Shareholders have joined the national fight against opioid addiction and they are making progress, according to advocacy groups that are leading the fight.
The efforts are aimed primarily at the largest manufacturers and distributors of opioid drugs, which have created a health crisis in the United States. More than 72,000 drug overdose deaths occurred last year, a 10 percent increase over the previous year, and the increase is driven by the opioid crisis, the Center for Disease Control said.
A shareholder resolution designed to put pressure on Cardinal Health, a drug distributor based in Dublin, Ohio, to keep better track of its opioid distributions, was recently withdrawn after the company agreed to take the steps the shareholders demanded, said the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, one of the organizations backing the shareholder resolution.
Shareholders also are working with AmerisourceBergen, based in Chesterbrook, Pa., and the global company McKessen Medical-Surgical, the two other large distributors and manufacturers.
“Distributors and manufacturers are the ones who promote the drugs to doctors,” said Dr. Donna Meyer, director of shareholder advocacy at Mercy Investment Services, the socially responsible asset management program for the Sisters of Mercy and its ministries. “That is why we are talking to them. We do not want them to use their sales forces to push the drugs to doctors. We want them to better oversee the use of opioids and report suspected overuse to the Drug Enforcement Agency.”
Cardinal Health worked with shareholders and met their demands, said Meyer, and the shareholder resolution was withdrawn.
“Investors found the engagement with Cardinal Health to be very constructive and we were gratified to see nearly all our concerns addressed. Cardinal’s comprehensive response, which included the development of public webpages, provides an excellent model for the level of board oversight we believe is necessary to mitigate the high risks associated with these medicines,” Meyer said.
Mercy Investment Services and the United Auto Workers Retiree Medical Benefits Trust are the two leading organizations in the Investors for Opioid Accountability, which is working to make changes in opioid accountability. The Investors for Opioid Accountability also includes a coalition of state treasurers, asset managers and faith-based, public and labor funds with more than $2.2 trillion in assets.
Meredith Miller, a spokeswoman for the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust and co-leader of the Investors for Opioid Accountability, added in a statement, “The Investors for Opioid Accountability believes that good corporate governance practices that traditionally serve as risk mitigators are critical to implement [reforms] going forward. Such provisions aim to increase board accountability through strengthened independent board leadership and compensation policies to deter misconduct.”