As required by the “SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act” (Public Law 115-217), DEA just announced that it has implemented a new tool to provide drug manufacturers and distributors with access to anonymized ARCOS information.
This an enhancement to DEA’s existing tool that previously provided very limited ARCOS information. The new functionality in the tool “will allow DEA-registered manufacturers and distributors to view and download the number of distributors and the amount (anonymized data in both grams and dosage units) each distributor sold to a prospective customer in the last available six months of data.”
DEA’s expectation is that the tool will be used to assist registrants with detecting and reporting suspicious orders and to fulfill their “know your customer” obligations. As an example, DEA indicates “if a query resulted in a large number of suppliers who have recently sold unusual quantities of opioid analgesics to a prospective purchaser, this may represent a “red flag” to the new distributor and foster a dialogue between that distributor and the pharmacy.”