Local News
Medicaid Formulary Needs To Include New Drugs To Combat Opioid Addiction
An Appleton native and former senior aide in the U.S. House of Representatives during the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act says Wisconsin needs to update its Medicaid Formulary to include new drugs for opioid addiction treatment. Mattie Duppler says Suboxone was found to be effective, but because it is dispensed in dissolvable film strips it has been easily smuggled into prisons. She says Corrections officials have found it stuck to the back of stamps mailed to inmates and put in the adhesive of the pages of books. She says a drug called buprenorphine has been found to be effective, but makers of Suboxone have manipulated their patent protection to exclude competition. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel leads a lawsuit with 36 other attorneys general trying to break that “chokehold.” She says in the meantime the state should change its Medicaid Formulary to allow new forms of buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction. Duppler says the Wisconsin Medicaid Prior Authorization Advisory Committee will have a hearing at the State Capitol on May 10th and that is the time to speak up.