Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused - NY Times (2018)

[Melanie]

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Company officials had received reports that the pills were being crushed and snorted; stolen from pharmacies; and that some doctors were being charged with selling prescriptions, according to dozens of previously undisclosed documents that offer a detailed look inside Purdue Pharma. But the drug maker continued “in the face of this knowledge” to market OxyContin as less prone to abuse and addiction than other prescription opioids, prosecutors wrote in 2006.

In 2007, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to a felony charge of “misbranding” OxyContin while marketing the drug by misrepresenting, among other things, its risk of addiction and potential to be abused. Three executives — the company’s chief executive, Michael Friedman; its top medical officer, Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim; and Mr. Udell, who died in 2013 — each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor “misbranding” charge that solely held them liable as Purdue Pharma’s “responsible” executives and did not accuse them of wrongdoing. The company and the executives paid a combined $634.5 million in fines and the men were required to perform community service.

When the Food and Drug Administration approved OxyContin in late 1995, the agency permitted Purdue Pharma to make a unique claim for it — that its long-acting formulation was “believed to reduce” its appeal to drug abusers compared with shorter-acting painkillers like Percocet and Vicodin.

The F.D.A. decision was not based on findings from clinical trials, but a theory that drug abusers favored shorter-acting painkillers because the narcotic they contained was released faster and so produced a quicker “hit.”

Purdue Pharma viewed the agency’s decision as “so valuable” that it could serve as OxyContin’s “principal selling tool,” an internal 1995 company report shows. The drugmaker admitted in 2007, when confronted with evidence gathered by prosecutors, that it trained sales representative to tell doctors that OxyContin was less addictive and prone to abuse than competing opioids, claims beyond the one approved by the F.D.A.

My cousin's wife, who beat alcoholism and drug addiction, was put on OxyContin for her chronic back pain. She explained to them her history and they said she would not become addicted to it as it was formulated differently. Anyway, you know what happened and it was a nightmare for her to recover from it. She lived near Boston where it was pushed hard.

 

[Solstice]

In an ideal world governments, big pharma, scientists and doctors would all be working towards curing people. In an ideal world like that most diseases would've already been solved I reckoned. Alas we're left with people who care more about money and reputation than they do about making the world just a bit better.