3 drugmakers dominated opioid supplies as 76B pills flooded the U.S.
The extent to which drug distributors and manufacturers pumped opioids into the U.S. was unknown to the public—until now.
The government’s database, known as ARCOS, was previously held under federal seal as part of a Multi-District Litigation in Cleveland. According to The Washington Post, which sued to gain access to the database, McKesson led the way among distributors. Rounding out the top five were Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and CVS. The top 10 distributors together pumped out around 62.3B opioid pills between 2006 and 2012, the height of the addiction crisis.
On the manufacturing side, three companies—SpecGx, a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt; Actavis Pharma, now owned by Teva; and Par Pharmaceutical, now owned by Endo—pumped out 85% of the opioid pills that made their way into U.S. pharmacies. Purdue Pharma, the developer of OxyContin, came in fourth place with 3% of the market.
