OxyContin abuse and addiction, and deceptive marketing

Posted by Tracy Coenen on July 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment 

Whistleblower Law Blog has a post about OxyContin abuse and the Purdue Pharma sentencing. Executives of Purdue Pharma were sentenced to probation and community service in drug treatment programs for lying about the risk of addiction and abuse with OxyContin.

The blog also points us to a site run by Ed Bisch, a father who lost his 18-year-old son to death by overdose on OxyContin in 2001. Bisch’s site, www.Oxyabusekills.com, was started the day after his son died, and its goal is to let people know how addictive OxyContin is and how easy it is to overdose.

OxyContin is a strong and long-acting narcotic that was introduced to treat severe cancer pain. Yet shortly after it was approved by the FDA, critics started complaining about how strongly addicted users can become. Critics allege that Purdue was marketing this drug to non-expert doctors (ones who didn’t know how to prescribe it properly) and that they didn’t tell the doctors about the powerful high produced by the drug or the extremely addictive properties.

Executives eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges related to deceptive marketing, and the company paid a $634 million fine.


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