For the pharmaceutical industry, most have
focused on the crisis of the patent cliffhanger: the loss of more than $30 billion in revenue due to patent expiration of prescription drugs once dubbed “blockbusters.”

However, a greater crisis awaits - one that impacts not only a company’s bottom-line, but also a pharmaceutical company’s greatest asset: its corporate reputation. Companies must brace themselves to handle the industry’s role in combating the prescription drug abuse epidemic.

While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drug overdoses are an exception. And, opioids seem to bear the brunt of the blame. A 2011 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that most drug-related deaths were not the result of illicit drugs, such as heroin or cocaine, but instead were the result of prescription pain medicines, mainly opioids.  Inappropriate use of opioids caused nearly 342,000 emergency department visits in 2009, according to government figures. The drugs were blamed for 16,000 deaths that year, up from 14,800 in 2008.