Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said that Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:TEVA) is “stonewalling” a Senate probe into the the role that opioid manufacturers have in the nation’s opioid crisis.
In the senator’s initial inquiries with the generic drugmaker, McCaskill requested an array of documents detailing arrangements between Teva and its customers, as well as internal reviews of pharmacies and other buyers.
Instead, Teva has reportedly given the senator a general overview of the systems it has developed for identifying suspicious opioid orders from pharmacies and other customers.
“Teva’s refusal to cooperate with congressional requests strongly suggests they have something to hide. I’d hope that everyone involved or associated with the company takes note that they’re dealing with an entity that’s stonewalling a Senate investigation examining a national public health crisis,” McCaskill said in prepared remarks.
“Teva has been an outlier throughout our investigation, and they can rest assured that I’ll continue to pursue every possible avenue to get them to comply for as long as it takes.” she added.
Teva insisted that it’s cooperating with the Senate investigation, but added that it has “a responsibility to undertake this cooperation in a way that will protect its most important stakeholders – its patients – as well as its employees, including those many who reside in your home state of Missouri,” according to The Hill.
