Health Care & Reproductive Rights

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California, along with 34 other states and the District of Columbia, has filed a lawsuit against Indivior, a British pharmaceutical company, and MonoSolRX, an Indiana pharmaceutical film technology company, for antitrust violations.

The complaint, filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleges that Indivior and MonoSol RX engaged in a multi-pronged “product-hopping” scheme to block competition to Suboxone, an opioid addiction treatment, ultimately generating almost one billion dollars in undeserved profits.  In this kind of scheme, pharmaceutical companies try to maintain profits generated via a monopoly by slightly reformulating their product in a way that blocks generic competitors without offering any significant medical or therapeutic advantages to patients.

"When prescription drug companies unlawfully manipulate the marketplace to maximize profits, they put lives at risk and drive up the cost of healthcare for everyone.  Indivior and MonosolRX flagrantly violated the law, deceiving doctors and patients and shutting down generic competition in order to rake in profits," said Attorney General Harris. "These companies must be held accountable for this unlawful scheme that cost the public nearly a billion dollars and hampered fair competition in the marketplace." 

Indivior, then known as Reckitt Benckiser, was granted FDA approval in 2002 for Suboxone tablets, along with exclusive rights to sell the drug for seven years based on representations that it was unlikely to recover its investment in the drug.  During this time, Indivior generated over a billion dollars in sales of the Suboxone tablets.

When its exclusive rights expired in 2009, the company was faced with potential competition expected to eliminate 80% of its profits from Suboxone tablets within a year. Indivior, with MonoSolRX’s assistance, thwarted that competition by switching the form of Suboxone from tablet to film. It falsely claimed the tablets presented pediatric safety issues, made unfounded claims to physicians that tablets were dangerous, and raised the price of its tablet while lowering the price of the film. Through these actions, Individior was able to maintain artificially high prices for Suboxone, depriving the state and consumers of the benefits of lower prices that come with competition.

The complaint alleges that the conduct and agreement between Indivior and MonosolRX constitutes monopolization, conspiracy to monopolize, and illegal restraint of trade in violation of federal antitrust laws as well as of California's Cartwright Act and Unfair Competition Law. The complaint seeks to require Indivior to pay back any profits that resulted from the illegal conduct—disgorgement—and includes injunctive relief to ensure the conduct is not continued or repeated. 

Attorney General Harris has worked to curb the sweeping epidemic of opioid abuse, overseeing a state-of-the-art prescription drug monitoring program, CURES, that allows health providers and pharmacists to more effectively flag at-risk patients and curb prescription drug abuse.  Attorney General Harris and 37 other state attorneys general also sent a letter to Congress in support of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015 (S.524/H.R.953), to increase prevention and treatment of heroin and opioid abuse.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has taken significant steps to protect consumers from monopolies and other violations of antitrust law, most recently joining with the United States, the District of Columbia, and 11 other states to file a lawsuit to block the merger of Anthem and Cigna, two major insurance companies operating in California.  The merger, if allowed to proceed, would drive up costs and undercut the quality of care available to Californians across the state.

She has also been a leader in challenging reverse payment agreements by which a branded drug company pays its rivals to not compete, which allows it to wrongfully inflate drug prices. Along with the FTC, the State of California filed the action that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in FTC v. Actavis finding that such agreements could be anticompetitive. Attorney General Harris has also authored numerous amicus briefs attacking this practice, which costs consumers billions of dollars and increases drug prices.

In addition, Attorney General Kamala Harris has worked to protect Californians’ access to high-quality, affordable health care, including reproductive health care and has defended the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, joining a friend-of-the-court brief in Thomas More Law Center v. Obama and repeatedly speaking out in support of health care reform.

The Attorney General’s office also reviews all transactions involving non-profit hospitals in California, such as the recent transaction involving Providence and St. Joseph’s Hospital and last year’s change of control and governance for Daughters of Charity Health System.  Attorney General Harris has set clear conditions when approving mergers and other transactions to ensure that those served by the hospitals—predominantly vulnerable and low-income communities—continue to have access to high-quality health care.  

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California, along with 11 other states and the District of Columbia, has joined the United States Department of Justice in filing a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the proposed $48.3 billion merger of two major insurance companies, Anthem and Cigna.

The consolidation of two of the five largest insurers in the U.S., at the same time Aetna and Humana are also attempting to merge, would significantly undercut competition, driving up health care costs for consumers and employers.  The proposed merger would be the largest in the history of the health-insurance industry and would create the nation’s largest health insurer, with approximately 53 million plan participants.

“We have seen significant consolidation in the healthcare provider and insurance marketplace over the course of the past several years.  In some circumstances, these mergers can create benefits for consumers, including more innovation, more coordinated healthcare and better healthcare delivery.  The proposed merger between Anthem and Cigna does not strike that balance and would drive up costs to consumers and reduce access to quality healthcare for millions of Californians,” said Attorney General Harris. “We must not allow insurance companies to grow their profits at the expense of consumers.  By joining this lawsuit, I urge the court to block this proposed merger.”

In addition to the impact on health care costs to individuals and employers, the merger would drive down reimbursement rates for providers and threaten the availability and quality of medical care in at least 35 geographically diverse markets, 6 of which are in California (San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim). 

In California, Anthem and Cigna currently compete head-to-head for customers, especially large employers.  This competition is crucial for allowing employers to purchase high-quality health care plans for their employees at affordable prices.  Robust competition between these two companies also spurs innovation and helps municipal and state governments obtain the best possible prices for health care.

This proposed merger would result in higher premiums and administrative costs and would depress reimbursement rates for doctors and other health care providers, likely leading to lower efficiencies, more medical providers leaving the provider network market, and overall an inferior quality of care for patients.

The federal complaint, filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and attached to the online version of this news release, alleges potential violations of Section 7 of the Clayton Act and calls on the court to permanently enjoin Anthem and Cigna from merging.

The U.S. Department of Justice was joined in its lawsuit by California , Colorado, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Attorney General Kamala Harris has worked to protect Californians’ access to high-quality, affordable health care, including reproductive health care.  She authored a multi-state friend-of-the-court brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. in January 2014, urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling allowing for-profit companies to deny essential healthcare to female employees based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners.  She also signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in a major recent reproductive rights case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision substantially restricting access to abortion services in Texas.  In November 2013, Attorney General Harris joined a multi-state amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court in McCullen v. Coakley, supporting a Massachusetts law creating a 35-foot buffer zone around reproductive health care facilities. 

The Attorney General has also defended the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, joining a friend-of-the-court brief in Thomas More Law Center v. Obama and repeatedly speaking out in support of health care reform.

The Attorney General’s office also reviews all transactions involving non-profit hospitals in California, such as the recent transaction involving Providence and St. Joseph’s Hospital and last year’s change of control and governance for Daughters of Charity Health System.  Attorney General Harris has set clear conditions when approving mergers and other transactions to ensure that those served by the hospitals—predominantly vulnerable and low-income communities—continue to have access to high-quality health care.  

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf to abandon the practice of deferring blood donations from men who have had sex with a man (MSM) even once within twelve months of attempting to donate blood. In the letter, Attorney General Harris argues that modern technology and an increasingly sophisticated understanding of HIV allows the FDA to implement alternative non-discriminatory, scientifically sound methods for ensuring the safety of the nation’s blood supply.

In the wake of the mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, FL and the ensuing urgent need for blood donations, many safe and willing donors were turned away in order to comply with the FDA’s deferral guidance. 

“Understanding the FDA’s responsibility for maintaining the safety of the nation’s blood supply and your steadfast commitment to implementing data-driven policies, I call on you to consider less categorical risk-based donation policies that will ensure blood safety,” stated Attorney General Harris.

“As we work to achieve the Constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law, it is our duty to amend or repeal policies that keep us anchored to a shameful past. To those who suffer under lingering injustices and indignities, it is no answer to say: ‘Be patient and wait.’ And with regards to the FDA’s guidance, the time for patience is over,” the Attorney General added.

In 2015, the FDA’s “Revised Recommendations for Reducing the Risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission by Blood and Blood Products: Guidance for Industry” took a positive step by abandoning the outdated lifetime ban on MSM blood donations. However, the current standard of an unconditional twelve-month deferral period is functionally equivalent to a lifetime ban for many gay and bisexual men, and fails to maximize the eligible blood donor pool.

The Attorney General argues that adopting deferral guidelines that identify a donor’s actual risk of carrying HIV will help to overcome the nation’s routine blood shortages. By amending a discriminatory policy that wrongly stigmatizes LGBTQ Americans, this change will also allow the United States to write a new chapter in its civil rights history.

Attorney General Harris’ letter is yet another instance of her longstanding commitment as an ally of the LGBTQ community.  During her time as Attorney General, she has filed multiple amicus briefs defending same-sex couples’ constitutional right to marry.

In 2013, Attorney General Harris declined to defend Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot measure that would have outlawed same-sex marriage in California. Her decision was based on her commitment to uphold the Constitution and ensure every citizen is afforded the fundamental right to equal treatment under the law.

In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a historic opinion in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which overturned the Proposition 8 ballot initiative. In recognition of the Court’s decision, Attorney General Harris declared that every county in the State of California must recognize same-sex couples’ right to legally marry.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued a reminder to healthcare professionals about the upcoming deadline to register for the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) database.  All health practitioners licensed to prescribe or dispense scheduled medications are required by law to sign up for CURES by July 1, 2016.

In 2013, Attorney General Harris sponsored Senate Bill 809, authored by then-State Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D- Concord), which created and permanently funded a new state-of-the-art prescription drug database referred to as “CURES 2.0.”  The legislation – supported by a broad coalition of health, safety, and consumer advocates – included a requirement that all healthcare practitioners authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances must apply for CURES access by January 1, 2016.  This deadline was subsequently extended to July 1, 2016.

“CURES 2.0 is not only a state-of-the-art, innovative, and secure database to improve healthcare providers’ ability to combat prescription drug abuse, it’s also a model for the nation on how to address this epidemic,” said Attorney General Harris.  “California will continue to lead the country in the adoption of technology to help curb prescription drug abuse and the diversion of controlled substances statewide.”  

The fully upgraded CURES 2.0 database was launched in January 2016 through a joint partnership between the California Departments of Justice and Consumer Affairs.  CURES enables healthcare providers to review their patients’ medication histories before prescribing new controlled substances.  In addition to providing users with faster and more reliable access to patient activity reports, the upgraded 2.0 system features cutting-edge analytics for flagging at-risk patients, allowing medical professionals to prescribe wisely and helping to prevent abuse or diversion of controlled medications such as opioids.

In December 2015, Attorney General Harris also announced a new streamlined registration process beginning in January 2016, which allows healthcare professionals to apply for CURES access and verify their credentials entirely online using secure web browsers.  Prior to the launch, Attorney General Harris sent a letter to members of the medical community urging them to only use secure software to access confidential and sensitive patient information.

To sign up for CURES, new applicants should visit oag.ca.gov/cures and click the link to register.  New registrants will need their license type and number to register.  Previously registered users of the CURES 1.0 system are not required to re-register. 

A registration “tips and tricks” document in multiple languages is attached to the online version of this release at www.oag.ca.gov/news.  In addition, the state’s 2016-17 budget included new funding for user-end outreach and support positions within the California Department of Justice to help CURES applicants and users navigate the system.

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today released the following statement after Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1408, authored by Senator Allen (D – Santa Monica), which would allow life-saving transplants between HIV-positive individuals. Attorney General Harris received a letter earlier this week from a transplant surgeon at University of California, San Francisco and immediately urged the legislature to act to change existing law and allow HIV-positive individuals to receive organ donations from other HIV-positive individuals.

“I applaud Governor Brown and the legislature for working swiftly to eliminate outdated and discriminatory policies that criminalized life-saving organ transplants between HIV-positive donors and recipients.  Through tremendous, bi-partisan cooperation, our state's elected officials acted on a rare opportunity to immediately save lives.”

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for false advertising and deceptive marketing of its surgical mesh products for women.  The complaint alleges that J&J neglected to inform both patients and doctors of possible severe complications and misrepresented the frequency and severity of risks.

California co-led a multistate investigation, including 46 states and the District of Columbia, into J&J’s surgical mesh products for women, and is seeking injunctive relief and monetary penalties to ensure that J&J stops its deceptive practices.

“Johnson & Johnson put millions of women at risk of severe health problems by failing to provide critical information to doctors and patients about its surgical mesh products,” said Attorney General Harris. “Johnson & Johnson’s deception denied women the ability to make informed decisions about their health and well-being.  My office will continue to hold companies accountable for misleading consumers and patients for financial gain.”

The surgical mesh device is designed to treat common health conditions in women such as stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. The lawsuit alleges that J&J misrepresented the safety of these devices by concealing the possibility of serious and irreversible complications caused by mesh, including permanent pain with intercourse and/or loss of sexual function, chronic pain, permanent urinary or defecatory dysfunction, and potentially devastating impact on overall quality of life.  

J&J also misrepresented the severity and frequency of common complications, and failed to disclose that its surgical mesh devices presented risks not present in alternative treatment options.

The suit further claims that J&J knew about potential risks and side effects prior to the launch of their mesh products, yet omitted that information from educational and marketing materials provided to doctors and patients.  

J&J sold 787,232 devices nationally from 2008 to 2014, including more than 42,000 in California for that same time period.  Worldwide, more than 2 million women had been implanted with these mesh products. 

In addition to the lawsuit filed today, J&J faces over 35,000 personal injury lawsuits in state and federal court related to its surgical mesh products. 

A copy of the complaint is attached to the online version of this news release at www.oag.ca.gov/news.

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California, leading a coalition of 16 states and the District of Columbia, has submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Zubik, et al. v. Burwell et al., urging the Court to protect women’s access to contraceptive coverage under the federal government’s Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The brief, written by California, was joined by Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

“A woman’s right to access contraception should not hinge on the religious beliefs of her employer,” said Attorney General Harris.  “The right to healthcare services is justly protected under federal law, and  the Supreme Court should uphold the ACA’s common-sense accommodation for religious organizations and protect women’s access to essential healthcare.”

The ACA provides an accommodation for religious nonprofit organizations that object to its requirement that employer-provided health insurance plans contain coverage for preventative healthcare, including contraception.  Through this accommodation, these organizations can simply opt out of providing contraceptive coverage to their employees by informing their insurance company or the federal government of their objection to this coverage.  If an organization does opt out, the insurer will then provide contraceptive coverage directly to employees at the insurance companies own expense.  In the Zubik case, several nonprofit religious organizations filed suit against Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, arguing that this opt-out accommodation violates their religious beliefs.

Attorney General Harris and the 17 other attorneys general argue in the brief that the Court should not interpret the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in a way that defeats and interferes with the essential and compelling purposes of the ACA and its preventative contraceptive healthcare coverage requirements.  As the brief notes, access to contraceptives is not only essential for public health, but is consistent with the intent of Congress in passing the ACA to ensure that all covered employees have access to no-cost preventive care, free of logistical and administrative barriers. 

The brief argues that the ACA’s opt-out accommodation does not create a substantial burden and therefore does not interfere with or violate the rights of these organizations under RFRA.  The brief also argues that the alternatives to this common-sense accommodation proposed by the religious employers would impose significant financial, logistical, informational, and administrative burdens on women seeking access to contraception.  These burdens would fall hardest on women with the fewest informational and financial resources to overcome them.

The brief urges the Court to interpret RFRA in a manner that would not interfere with States’ goals and prerogatives to protect public health and promote gender equity.

In January 2014, Attorney General Harris authored a multi-state friend-of-the-court brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling allowing for-profit companies to deny essential healthcare to female employees based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners.

In 2015, Attorney General Harris co-sponsored AB 775, the Reproductive FACT Act, to ensure women have equal access to comprehensive reproductive health care and are able to make informed choices about their health.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Brown and went into effect on January 1, 2016.  The Attorney General’s office is vigorously defending the law in federal and state court. 

In January 2106, Attorney General Harris joined 13 other states and the District of Columbia in signing a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision substantially restricting access to abortion services in Texas. 

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala Harris today convened local, state and federal law enforcement leaders and Planned Parenthood clinic directors to discuss the recent uptick in threats and violence against reproductive health clinics and ways to increase coordination to better protect patients and health care workers.  The event consisted of a briefing for law enforcement officials on the current threats and a discussion of best practices to prevent and respond to them.

“The increase in threats and violence against patients and health care providers at reproductive health clinics is a serious threat to women’s reproductive rights and public safety,” said Attorney General Harris. “Patients and health providers have the right to receive care and provide services in a safe environment. This convening will help us strengthen coordination and ensure the safety of patients, health providers and our communities.” 

From July through November 2014, Planned Parenthood California recorded 31 incidents of threats and violence. During the same time period in 2015, the reproductive health clinics recorded 179 such incidents. Incidents have included vandalism, suspicious packages, trespassing, harassment of security officers and alleged death threats against doctors.   

Today’s convening focused on improving coordination between agencies conducting investigations into incidents in their jurisdiction, identifying patterns of incidents, and sharing best practices for local law enforcement to work with clinics to ensure the safety of staff and patients.

Photos from today's event can be found below:

High-resolution copies of these images are attached to the online version of this news release at oag.ca.gov/news.

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California has joined 13 other states and the District of Columbia in signing a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision substantially restricting access to abortion services in Texas.

The brief, written by New York, and signed by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia, was filed on Monday.

“Every woman has the right to make informed choices about her health and well-being,” said Attorney General Harris. “I strongly urge the Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit ruling, which undermines both public health and a woman’s right to choose.”

Attorney General Harris and the 13 other attorneys general argued in the brief that the Fifth Circuit erred in its analysis of a Texas statute that requires all abortion clinics to comply with ambulatory surgical center standards and requires any physician performing an abortion to hold admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of the location where the procedure is performed. 

The statute has resulted in the closure of half of Texas’s clinics, and further threatens the closure of all but 9 of the 40 clinics operating before the law was passed.   As a result, many women have been left without access to abortion services and other reproductive health care.

While the law was ostensibly passed to promote women’s health, Attorney General Harris and the other signatories of the brief argue that the legislation actually undermined, rather than promoted, women’s health.  The brief also argues that a state cannot restrict access to in-state abortion services simply because the same services are available in other states.

Attorney General Harris authored a multi-state friend-of-the-court brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. in January 2014, urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling allowing for-profit companies to deny essential healthcare to female employees based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners.  In addition, in November 2013, Attorney General Harris joined a multi-state amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court in McCullen v. Coakley, supporting a Massachusetts law creating a 35-foot buffer zone around reproductive health care facilities.

In 2015, Attorney General Harris co-sponsored AB 775, the Reproductive FACT Act, to ensure women have equal access to comprehensive reproductive health care and are able to make informed choices about their health.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Brown and went into effect on January 1, 2016.  Attorney General’s office is currently defending the law in federal and state court. 

Attorney General Harris also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the First Resort, Inc. v. Herrera et al., in support of a San Francisco ordinance prohibiting limited service crisis pregnancy centers in that city from knowingly providing false or misleading information to women regarding their reproductive health.

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and the California Department of Consumer Affairs today announced the universal launch of the new Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (“CURES 2.0”), a state-of-the-art overhaul of California’s prescription drug monitoring program that will allow health providers and pharmacists to more effectively flag at-risk patients and curb prescription drug abuse.

“This innovative prescription drug database ensures that California continues to lead the fight against our country’s prescription drug abuse epidemic,” said Attorney General Harris. “Through the use of new technology, CURES 2.0 will save lives and improve public health while also providing a vastly improved user experience for healthcare professionals, regulatory boards, and law enforcement.”

Starting January 8, 2016, current CURES users logging in with up-to-date and secure web browsers will be automatically redirected to the new 2.0 system.  In anticipation of the launch, Attorney General Harris also sent a letter to members of the medical community urging them to only use secure software to access confidential and sensitive patient information.

“CURES 2.0 will give California’s healthcare professionals who prescribe and dispense potent prescription drugs a powerful tool to better access and utilize patient information to help them identify individuals who are abusing these drugs,” said Awet Kidane, Director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs. “It is a direct result of the hard work and collaboration between the Department of Justice, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the regulatory boards funding this project.”

The online CURES database enables healthcare providers to review a patient’s medication history before prescribing new drugs, storing prescription records for all controlled substances classified as Schedule II, III, and IV.  Over 5.5 million such requests have been processed so far in 2015 alone. 

In addition to providing users with faster and more reliable access to patient activity reports, the upgraded 2.0 system features cutting-edge analytics for flagging at-risk patients, allowing medical professionals to prescribe wisely and helping to prevent abuse or diversion of controlled medications such as opioids.

“CURES 2.0 is without a doubt the most effective tool for doctors and pharmacists to help curb prescription drug abuse.  Many lives will be saved in California,” said Bob Pack, a patient safety advocate.

By law, all health practitioners licensed to prescribe or dispense scheduled medications are required to sign up for CURES by July 1, 2016.  The launch of the new 2.0 system will also include the release of a new streamlined registration process, which will allow users to apply for access and verify their credentials entirely online using secure web browsers.

CURES 2.0 was implemented through Senate Bill 809, legislation authored by former California State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and sponsored by Attorney General Harris in 2013.

“The U.S. claims less than 5% of the world’s population, but consumes roughly 80% of the world’s opioid supply.  Each day, 44 people in the U.S. die from an overdose of prescription painkillers.  By launching CURES 2.0 and requiring all prescribers and pharmacists to enroll, California will be on the cutting edge of addressing this crisis.  I am proud to have authored this law in the memory of the countless sons and daughters who were lost to this epidemic.  I thank Attorney General Harris and Governor Brown for their years of work to ensure the modernization of CURES is a success,” said Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11).

To learn more about CURES 2.0, visit https://oag.ca.gov/cures-pdmp.