OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to plead to 3 criminal charges

Oct 21, 2020
The drugmaker will also pay a settlement of more than $8 billion, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
OxyContin is displayed at a drugstore in Brookline, Massachusetts.
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Companies reach $260 million deal to settle opioids lawsuit

Oct 21, 2019
The nation’s three dominant drug distributors and a big drugmaker have reached a $260 million deal to settle an opioid crisis lawsuit just as the first federal trial over the crisis was due to begin.
Pill Man, a skeleton made from Frank Huntley's oxycontin and methadone prescription bottles, is seen on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House August 30, 2019, in Washington, DC.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Would a $10 billion Purdue settlement reach towns affected by the opioid crisis?

Aug 28, 2019
A proposed settlement would reportedly see the OxyContin maker declaring bankruptcy and paying big. Is that enough for people on the ground?
A homemade sign says "Think drugs gets you high give God a try," on a front lawn in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The town in Wise County has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.
Julia Rendleman/Marketplace

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to stop marketing opioids to doctors

Purdue’s promotions exaggerated the drug’s safety and risks of addiction, leaning heavily on one sentence used by sales reps to market the drug to doctors.
The prescription medicine OxyContin is displayed Aug. 21, 2001 at a Walgreens drugstore.
Darren McCollester/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

How one sentence helped set off the opioid crisis

Dec 13, 2017
Recently unsealed documents shed light on how the maker of OxyContin seems to have relied more on focus groups than on scientific studies to create an aggressive and misleading marketing campaign that helped fuel the national opioid epidemic.
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OxyContin's waiting game: Generic drug makers salivate while the FDA wants safer pills

Apr 16, 2013
OxyContin is supposed to come off patent and generic drug makers are excited. But, the FDA may put a stop to it all to wait for safer pills.