Pharma Veterans

Opioid Crisis and Pharma Industry – Part 4 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #724 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #724 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Google Images Photo Credit: Tawfiqu Barbhuiya This series of blogposts is based on multiple sources, links to some of which appear at the end. Three pharmaceutical companies and their involvement has been discussed in detail already. However, such instances are complex matters. Lot of work was done to understand commercial, social, ecological, legal, and policy matters which contributed to the spread of this epidemic. We shall briefly look at these points to strengthen our understanding. Our situation in Pakistan is not much different. We do not ...

Opioid Crisis and Pharma Industry – Part 3 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #723 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #722 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. This series of blogposts is based on multiple sources, links to some of which appear at the end. Johnson & Johnson is the third company which is implicated in the opioid crisis directly. Their story is by far the most damning in the entire cycle of crisis. In 1980s, J&J needed a reliable supply of opium for a popular product, Tylenol with Codeine. Having the reach of a multinational, they found and acquired a business in Tasmania, Australia, which grew and processed poppies. They grew the business further, and even developed a new strain of poppy calle...

Opioid Crisis and Pharma Industry – Part 2 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #722 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #722 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Google Images Photo Credit: Google Images This series of blogposts is based on multiple sources, links to some of which appear at the end. Mallinckrodt plc is an American-Irish company which manufactured semi-synthetic opioid drugs like hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxycodone. Between 2006 and 2014, Mallinckrodt accounted for 27% of opioid market compared to 18% of Purdue Pharma. The investigations show that Mallinckrodt, the largest manufacturer of opioids in the US had been able to cultivate hundreds of loyal prescribers, thanks to its aggres...

Opioid Crisis and Pharma Industry – Part 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #721 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #721 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Google Images Photo Credit: Google Images Photo Credit: Google Images This series of blogposts is based on multiple sources, links of some of which appear at the end. The Opioid Crisis emerged out of the opioid epidemic which started getting noticed in the US in the early 2010s. The magnitude of problem was so big that the US Department and of Health and Human Sciences – DHSS soon declared it to be a Public Health Emergency, and the entire machinery got active. Since then, there have been numerous lawsuits against the main companies; most have be...