OxyContin maker pleads guilty
WASHINGTON – The manufacturer of the potent painkiller OxyContin and three current and former executives at the company Thursday pleaded guilty to falsely marketing the drug in a way that played down its addictive properties and caused scores of people to become addicted, prosecutors said.
The Purdue Frederick Co. and its chief executive, top lawyer, and former medical chief agreed to pay a total of $635 million to resolve charges filed by the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Virginia, who called OxyContin “one of our nation’s greatest prescription-drug failures.”
“Even in the face of warnings from health care professionals, the media and members of its own sales force … Purdue continued to push a fraudulent marketing campaign,” U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said.
The drugmaker knew as early as 1995 that health professionals feared the addictive potential of OxyContin, an opium derivative, but looked the other way, according to court papers. From 1996 to 2001, Purdue claimed that the “miracle drug” was safer than rival medications despite repeated studies that suggested patients had developed a risk of abuse and had serious trouble withdrawing from OxyContin. Purdue collected $2.8 billion through sales of OxyContin during that time, court papers said.
In one instance, supervisors decided against sharing information about difficult OxyContin withdrawal out of fear that it would “add to the current negative press,” according to documents presented in an Abingdon, Va., courtroom Thursday.
“Purdue put its desire to sell OxyContin above the interests of the public,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler said.
OxyContin, the trade name for oxycodone, is a time-released pill that when crushed and ingested gives users a powerful high. The medication was designed as a less dangerous alternative to morphine for people with cancer and chronic pain. But it has proved deadly for consumers and vexing for law enforcement officials, who bemoan the rise in home burglaries and pharmacy break-ins connected to the spread of a drug sometimes called “hillbilly heroin.”
Under the terms of the plea deal, Purdue pleaded guilty to a single felony count and agreed to pay $470 million to the government and $130 million more to settle civil claims over injuries and deaths.
Purdue chief executive Michael Friedman, chief legal officer Howard R. Udell and former head of research Paul D. Goldenheim each pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge. The men, who will not serve prison time, together will pay about $35 million under the terms of the agreement. Friedman and Udell remain with the company, which is based in Stamford, Conn., while Goldenheim works with health care start-up businesses, Purdue said.