Purdue Pharma is one of the largest privately owned pharmaceutical companies in the world. The company is based in Stamford, CT and employs approximately 3000 people across the U.S. It is dominated by the wealthy Sackler family who bought the company in 1952.

Purdue's Cash Cow: OxyContin

OxyContin was developed and is manufactured by Purdue Pharma. 75% of Purdue Pharma's total sales are derived from OxyContin. OxyContin garnered $25 million in sales its first year on the market in 1995 and sales last year reached $1.9 billion. According to the GAO, OxyContin is the most frequently prescribed brand name narcotic in America. OxyContin prescriptions have skyrocketed from just three hundred thousand a few years ago to more than 7 million.

Aggressive Marketing

Beginning with OxyContin's introduction to the marketplace, Purdue Pharma instituted an aggressive marketing plan. They sent doctors on junkets to resorts in Florida, Arizona, and California. The company tried to exploit the notion that pain was being severely under treated in the US. Sales reps were instructed to tell doctors that the drug was virtually non-addictive. Some who worked for Purdue say profits were pushed over medical prudence. "The company was all about the bottom dollar. Sell OxyContin. Period," Karen White, a former Purdue sales representative told ABC News last October. Former DEA head Asa Hutchinson told Congress in 2001 that, "the disproportionate abuse of OxyContin is due, in part, to aggressive marketing and promotion by Purdue Pharma, who represented the product as having a lower abuse potential than other opiate pain relievers. Purdue Pharma accentuated the problem by suggesting that physicians prescribe OxyContin as a substitute for a variety of less addictive existing medications."

The Blame Game: Abuse and Diversion

Despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary, Purdue Pharma has refused to acknowledge OxyContin's addictive potential. Instead the company has tried to keep the focus on issues related to drug abuse — overdoses, pharmacy robberies, and unscrupulous doctors operating "pill mills." Clearly, Purdue Pharma would prefer that everyone believe the OxyContin "problem" is being caused by street criminals and not its manufacturer. They have never acknowledged that patients can become addicted to the drug by taking it as directed by a physician.

To that end, Purdue Pharma has engaged in a number of cynical PR campaigns. One called "Painfully Obvious" (http://www.painfullyobvious.com) purports to educate kids about the dangers of prescription drug. It makes them appear as though they are working to solve the problem — but again the abuse focus keeps the conversation away from addiction. The company has also provided funding for prescription databases to prevent doctor shopping and diversion. But these efforts are simply window dressing, and not an effort to get to the heart of the problem.

With a Record Like That...

A look at Purdue Pharma's track record shows why they are so eager to talk about everyone else's problems. The company has shown itself to be a serial violator of federal rules and regulations and has elicited stern responses from both government agencies and federal courts.

With respect to one of its other products, MS Contin, another controlled-release Opioid which contains morphine, the Food and Drug Administration warned Purdue Pharma that it was in violation of marketing regulations no fewer than seven times, on October 15, 1993, March 24, 1994, March 25, 1994, June 7, 1994, July 7, 1994, October 3, 1994 and finally November 20, 1996, when FDA sent a formal Warning Letter.

With respect to OxyContin, FDA warned Purdue Pharma about its unlawful marketing representations in communications sent in May 2000, August 2001 and January 2003, when it once again sent a formal Warning Letter. In the letter, Thomas Abrams, Director, Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications of the FDA stated:

"Your journal advertisements are misleading because they make prominent claims of effectiveness for pain relief, but omit from the body of advertisements crucial facts related to the serious, potentially fatal safety risks associated with the risks of OxyContin to be abused, and the limitations on its appropriate indicated use."

In a patent infringement case, a federal judge in New York essentially accused the company of lying to protect its patent. In an opinion issued on January 5, 2004, Judge Sidney Stein ruled that the representations made by Purdue to the government concerning the effectiveness of Oxycontin for chronic pain sufferers were fraudulent and misleading, and that the patents issued to Purdue were therefore invalid. In particular, Judge Stein ruled that Purdue had misled the government by claiming that it had conducted clinical studies demonstrating OxyContin's unique pain-relieving qualities when no such studies existed.