Oxycotin Ruled Addictive, Drug Makers Fined For Misleading Public

By Author: Mark Ramirez
Total Articles: 18
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Last Friday, U.S. District Judge James Jones ordered Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of OxyContin, to pay $634.5 million in fines for misleading the public about the addictiveness of the painkiller.

According to the AP, Judge James Jones levied the fine on Purdue, its top lawyer and former president and former chief medical officer after a hearing that lasted about three-and-a-half hours. The hearing included statements by numerous people who said their lives were changed forever by addiction to OxyContin, a trade name for a long-acting form of the painkiller oxycodone.

The pill was designed to be digested throughout a users system over a 12 hour period, but when crushed up, snorted, or injected, the painkiller produces a heroin like high.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency stated in a report that from 1996 to 2001, the number of oxycodone-related deaths nationwide increased fivefold while the annual number of OxyContin prescriptions increased nearly 20-fold.

Michael Friedman, who retired in June as Purdue's president, general counsel Howard Udell and former chief medical officer Paul Goldenheim were ...
... each found guilty of a misdemeanor account of misbranding the painkiller. 34.5 million of the total fine was directed towards those three.

The judge also placed the company on probation for 5 years and each individual on probation for 3 years. He also ordered the three to perform 400 hours of community service related to prevention of prescription drug abuse.

Former New York mayor and Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani negotiated with federal prosecutors on behalf of the Purdue. Judge Jones however denies any allegations that Giuliani had any influence in lessening the judges ruling.

Some, such as former OxyContin addict Robert Palmisano, were disappointed with the ruling and hoped the officials would receive some jail time. Money can't buy all the lives that are lost, Palmisano said.

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