The opioid package President Donald Trump signed last week garnered much

attention. While it is largely directed at treatment and prevention, it contains

several momentous provisions for those companies that manufacture, distribute or

dispense opioid medications. This article discusses a few of the more important

provisions that are anticipated to affect the pharmaceutical industry in its

interactions with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In short, the act

imposes new requirements on wholesale distributors related to handling of

controlled substances and increases penalties for failing to comply with the act and,

interestingly, imposes quite significant analytical and reporting hurdles on the Drug

Enforcement Administration and, to a lesser extent, the U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services.