading several prescribers in order to obtain multiple, improper prescriptions - is a common form of drug diversion. Purdue is supporting the development of state prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) to help prescribers, pharmacists and law enforcement detect and prevent diversion of prescription medicines in numerous states. In doing so, the Company has worked to help ensure that these state-based programs are designed to be effective, do not impede patient care, ensure privacy, and protect practitioners from inappropriate interference. To date, numerous states have enacted legislation to implement a prescription monitoring program and additional states are considering such legislation. Purdue provided a grant to the National Association of State Controlled Substances Authorities to provide funding to states to support the operation, expansion and awareness of prescription drug monitoring programs.
- WORKING WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT
Many state and local law enforcement organizations do not have sufficient expertise or resources to investigate effectively prescription drug diversion. Since 2001, Purdue's Law Enforcement Liaison and Education program has helped state, county, and municipal law enforcement groups enhance their drug diversion investigations. This effort includes educational programs by former law enforcement officers with expertise in pharmaceutical diversion. The programs help law enforcement officers and healthcare professionals understand appropriate vs. inappropriate prescribing, common scams used by drug seekers and criminals and misuse of controlled substances. Purdue Pharma works with a number of law enforcement and regulatory groups in this effort, including the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators and the National Sheriffs Association. Since 2004, Purdue has provided training for more than 62,000 law enforcement personnel and healthcare professionals.
- COMBATING CROSS-BORDER SMUGGLING, COUNTERFEITING, AND ROGUE INTERNET PHARMACIES
The Company has taken steps to combat diversion of its product across international borders. Purdue has placed unique tablet markings, known as indicia, on products marketed in the United States, Canada and Latin America. These markings help law enforcement and regulatory agencies determine the country in which seized tablets were distributed.
The company is also helping regulatory and law enforcement agencies combat the growing problems of prescription drug counterfeiting and the distribution of controlled substances via the Internet. Purdue monitors the Internet for suspicious activities (e.g., rogue internet pharmacy) and works with appropriate agencies to mitigate these internet challenges. Additionally, Purdue further assists law enforcement through analyses of product seized by law enforcement to determine if the seized sample is authentic and if not, if it's chemical fingerprint resembles other samples submitted by other law enforcement agencies. Deterring the composition of counterfeit or adulterated product can help law enforcement track down and prosecute drug counterfeiters and diverters.
- UNDERSTANDING THE SCOPE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE
In 2001, Purdue Pharma established the innovative Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS®) System to study the prevalence and nature of abuse and diversion of commonly-prescribed opioid analgesics. The System collects timely product- and geographically-specific data that supplement the data collected by federally-funded surveillance systems. The System also calculates rates of abuse, misuse and diversion of the drugs it monitors throughout the United States, contributing to the understanding of trends and aiding the development of effective interventions. In 2006, Purdue transferred the ownership of the RADARS® System to the not-for-profit Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center to encourage other pharmaceutical firms and government agencies to access the data. The Radar System is overseen by an independent Scientific Advisory Board composed of leading experts in the study of drug abuse and diversion. The data assist pharmaceutical companies in the fulfillment of their regulatory obligations such as risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS).
- DEVELOPING TAMPER-RESISTANT DRUG FORMULATION
All medications are susceptible to abuse in one manner or another. Purdue is working to develop and test new forms of pain medications that will 1) provide safe and effective pain relief to patients with pain and 2) will be less desirable to drug abusers. This type of drug research and development is extremely complex and takes years to complete, and it may not be possible to develop a drug formulation that can completely deter determined abusers.
- SECURING THE DISTRIBUTION CHAIN
After prescription medications leave the manufacturing facility, they typically pass through a number of wholesale and retail drug distributors before ultimately reach-ing the local pharmacy or hospital. While shipping and handling of controlled substances is conducted under secure conditions, every step along this phar-maceutical supply chain presents an opportunity for diversion by criminals. Purdue has gone to great lengths to protect the pharmaceutical supply chain by introducing innovative security measures in its manufacturing facilities and throughout the drug distribution channels.
In 2004, as part of a pilot program with certain customers, Purdue was among the first pharmaceutical company to tag individual bottles of medication with small electromagnetic chips known as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. RFID allows pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesale distributors to closely track products as they move throughout the distribution chain.
Solving the longstanding problems of diversion and abuse of prescription medications requires the cooperation of many sectors of our society, including healthcare professionals, law enforcement, educators and parents, social service providers, state and federal government, and the pharmaceutical industry. Purdue is committed to being part of the solution to this critical public health problem.
For more information contact:
James W. Heins
Senior Director, Public Affairs
Purdue Pharma L.P.
james.heins@pharma.com
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