Doctors' and Pharmacists' Groups Send Joint Letter to DEA, HHS, ONDCP, and SAMHSA on Buprenorphine Access Issues

Today, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) joined the American Medical Association (AMA), American Pharmacists Association (APhA), and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) in a joint letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Substance Abuse and the Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to highlight reports from our members that patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD) have struggled to have prescriptions for buprenorphine products dispensed at pharmacies.

The groups noted that pharmacies have not increased orders for buprenorphine because of fears by distributors and pharmacies of exceeding thresholds, which would trigger suspicious order reports (SOR) and subject the pharmacy and distributor to increased DEA scrutiny. Additionally, as a result of the scrutiny and subsequent challenges with pharmacies obtaining sufficient stock of buprenorphine products, patients continue to face delays and denials of prescriptions for buprenorphine—frustrating the nation’s pharmacists and physicians and exacerbating the nation’s overdose and death toll.

ASAM, AMA, APhA and ASHP requested clear guidance from the relevant agencies that explicitly states that suspicious order reporting requirements will not be enforced against buprenorphine approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for OUD until further notice.

Read the letter here.