The makers of the popular (many people say too popular) painkiller Oxycontin have pleaded guilty to misleading regulartors, doctors and patients about how genuinely destructive their product can be. Purdue Pharmaceutical originally patented the drug back in 1996 and it was privy to one of the biggest marketing campaigns in the history of the painkilling industry. The reason why they’ve had to admit liability and pay a $600 million dollar settlement is that the fact that they originally marketed Oxycontin as a safe alternative to Vicodin and Percocet, that was substantially less prone to be addictive.
Are you kidding me? Within four years the stuff had literally taken over rural America as the drug of choice for both experienced dope-heads and high school kids alike. The chemical compound for Oxycontin is the exact same as heroin. The only difference is that Oxycontin is never cut with anything and produces a clean, consistent high every time- something you don’t get with heroin (apparently).
“Misbranding” drugs is a federal crime. And a lengthy amount of prosecutorial disclosure has showed an extreme amount of complicity on the part of Purdue Pharmaceutical executives to deliberately cover up the destructive effects of their heroin tablets.
Granted, many people need Oxycontin after painful surgery or cancer treatments of to control the pain of terminal illness or amputation. But college kids should not be crushing these up and horking them up their noses. But no, Purdue Pharmaceutical wanted to make sure that it found its way into the medicine cabinets of regular pain sufferers. All to make a buck.
The most expensive marketing campaign in the history of painkillers produced a lot of profits and a lot of ruined lives. In the grand scheme of things, $600 million dollars seems a bit light.
