An Ireland-based company is being probed over how it pushes anti-addiction drugs
There have been claims that Alkermes has been artificially boosting sales of its treatment.
A US SENATOR is probing a Dublin-based company drugs after questions were raised as to how the firm pushes its addiction treatment.
Democratic senator Kamala Harris claims that Alkermes is attempting to artificially boost sales of its drug Vivitrol, which is used to treat opioid addiction, while contributing to “misconceptions” about other medications.
She said that the firm spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” lobbying lawmakers and officials in order to receive favorable promotion of Vivitrol and federal funding.
Harris, a member of the senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also claimed that Alkermes convinced judges and corrections officials to offer Vivitrol to inmates and parolees rather than better-proven addiction-treatment drugs.
She called for the company to provide information on a range of areas, including detail regarding the activities of Alkermes sales representatives studies that would show Vivitrol’s “superiority” to other opioid treatments.
Alkermes subsequently released its own statement saying that it strongly disagreed with Harris’ claims, additng that Vivitrol is an effective treatment for opioid addiction.
It also said that it engaged with officials and those in the criminal justice system as it believes that patients “should have access to all medications”.
“Every patient deserves access to all medications to treat opioid dependence and we work with government agencies and elected officials to provide information in support of such access,” the company said.
Alkermes also said that it intends to cooperate with Senator Harris’ requests for information.
The company, which is based in Dublin, was born out of a merger between US based Alkermes Inc and Irish company Elan Drug Technologies in 2011.
In addition to its corporate head office in Dublin, it also has a manufacturing facility in Athlone. Between the two locations it employs several hundred staff.
Cooperating
Harris’s investigation follows reports from a range of media outlets, including the New York Times and NPR, on lobbying carried out on behalf of Alkermes to promote Vivotrol.
In May, US Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price praised Vivotrol as the future of opioid addiction treatment.
Following this many outlets, such as the New York Times, highlighted that the drug is more expensive than many of its competitors, such as methadone.
Vivotrol was responsible for bringing in $209 million (€180 million) in sales for Alkermes in 2016.
