PhRMA Announces Commitment to Address the Opioid Crisis

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) announced a new multi-year, multimillion dollar initiative to address the opioid crisis, which will include a partnership with the Addiction Policy Forum to fund state and local programs, as well as support for new public policies that help families and individuals impacted by the crisis.

In the coming months, PhRMA and the Addiction Policy Forum will work together to implement the Forum’s four-year vision plan to help solve the opioid crisis, titled "Priorities to Address Addiction in America," released in October 2017. The plan identified eight strategic focus areas to address addiction; the recommendations included analysis of key states to identify gaps in existing programs, increased education efforts for patients and families and the development of an online portal to connect individuals with addiction treatment options and information. The biopharmaceutical industry’s commitment will allow the Forum to implement programs nationwide, including prevention initiatives, an online addiction resource center, public-private partnerships and new tools and protocols for health systems, among other initiatives.

"We are deeply committed to addressing the opioid crisis and advancing solutions that will make a meaningful difference for families and communities," said PhRMA President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl. "This is only possible if we make a point to listen, partner with organizations and experts on the ground, and ensure that our top priority is saving lives. The Addiction Policy Forum is actively working to provide resources to reduce the stigma surrounding addiction and treatment, and we are proud to support their efforts through this new partnership."

In addition to announcing the partnership with the Forum, PhRMA also released an expanded set of policy proposals to aggressively tackle the many drivers of the crisis. The new platform supports policies that limit the supply of opioid medications to 7-days for acute pain with clear exemptions; mandate prescriber training to ensure appropriate treatment of addiction and pain and eliminate coverage barriers that keep patients from accessing all forms of addiction treatment, including medication assisted treatments, and recovery support.

To accelerate the development of innovative new treatments and therapies, PhRMA recently announced it’s working to establish a public-private partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and leaders in the biopharmaceutical industry. The partnership will help bring both non-opioid, non-addictive pain medicines and improved medication assisted treatments for addiction to patients sooner. There are currently 40 non-opioid analgesics and 40 addiction and overdose treatments in the development pipeline.