Pharmaceutical Co. Gets Sued For Lying About Oxycontin!
So the doctors prescribed it a lot and now our kids are dying from addiction!
They got fined a lot, but something more should be done!
I’m so sick of companies doing things like this to make billions of dollars! That’s absolutely all they care about! And now our kids are addicts and dying from drug abuse! This just makes me so furious! I wonder if any of them have kids that got on drugs. I’m not saying I hope that for the kids, though.
Of course fining them all this money does hit them where it hurts most I guess. But they should have to be aware of what they’ve done to this country! They should have to help finance re-habs and places that can help our kids! I wonder if they even know what all they’ve done.
OxyContin is a powerful, long-acting narcotic that provides relief of serious pain for up to 12 hours. Initially, Purdue Pharma contended that OxyContin, because of its time-release formulation, posed a lower threat of abuse and addiction to patients than do traditional, shorter-acting painkillers like Percocet or Vicodin.
That claim on OxyContin became the linchpin of the most aggressive marketing campaign ever undertaken by a pharmaceutical company for a narcotic painkiller. Just a few years after the drug’s introduction in 1996, annual sales reached $1 billion. Purdue Pharma heavily promoted OxyContin to doctors like general practitioners, who often had little training in the treatment of serious pain or in recognizing signs of drug abuse in patients.
But both experienced drug abusers and novices, including teenagers, soon discovered that chewing an OxyContin tablet or crushing one and then snorting the powder or injecting it with a needle produced a high as powerful as heroin. By 2000, parts of the United States, particularly rural areas, began to see skyrocketing rates of addiction and crime related to use of the drug.
The company that markets it, Purdue Pharma and three current and former executives pleaded guilty to criminal charges that they misled regulators, doctors and patients about the drug’s risk of addiction and its potential to be abused. So they have to pay $600 million in fines and other payments, one of the largest amounts ever paid by a drug company in such a case.
They also pleaded guilty to misbranding, a felony criminal violation. So they also have to pay $34.5 million in fines. The company officials developed a fraudulent marketing campaign designed to promote OxyContin as a time-released drug that was less prone to such problems. The crucial ingredient in OxyContin is oxycodone, a narcotic that has been used for many years. But unlike other medications like Percocet that contain oxycodone along with other ingredients, OxyContin is pure oxycodone, with a large amount in each tablet because of the time-release design.
Among other things, company sales officials were allowed to draw their own fake scientific charts, which they then distributed to doctors, to support that misleading abuse-related claim, federal officials said. Between 1995 and 2001, OxyContin brought in $2.8 billion in revenue for Purdue Pharma, a closely held company based in Stamford, Conn. At one point, the drug accounted for 90 percent of the company’s sales.
Companies don’t care about people! They only care about money! This kind of thing should be stopped! Now we have our children addicted to, and over-dosing, on drugs!
What do you think about this? I can’t believe how uncaring this company is! They’ve killed our kids! I think they should have been put out of business!
I found this on the New York Times.
momndaughters
Owner at Mom 'N Daughter Savings
I am a SAHM.My youngest is 16 now.I have 5 kids in all.We've lived in Georgia now for almost four years.We moved here from Ohio for my husband's job.I love blogging and writing about my passions.I do reviews and giveaways and I try to get homeless animals new homes.
My story is also here about loving addicts, recipes, and crafts.
My story is also here about loving addicts, recipes, and crafts.
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Companies don’t care about people? Give your head a shake, idiot! Why did the FDA approved this product in the first place? Because there are hundreds of thousands of poor folks who suffer from severe pain. Cancer pain, sciatica, burn pain – an agonizing hell that no person deserves to endure.
I watched my mom suffer horribly from shingles that made her skin feel like it was on fire. Oxycontin was the only thing that allowed her to sleep at night. It brought her out of a crippling depression and not because of any euphoria. It just allowed her to get out of bed and walk down the stairs.
The company that manufactures Oxycontin cannot prescribe medications to patients – only licensed doctors can do that. And every prescription for oxycontin has a big black box warning written all over it: WARNING! HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! TAKE ONLY AS PRESCRIBED! DO NOT CRUSH! etc. If some loser snorts a line of oxy, then it’s not the manufacturer’s responsibility.
Put the shady doctors in jail and get parents secure their home prescriptions, away from their teenager’s roaming minds.
You have created such a careless post. I stumbled across it by accident and upon reading it, it’s slapdash reasoning grinds my gears. Wake up, fuckhead!
Dino Vino,
I’m very sorry to hear about your mom. I’m very glad she feels better. I found this post on the New York Times. They were sued and had to pay all that money. I’m just reporting that here. It says – In a proceeding this morning in United States District Court here, both Purdue Pharma and the three executives acknowledged that the company fraudulently marketed OxyContin for six years as a drug that was less prone to abuse, as well as one that also had fewer narcotic side effects.
Now they must have that Warning on the box. But apparently, they didn’t before. I write a lot about addiction and I’ve learned a lot about relaspse and see kids dying almost every day. So I just wanted to get this out there. I agree with you about the doctors, they should be held accountable. I hope things get better for your mother!
Jody
As a person with chronic intractable pain, I understand the need for strong painkilling drugs. However, the over-prescribing and lying are inexcusable.
Ann, I’m very sorry to hear this! I know some people do need strong painkillers! I sure hope you get better! Thank you for commenting and I hope to see you again.
Jody