Full Lawsuit Against Purdue Pharma Released, Revealing Deliberations About Expanding Into Addiction Treatment
The details on how the company wanted to capitalize on the opioid crisis, how much the family that controls Purdue and company executives were paid, how the company marketed its painkiller and more were revealed when the Massachusetts attorney general’s office on Thursday made public a full copy of its lawsuit against Purdue Pharma. In other news, doctors continue to testify at the trial against Insys, a company that makes the fentanyl spray Subsys. And President Donald Trump released a wide-ranging annual report that outlines the government’s approach to policing illegal drugs.
Stat:
Massachusetts Releases Its Full Lawsuit Against Purdue Pharma
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office on Thursday made public a full copy of its lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, which it accuses of igniting the opioid epidemic through the deceptive marketing of its painkillers, including OxyContin. The court filing details how the company considered expanding into addiction treatment, how much the Sackler family that controls Purdue and company executives were paid, and how the company was advised by McKinsey & Co. to improve its image in the face of concerns about addiction and overdoses. (Joseph, 1/31)
The New York Times:
Sackler Scion’s Email Reveals Push For High-Dose OxyContin, New Lawsuit Disclosures Claim
A member of the Sackler family that owns OxyContin’s maker directed the company to put a premium on selling high dosages of its potentially addicting painkillers, according to new disclosures in a lawsuit. Richard Sackler, a son of a founder of Purdue Pharma and its onetime president, told company officials in 2008 to “measure our performance by Rx’s by strength, giving higher measures to higher strengths,” according to an email written by Mr. Sackler, contained in the filing. The lawsuit, which was filed in June by the Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, claims that Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family knew that putting patients on high dosages of OxyContin for long periods increased the risks of serious side effects, including addiction. (Meier, 1/31)
ProPublica:
OxyContin Maker Explored Expansion Into “Attractive” Anti-Addiction Market
Not content with billions of dollars in profits from the potent painkiller OxyContin, its maker explored expanding into an “attractive market” fueled by the drug’s popularity — treatment of opioid addiction, according to previously secret passages in a court document filed by the state of Massachusetts. In internal correspondence beginning in 2014, Purdue Pharma executives discussed how the sale of opioids and the treatment of opioid addiction are “naturally linked” and that the company should expand across “the pain and addiction spectrum,” according to redacted sections of the lawsuit by the Massachusetts attorney general. (Armstrong, 1/31)
Bloomberg:
Insys Trial: Greed And Lust Drove Doctor To Push Opioids
A Michigan doctor convicted of illegally distributing Insys Therapeutics Inc.’s opioid painkiller Subsys said the company’s beautiful sales reps and “easy money’’ helped persuade him to write unnecessary prescriptions for the highly addictive drug. Gavin Awerbuch told a Boston jury Wednesday he made more than $130,000 over 18 months just for showing up to sham educational sessions. Earlier this week, the jury heard that a former sales manager at Insys had been a stripper who once wooed a Chicago doctor with a lap dance. (Feeley and Lawrence, 1/31)
Stat:
Trump Administration Unveils Drug Strategy Document After Lengthy Delay
The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a strategic planning document two years in the making: the National Drug Control Strategy, traditionally a wide-ranging annual report that outlines the government’s approach to policing illegal drugs, reducing drug demand, and treating addiction. Though President Trump pledged to make the opioid crisis a top priority after assuming office, the Office of National Drug Control Policy did not release an equivalent document after his first year in office, as is customary. (Facher, 1/31)
In other news on the epidemic —
Reuters:
Largest-Ever U.S. Border Seizure Of Fentanyl Made In Arizona: Officials
U.S. border agents have seized 254 pounds (115 kg) of fentanyl that was stashed in a truck crossing into Arizona from Mexico, marking the largest single bust of the powerful opioid ever made at an American border checkpoint, officials said on Thursday. The 26-year-old Mexican driver of a cucumber-toting tractor trailer was arrested after agents on Saturday at the border station in Nogales discovered the fentanyl in a secret compartment, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said. (1/31)
The Associated Press:
Hospital, Doc Face 9th Suit Over Patient Deaths, Drug Doses
A new wrongful-death lawsuit alleges an Ohio hospital patient was given a lethal painkiller overdose weeks after concern was raised about the doctor who ordered the medication. It's the ninth lawsuit against the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System, now-fired Dr. William Husel (HYOO'-suhl), and pharmacists and nurses accused of wrongly approving and administering the drugs. (1/31)
KQED:
Orange County's Only Needle Exchange Continues Fight To Reopen
The only needle exchange in Orange County, a mobile unit that was sidelined by a judge in November, is fighting in court to continue offering its services. The Orange County Needle Exchange Program (OCNEP) filed an appeal with a San Diego County Superior Court judge last week, seeking to resume operations. (Wiley, 1/31)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Amid An Opioid Epidemic, New Orleans Struggles With Shortage Of Detox Beds
hile ER doctors can help save the lives of people suffering the most painful and deadly withdrawal symptoms, it’s often a short-term fix. The best alternative is treatment in detox-specific programs, designed to manage the most acute and potentially dangerous physical effects of stopping drug use and transition patients into long-term addiction recovery. But there are only 155 medical detox beds in four facilities in all of Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Tammany Parishes, despite a growing number of drug related overdose deaths in recent years in the area. (Clark, 1/31)
MPR:
Preparing To Return To Work, After A Life Derailed By Drugs
Among many studies of how different programs help recover addicts, there have few been about whether drug treatment is more successful when paired with a job, said Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Professor August Holtyn. But it makes sense that jobs and housing could be factors in people's successful recovery. (Collins, 2/1)
