Big Pharma knowingly created prescription drug epidemic and raked in billions: report

[Rockingchaircat]

An  investigation by the Los Angeles Times has revealed that the pharmaceutical company that sells the opiate painkiller OxyContin knew the drug was highly addictive — but pushed it anyway.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/big-pharma-knowingly-created-prescription-drug-epidemic-and-raked-in-billions-report/

 

Purdue Pharma began producing the pills two decades ago, claiming that it relieved severe, chronic pain for 12 continuous hours — more twice the time of generic drugs. Representatives of the drug’s maker promised doctors that patients would only have to take two pills a day for 24-hour pain relief.

But it wasn’t true, and Purdue knew it, the Times reveals.

The results were excruciating and devastating. OxyContin wears off hours early in many patients, and along with their underlying pain returning, they also suffer the additional complication of drug withdrawal symptoms.

------------

Deja Vu.

[nz11]

^{Thanks for posting ....i just learned what this drug OxyContin is....the 'chemical cousin' of heroin....wow!}

.........................,,.............

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times has revealed that the pharmaceutical company that sells the opiate painkiller OxyContin knew the drug was highly addictive — but pushed it anyway.

 

Purdue Pharma began the pills two decades ago, claiming that it relieved severe, chronic pain for 12 continuous hours — more twice the time of generic drugs. Representatives of the drug’s maker promised doctors that patients would only have to take two pills a day for 24-hour pain relief.

But it wasn’t true, and Purdue knew it, the Times reveals.

 

The results were excruciating and devastating. OxyContin wears off hours early in many patients, and along with their underlying pain returning, they also suffer the additional complication of drug withdrawal symptoms.

OxyContin is described by the Times as a “chemical cousin” of heroin, and patients who depend on it also experience an intense craving for the drug when it wears off early.

 

The Times obtained thousands of pages of confidential Purdue documents and learned company executives have known about the problem for decades. [same old same old!!]

 

“Even before OxyContin went on the market, clinical trials showed many patients weren’t getting 12 hours of relief. Since the drug’s debut in 1996, the company has been confronted with additional evidence, including complaints from doctors, reports from its own sales reps and independent research,” the Times reports.

 

And even more damning, “The company has held fast to the claim of 12-hour relief, in part to protect its revenue. OxyContin’s market dominance and its high price — up to hundreds of dollars per bottle — hinge on its 12-hour duration. Without that, it offers little advantage over less expensive painkillers.”

 

The company achieved market dominance and a high asking price per bottle, but it was all hinged on the claim that the drug relieved pain for 12 hours. It became the country’s best-selling pain killer, reaping a massive $31 billion in revenue.

 

But because the drug was failing to last the promised 12 hours in many patients, doctors began prescribing it at shorter intervals — resulting in something of a company panic. Purdue reps were mobilized and one manager urged her team to put the kibash on the trend,  saying the shorter prescription time interval “needs to be nipped in the bud. NOW!!” according to documents reviewed by the paper.

 

Company reps urged doctors to prescribe higher doses of OxyContin as opposed to shorter intervals — but that creates a higher risk of overdose and death, the Times reports.

 

Data reviewed by the paper reveals that more than half long-term patients are on dangerously-high doses.

The results of this have been dire on a broad scale. As the Times points out, OxyContin is widely viewed as being responsible for setting off the nation’s prescription opioid epidemic, which has claimed roughly 190,000 lives since 1999.

 

The painstaking Times report involves internal Purdue documents spanning three decades, from court cases and government investigations. Journalists also interviewed experts on pain treatment, prescription medication addiction and pharmacology.

 

One patient, who spoke on the record, began taking OxyContin to deal with chronic back pain from being thrown from a horse at age 14. She experienced the very symptoms the report described.

 

For the first two or three hours, she experienced some relief — but when the drug wore off, it was a nightmare.

“I was watching the clock. ‘What time is it? Oh, God, I have to medicate.’ My whole nervous system is on red alert,” she told the paper. “You want a description of hell? I can give it to you.”

......................//....................................

Does anything ever get done about these revelations....no never....talk about the 'bystander effect'

 

 

And KB describes getting off ads as worse than oxycontin.....

“[sSRI] withdrawal I would argue is potentially the worst of all chemical withdrawals, I cannot think of a chemical on earth that is more challenging to come off of, I have patients in my practice that I taper off by one thousandth of a milligram a month. I have never heard of someone struggling to come off of heroin or oxycontin at this rate. I have never heard of anything comparable to this. It is so disabling that patients develop neurologic symptoms, they develop cataclysmic mood syndromes, they develop impulsivity and violence totally out of character for them. It’s pretty terrifying."(Brogan 2016).

[nz11]

oh my goodness look at this quote from the longer article.....

 

Rates of addiction and overdose have soared alongside the rise in prescriptions. News coverage of these problems in Appalachia and New England in the late 1990s made OxyContin notorious. Purdue dispatched representatives to Virginia, Maine and elsewhere to defend its drug. They blamed misuse of OxyContin and insisted their pill was a godsend for pain sufferers when taken as directed.

 

“A lot of these people say, ‘Well, I was taking the medicine like my doctor told me to,’ and then they start taking them more and more and more,”

Purdue senior medical director, Dr. J. David Haddox, told a reporter in 2001. “I don’t see where that’s my problem.” [wt heck!..]

 

The U.S. Justice Dept. launched a criminal investigation, and in 2007 the company and three top executives pleaded guilty to fraud for downplaying OxyContin’s risk of addiction. Purdue and the executives were ordered to pay $635 million. The case centered on elements of Purdue’s marketing campaign that suggested to doctors that OxyContin was less addictive than other painkillers.

 

[i guess its 635 m from petty cash then business as usual right].

[LexAnger]

Hi NZ, where did you find this text', I want to share the whole thing with my friends and family for a better understanding.

 

And KB describes getting off ads as worse than oxycontin.....

“[sSRI] withdrawal I would argue is potentially the worst of all chemical withdrawals, I cannot think of a chemical on earth that is more challenging to come off of, I have patients in my practice that I taper off by one thousandth of a milligram a month. I have never heard of someone struggling to come off of heroin or oxycontin at this rate. I have never heard of anything comparable to this. It is so disabling that patients develop neurologic symptoms, they develop cataclysmic mood syndromes, they develop impulsivity and violence totally out of character for them. It’s pretty terrifying."(Brogan 2016).

[nz11]

Are you referring to the Brogan quote i have taken it from the audio radio interview ...i think i put it in my intro..or try the thread about her book..

i'll see if i can find it for you if you cant track it down.

 

just did a google and got it immediatley...from memory i got it from here.

http://seancroxton.com/008-kelly-brogan/

 

 

Later just listened to it again ..i can tell you it is said at 39.25 mins....oops i got a couple of words wrong she said its ;pretty horrifying' not terrifying....oh well close enough...i will change my notes.

[LexAnger]

Thanks a lot, NZ!

[Area1255]

Yeah, stuff like oxycodone, makes ya wonder. How many backroom deals are there with other organizations, then prisons profit off of organized crime repercussions and lock-ups.

[HalfPerson]

It's just incredibly annoying to know that the negative effects of big pharma are so covert and insidious when put into comparison with illegal drugs.

 

Heroin, we KNOW to be a bad drug (good at what it's supposed to do but BAAAAAD). We know all about it, we are told all about it.

 

Fluoroquinolones?? SSRIs??? Statins???

 

They're all 'good' drugs.

[btdt]

oh my goodness look at this quote from the longer article.....

 

Rates of addiction and overdose have soared alongside the rise in prescriptions. News coverage of these problems in Appalachia and New England in the late 1990s made OxyContin notorious. Purdue dispatched representatives to Virginia, Maine and elsewhere to defend its drug. They blamed misuse of OxyContin and insisted their pill was a godsend for pain sufferers when taken as directed.

 

“A lot of these people say, ‘Well, I was taking the medicine like my doctor told me to,’ and then they start taking them more and more and more,”

Purdue senior medical director, Dr. J. David Haddox, told a reporter in 2001. “I don’t see where that’s my problem.” [wt heck!..]

 

The U.S. Justice Dept. launched a criminal investigation, and in 2007 the company and three top executives pleaded guilty to fraud for downplaying OxyContin’s risk of addiction. Purdue and the executives were ordered to pay $635 million. The case centered on elements of Purdue’s marketing campaign that suggested to doctors that OxyContin was less addictive than other painkillers.

 

[i guess its 635 m from petty cash then business as usual right].

 

I have watched this play out.  My sister who died recently ya it still seems recent to me.  She was addicted had the wd and the pain return doctors she had could not explain all her symptoms I see it all now.  All too late. I would like to know when they knew the drug wore off before the 12 hour window... not like it matters now but I assume that will be the next court case or maybe it has already paid for that one too. 

 

This is a repeat of what happens business as usual... people die the pull the drug pay some money ... dirty dealings are found out they pay some money.... the money then pay  I have read is budgeted for as they know ahead of time...lawyers are on staff and have had plenty of experience to hone their skills ...lobiest too are on staff to steer the law makers in directions favourable to pharma... employees at the FDA who decide what drug gets passed are the same people who work for pharma it is a revolving door... pass a drug get a cushy pharma job... work for pharma get a top job at the FDA.  

 

Corruption is ingrained at this point and once again I will talk about effexor activist... how hopeful they were when Obama got in... as they worked his campaign in hope he would clean this up... naive maybe.  The night he won there was a message one time on tv stating the FDA was being overhauled or closed down ..something to that effect... sorry my memory sucks... I was watching closely as an old member of EA I was getting a heads up.  One announcement and that was the end of it.  I for one think this is the top of the iceberg but what do I know it is my gut feeling. It comes from reading countless books and articles for almost a decade. It was devastating to me when I first came to the realization that we could not trust those delivering our health care... I was not thinking to well then either and I said they will get us all in the end.. and they will...sooner or later we all die in a hosp ... most of us. This is a very personal thing that has been many times removed from personal choice because we don't know.. we don't know so much as medicine becomes more complex and the systems surrounding it including pharma are far removed from our common understanding. 

 

I read a pharma post once to a wd person that said nobody made you take the pill.... like the quote above “I don’t see where that’s my problem.”  Both bring home this one fact pharma is a business they exist to make money that is it... not to care for human life not to train doctors or necessarily tell the truth but they pass themselves off as something else they work both sides of the game... we know this know and we need to be very careful about what drugs go into our bodies... that is about the best we can do in all this. mho 

 

Trying to convince anyone else who has not been burned by this process is such a huge struggle especially when the drugs are needed and the proof of the drugs on patent is far from accessible ... loved ones will take the drug trust the doctors and may very well self destruct in front of our eyes.  I am doing this now it is a bit like walking on glass while you hold your breath watching carefully and juggling. 

 

Most people know nothing about any of this an article in the paper they read once a years is not very interesting given how hectic and media drenched lives are today... they don't get it. 

 

One more thing 

 

The U.S. Justice Dept. launched a criminal investigation, and in 2007 the company and three top executives pleaded guilty to fraud for downplaying OxyContin’s risk of addiction. Purdue and the executives were ordered to pay $635 million

 

Where does this money go... to the people injured?  Don't hold your breath waiting for a national drug withdrawal program for people addicted to oxy... that is my guess.  Tho I don't know what becomes of the money I think somebody should ask. 

 

​The fines tho they are big numbers for us are a pittance compared to what these companies make... one pharma exc makes 40 million a year... every year... I am sure the company paid this fine not the excs They are making billions ... hard concept for me as I am not good with numbers anymore but even I know millions to billions is not a big deal... paying 50 cents if I have ten thousand dollars is not much is it. 

 

A bit about what they make... if anyone cares. 

 

It’s not every day a drug manufacturer makes the Forbes list of “America’s Richest Families” on the back of the legal narcotics market. But when you’re the one holding the patent on OxyContin — a drug Americans seemingly can’t get enough of — well, you might just find yourself the sixteenth most wealthy family on a planet of 7.1 billion people.

Meet the Sackler family.

Forbes.com

Family owned and operated, Purdue Pharma struck narcotic gold. Not many companies can boast a product whose sales increased 2000 percent in five years, but the Sacklers can do just that. In 1995, the year after receiving FDA approval, OxyContin accounted for $45 million in sales. By 2000, sales increased to $1.4 billion.

Once again, that’s billion with a “B.”

In 2010, thanks to the efforts of three brothers from Brooklyn, OxyContin took control of 30 percent of the United States painkiller market, accounting for $3.1 billion in sales.

 

the rest of the article is here

https://addictionunscripted.com/kingpinsoxycontin-heroin-and-the-sackler-sinaloa-connection/

[btdt]

It's just incredibly annoying to know that the negative effects of big pharma are so covert and insidious when put into comparison with illegal drugs.

 

Heroin, we KNOW to be a bad drug (good at what it's supposed to do but BAAAAAD). We know all about it, we are told all about it.

 

Fluoroquinolones?? SSRIs??? Statins???

 

They're all 'good' drugs.

I said that once when I had a SAR to prozac if I had taken acid or LSD or any psychedelic drug I would have known prozac caused by bad trip... but I was a virgin and did not even know it was possible for a drug a legal drug to cause such issues for a human... I thought I had gone mad. Nobody told me any different.

 

Others who had experience with people on drugs my bf mother knew about such things from living in the sixties with some drug people... her first question when she seen me post prozac use was what drug have you taken. I told her just an new antiinflammatory for pain... lol she knew better but could not prove it ... I feel so stupid or tricked now.  Live and learn.  

 

For me this does not open the door to say illegal drugs are fine to use we know as much about them as we do about pharma drugs.... and there is not control over the making of it... mind you I have a friend of a friend who works in a drug production plant who said the place was closed down cause of a problem .. for a long time it was closed and I bet it happens more then we know.  Drugs being made were made wrong... bet nobody ever hears of that either. 

 

It would be good to know we could have some confidence in all drugs but we can't some are ok some are not... when we need them they have us all by the short hair... cause we let them. They are not going to give up or reform... and we can't make them as the will is not there.  

 

What we can do is watch what we put in our mouths and that is all... vote with your wallet. If this movement gets big enough to reach pharma where they live ... the wallet that is the only this they will ever respond to... imho

Yes I realize this will probably never happen... I am not that much of a dreamer. Other option increase the fines to something that hurts them more to cheat than to play right. If you read Glenmullens books this is all part of it... I am sure he has some ideas to make this better.... but he says last stage marketing takes up to 30 years to find out about a drug.. at least.. look for old drugs if you need one if you can they may be safer...Some people are needed to do this last study and yes it has been all of us... we are the market research I will bet dollars to donuts there are no pharma family members in these post market drug trials.

peace all

[HalfPerson]

Oh, I'm not saying that we should open the doors to illegal drugs, just that there is a wealth of education about them that far supersedes our education about many Big Pharma meds.

 

With Big Pharma meds...all the bad stuff is kept in the closet because sales are more important than lives.

[vincent]

This 2021 series on Oxicontin and Purdue is very informative on how big pharma works

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/08/dopesick-trailer-hulu-michael-keaton-series-1234656379/amp/

[ChessieCat]

@vincent

 

And these from Gwen Olsen, who was a pharmaceutical representative for 15 years.

 

I am not sure if it was in one of these videos or in her book, but Gwen told about a meeting that was held to tell the pharma reps about a new drug.  This drug had a known side effect and Gwen was very concerned about it and spoke up with her concern.  The response was something like we will find a drug to treat that.

 

Interview:  Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher (51 minutes Gwen Olsen - ex pharmaceutical representative)
 

Video:  Ex-Big Pharma Rep:  We’re Trained To Misinform -The Drugs ARE Dangerous (6 minute video)
 

Video:  Ex-Big Pharma Rep:  Manipulating Doctors to Sell More Drugs (10 minute video)

[vincent]

@ChessieCat

 

Thanks for the links. Powerful.

 

Let's hope that Dopesick reaches more people and wakes them up to what is going on.

Here is an imdb link,  apparently based on a book by Beth Macy

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9174558/

 

[vincent]

Is there a dedicated thread on the big pharma fraud on SSRIs and possible litigation?