Fighting the Opioid Epidemic

AmerisourceBergen manages the transportation of medication, including controlled substances, from manufacturers to licensed pharmacies and hospitals. Our role in the healthcare supply chain uniquely positions us to contribute important expertise and resources to the battle against opioid abuse in the United States.

We are committed to joining other healthcare stakeholders, government entities, civic organizations, law enforcement agencies and individuals to overcome this terrible tragedy.

Here's how:

Ensuring Safe and Secure Drug Distribution

AmerisourceBergen does not prescribe drugs, provide them directly to patients or take any action to drive demand for them. We transport medicine from manufacturers to licensed pharmacies, hospitals and other dispensaries.

Ensuing the safety and security of this process has always been paramount. To achieve this, we continuously evaluate, enhance, strengthen and expand the proven measures we have implemented to maintain the integrity of every order we ship. These processes include:

Due diligence

Performing extensive due diligence on customers who intend to purchase controlled substances from us and vetting discovered information through a best-in-class diversion control team of internal and external experts before granting them permission to purchase.

Order monitoring

Maintaining an order monitoring program with sophisticated technology that tests every controlled substance order against established governing criteria. Orders exceeding those criteria are redirected to experienced diversion control personnel for further analysis and possible cancellation.

Daily reporting

Providing daily reports to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration of all opioid-based medication orders, including the quantity, type and recipient of each shipped order.

Licensing

Ensuring that all customers are appropriately licensed by regulatory agencies and continuously monitoring those customers for "red flag" behavior. Discontinue customer relationships where there is an increased potential for diversion by the customer. Support law enforcement efforts to investigate entities that are acting illegally.

For more than a decade, these procedures have enabled us to report and stop tens of thousands of suspicious orders. This does not include countless other orders that were never placed with AmerisourceBergen because of our refusal to provide service.

Press Release

AmerisourceBergen Announces Operating Commitments to Address Opioid Diversion and Abuse

December 2017

[These] commitments and initiatives... reflect our belief that all companies in healthcare should be constantly looking at ways to innovate, collaborate and enhance existing practices in order to best combat the opioid issue.

steven h. collis, chairman, president and ceo Amerisourcebergen

Maintaining Operational Integrity

AmerisourceBergen takes very seriously its neutrality as a distributor of controlled substances. As such, we:

Take no action whatsoever to promote prescribing or otherwise increase demand for opioids.
Do not offer our sales representatives special compensation or incentives of any kind that target opioid orders.
Continuously monitor all orders and immediately flag those deemed potentially suspicious.

Perspective from our CEO

The Surprising Morality of Opioid Distribution

STEVEN H. COLLIS, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, AMERISOURCEBERGEN

Read the article

Advocating for the Highest Regulatory Standards

Opioids are heavily regulated by the government; from the time they are produced to the time they are dispensed to patients. Every stakeholder in this process — the manufacturer, distributor, prescriber and dispenser — must strictly adhere to requirements outlined in the Federal Code of Regulations.

AmerisourceBergen enthusiastically endorses these guidelines and strongly advocates for the implementation of additional measures.

Press Release

AmerisourceBergen Urges Policymakers to Support Regulator and Industry Data Transparency to More Effectively Combat Opioid Abuse

November 2017

ARTICLE: INSIDE SOURCES

Sound Policy and More Transparency Can Help Companies Fight the Opioid Crisis

STEVEN H. COLLIS, PRESIDENT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AMERISOURCEBERGEN

Community Outreach

The AmerisourceBergen Foundation remains committed to providing communities with the resources needed to help prevent opioid abuse and misuse. We continue to evaluate how we can best leverage our unique resources to support initiatives or organizations that aim to address the nation’s opioid epidemic.

Fighting the Opioid Epidemic

We are committed to joining other healthcare stakeholders, government entities, civic organizations, law enforcement agencies and individuals to overcome this terrible tragedy.

Ensuring Safe and Secure Distribution

Maintaining Operational Integrity

Advocating for the Highest Regulatory Standards

Community Outreach

Ensuring Safe and Secure Drug Distribution

AmerisourceBergen Announces Operating Commitments to Address Opioid Diversion and Abuse

[These] commitments and initiatives... reflect our belief that all companies in healthcare should be constantly looking at ways to innovate, collaborate and enhance existing practices in order to best combat the opioid issue.

Maintaining Operational Integrity

The Surprising Morality of Opioid Distribution

Advocating for the Highest Regulatory Standards

AmerisourceBergen Urges Policymakers to Support Regulator and Industry Data Transparency to More Effectively Combat Opioid Abuse

Sound Policy and More Transparency Can Help Companies Fight the Opioid Crisis

Community Outreach

Recommended Reading

Healthcare Distribution Alliance

Wall Street Journal

The Washington Post

Fighting the Opioid Epidemic

We are committed to joining other healthcare stakeholders, government entities, civic organizations, law enforcement agencies and individuals to overcome this terrible tragedy.

Ensuring Safe and Secure Distribution

Maintaining Operational Integrity

Advocating for the Highest Regulatory Standards

Community Outreach

Ensuring Safe and Secure Drug Distribution

AmerisourceBergen Announces Operating Commitments to Address Opioid Diversion and Abuse

[These] commitments and initiatives... reflect our belief that all companies in healthcare should be constantly looking at ways to innovate, collaborate and enhance existing practices in order to best combat the opioid issue.

Maintaining Operational Integrity

The Surprising Morality of Opioid Distribution

Advocating for the Highest Regulatory Standards

AmerisourceBergen Urges Policymakers to Support Regulator and Industry Data Transparency to More Effectively Combat Opioid Abuse

Sound Policy and More Transparency Can Help Companies Fight the Opioid Crisis

Community Outreach

The Moyer Foundation Receives Grant from the AmerisourceBergen Foundation to Launch New Community Program for Children Living with Addiction in their Families

AmerisourceBergen Foundation Creates Opioid Resource Grant Program

AmerisourceBergen Foundation Donates 55,000 Drug Deactivation Resources to Communities Nationwide to Combat Opioid Epidemic

Recommended Reading

Healthcare Distribution Alliance

Wall Street Journal

The Washington Post