In a letter to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Administrator Robert Patterson, Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) President and CEO John M. Gray called for a “universal” database to support enhanced monitoring of suspicious orders of controlled substances, including controlled opioid drugs.
While the DEA has indicated that it currently is developing a suspicious orders database for its own use, HDA’s latest letter calls for the agency to share this data, and DEA’s advanced analytical tools, with state regulators and state/local law enforcement officials to improve information sharing and coordination.
The Alliance also reiterated its request for the agency to publish a long-awaited proposed rule on suspicious orders monitoring to provide industry and state regulatory bodies clarity as they work to mitigate prescription drug abuse.
