Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
ri[t; <br />Consolidated Orders System ( ARCOS) database.4 This database contains monthly reports from <br />each wholesale distributor and documents the number of doses of each controlled substance sold <br />to every pharmacy on a monthly basis. <br />The wholesale distributors were required to monitor this data for suspicious orders. When <br />"suspicious orders" were identified based on this regularly reported data, the wholesale <br />distributors were required to halt shipment, perform an on -site investigation, determine whether a <br />risk of diversion is present, and, if so, report directly to the relevant authorities, including the <br />DEA. "Suspicious orders" are defined by guidance letters provided by the DEA as well as <br />corporate policies and industrial practices, and federal law, which further define the term. For <br />instance, any pharmacy order which exceeds 10% of the prior month's order would be <br />considered a "suspicious order." 5 <br />The information in the ARCOS database is confidential. The public has never seen the <br />data related to the volume of prescription opiates distributed in each community. That changed <br />when a journalist from the Charleston Gazette gained access to records sealed in a lawsuit filed <br />by the West Virginia Attorney General against the wholesale distributors. The data revealed that <br />780 million prescription opiates were distributed in West Virginia (population 1.8 million) <br />during a six -year window of time. The journalist, Eric Eyre, recently won the Pulitzer Prize for <br />his investigative journalism. <br />North Carolina's governmental entities have the ability through local law enforcement <br />and cooperation with the DEA to seek and obtain historical ARCOS data. Because this <br />4 See United States v. Four Hundred Sixty Three Thousand Four Hundred Ninety Seven Dollars <br />& Seventy Two Cents ($463,497.72) in U.S. Currency From Best Bank Account, 779 F. Supp. 2d <br />696, 709 (E.D. Mich. 2011). <br />5 See Southwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 72 FR 36487 (2007); Cardinal Health, Inc. v. Holder, <br />846 F. Supp. 2d 203 (D.D.C. 2012). <br />North Carolina County Opioid Litigation - Privileged and Confidential 7 <br />