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CountryGuy123 t1_j2atdvu wrote

So Amerisource is a distributor, they don't prescribe medications. The opioids in question have important medical use.

What exactly were they supposed to do differently? Genuine question.

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ragnaROCKER t1_j2auicg wrote

Check to see if the claims about the drugs they distributed are true and the places they distribute to aren't pill mills.

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CountryGuy123 t1_j2bbgsh wrote

Isn't it medical regulators who determine who a pill mill is (or isn't)? It's not for a distributor to question a doctor on their diagnosis of patients.

I'm all for going after people who deserve it, but that doesn't mean everyone involved in the creation of opioids did something wrong.

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AKraiderfan t1_j2bpaqt wrote

They know where the pills go...

So if a million pills go to a town of 5000, and these pills are usually prescribed 2 a day, and that pharmacy sells 200 pills/month of all non-opioid product, they can employ a simple macro in excel to throw up a red flag and check the numbers out.

Yes, people up and down the supply chain needs to be in jail for this shit, because people up and down the supply chain got rich from this statistically obvious activity.

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CountryGuy123 t1_j2c8jjp wrote

And all of these scripts are recorded and available to state governments. I don't want manufacturers overriding medical doctors, that's insane. If the doctors are abusing their credentials, then let state medical boards address it.

The manufacturer has a MEDICAL DOCTOR prescribing the drugs. Why would you want engineers and distribution / transportation professionals making medical decisions??

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Away_Swimming_5757 t1_j2cirdw wrote

Not to mention, in the event AmeriSourceBergen were to deny pharmacies orders they placed and said, "Well, we did a Macro on our Excel spreadsheet and you were flagged as ordering too many because of the population of your region", there would be all types of lawsuits and violations waged against them.

The true culprits here are the doctors who prescribed them, the sales reps who pushed them and bribed doctors and the creators of the addictive medicines who weren't honest or transparent with the addictive potential of their products. The distributor is not the problem, in my opinion.

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Glad_Nefariousness_6 t1_j2dmxzg wrote

So isn’t the govt more at fault? Where were the regulators as this was happening? Why ten years later is the govt absolving themselves of blame and going after private companies with highest revenue ?

Does our ever increasing in size enormous govt ever have any blame ?

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1solate t1_j2cvra3 wrote

In no real world will the "regulators" (I suppose you mean the FDA here) would ever have the resources to have complete visibility into the system. These distributors do and should share in the responsibility in vetting and reporting as any other industry.

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Glad_Nefariousness_6 t1_j2dn42u wrote

The amount of data available to the govt - particularly with controlled substances - is way more voluminous than the logistical middle guy.

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CountryGuy123 t1_j2ebb8z wrote

FDA is federal! Every state has its own regulatory agencies that get EVERY script, the doctor, the amount prescribed, the patient, and the pharmacy it's filled. They have more information than any distributor.

Do you know how prescriptions work behind the scenes at all?

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Bikrdude t1_j2dqsyq wrote

This is just a shakedown for cash. AB buys from manufacturers and sells to drugstores. They don't have a part in deciding who is medically qualified to prescribe anything.

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