Democrat vows to go after opioid makers – including daughter’s company

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) doubled down Thursday on his promise to go after companies that produce opioids, vowing to shut them down.

That would apparently include a company run by his daughter.

Manchin said in an interview with CNN that he didn’t know if Mylan Pharmaceuticals, where his daughter Heather Bresch is CEO, produces opioids. But he said if that’s the case, he would take action.

{mosads}”The bottom line is, she knows I’m ‘hot to trot’ on opioids. I don’t even know if they make opioids. If they make opioids, I’d shut everybody down,” Manchin said.

A company spokeswoman confirmed to The Hill on Thursday that the company makes “some opioids,” including a generic drug called Ultiva, which is a potent, short-acting pain reliever. The drug “has the potential for being abused,” according to the company’s website.

A spokesman for Manchin did not return a request for comment Thursday.

Manchin admitted he didn’t know much about the drug industry and said his main concern in that area is the scourge of opioid-related overdoses that have hit his home state.

This week, Manchin backed a lawsuit against the medical industry that has been brought by 29 addicts from West Virginia, who accuse “pill-pushing” doctors and pharmacists of colluding with drugmakers to boost their profits.

In a statement to The Guardian, Manchin said drugmakers are using “the same argument that the tobacco industry used” to avoid blame for the epidemic.

“It’s an epidemic because we have a business model for it. Follow the money. Look at the amount of pills they shipped into certain parts of our state. It was a business model,” he said.

Until Thursday, Manchin had stayed quiet while Bresch took a bipartisan beating on her role in the EpiPen allergy drug pricing controversy.  

Manchin weighed in Thursday to defend his daughter while also acknowledging he knew little about the issue.

“This is an industry I don’t know and markets I’m not aware of,” he said. When asked if he prepped his daughter for the House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Manchin said he did not.

“We try to keep a separation between what I do and what she does. I don’t know [the industry], I don’t profess to know it, and she knows that,” he said.