From 2006 to 2016, drug distributors shipped 20,827,260 hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to two pharmacies in Williamson, W. Va., according to an investigation conducted by U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Here are seven things to know.
1. Williamson was home to 3,191 people in 2010, according to U.S. Census data cited in the investigation. That year alone, drug distributors shipped nearly 1.8 million opioid pills to the town's two pharmacies — Tug Valley Pharmacy and Hurley Drug Company.
"These numbers are outrageous, and we will get to the bottom of how this destruction was able to be unleashed across West Virginia," said committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and ranking member Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., in a joint statement cited by Charleston Gazette-Mail.
2. The committee on Jan. 26 sent letters to two drug distributors — Springfield, Ill.-based D. Smith and Springboro, Ohio-based Miami-Luken — inquiring why so many oxycodone and hydrocodone pills were shipped to Williamson.
3. In the letter addressed to the CEO of H.D. Smith, the committee cites state court documents suggesting the company delivered 39,000 hydrocodone pills to the two pharmacies over a two-day span in 2007.
4. Miami-Luken also shipped high amounts of opioid pills to a pharmacy in the nearby town of Kermit, according to the committee's letter. In 2008, the company "provided 5,624 pills for every man, woman and child in Kermit," according to the letter.
5. Richard Blake, outside counsel for Miami-Luken, told NPR it would not be appropriate for him to go into detail on the committee's letter, but said the company is "fully cooperating" with the investigation.
6. H.D. Smith told NPR it would review the committee's letter and "respond as necessary."
"[H.D. Smith] operates with stringent protection of our nation's healthcare supply chain," the drug distributor told NPR. "The company works with its upstream manufacturing and downstream pharmacy partners to guard the integrity of the supply chain and to improve patient outcomes."
7. West Virginia carries the highest rate of fatal drug overdoses in the country. More than 880 West Virginians died of a drug overdose in 2016, according to the CDC.
"We will continue to investigate these distributors' shipments of large quantities of powerful opioids across West Virginia, including what seems to be a shocking lack of oversight over their distribution practices," said Mr. Walden and Mr. Pallone, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
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