Rochester Drug Co-operative Drops Distribution of Opioids

Rochester Drug Co-operative, one of the country’s top ten drug distributors, is pulling the plug on its opioid distribution operations after running into serious legal and regulatory troubles.

Rochester noted the opioid products made up a “relatively small” portion of its total sales but involved “significant legal and compliance expenses.”

The company paid $20 million in a civil and criminal settlement to put to rest claims that its distribution practices helped fuel the nationwide opioid crisis. The agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York was over the company’s failure to properly flag and report dubious opioid orders placed by pharmacies.

“The ever-increasing expenses associated with the legal and regulatory compliance for this segment of drugs are simply not sustainable,” the company said.