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OxyContin maker Purdue weighs bankruptcy as it battles overdose suits

The manufacturer of OxyContin says a suit blaming it for Massachusetts’ opioid crisis should be thrown out of court because most of the state’s fatal overdoses involve illegal fentanyl and heroin — not prescription drugs.

Purdue Pharma also claims that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is trying to “vilify” the company and its directors with “sensational and inflammatory allegations” that are “unsupported by applicable law.”

“To be sure, there is an opioid abuse crisis in the Commonwealth, but the responsibility for this crisis cannot, as a matter of law, be tied to one company that manufactures a tiny fraction of the prescription opioids in the Commonwealth,” court papers say.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported Monday that Purdue Pharma was considering filing for bankruptcy protection to avoid potentially crushing damages from thousands of similar, individual suits pending in federal court in Ohio.

The move would stay those suits — which accuse Purdue Pharma of misleading doctors and patients about the addiction risk posed by OxyContin and other prescription opioids — and let the Stamford, Connecticut-based drugmaker negotiate a settlement similar to the $246 billion deal struck by the tobacco industry in 1998.

When asked for comment, the privately owned company said it has a “longstanding policy not to comment on our financial or legal strategy.”

In the Massachusetts case, Purdue Pharma cites statistics from the state Department of Public Health that show 89 percent of opioid-related overdose deaths “had a positive screen result for fentanyl (primarily illicitly produced and sold, not prescription fentanyl),” with heroin also found in 34 percent of the cases.

By contrast, Purdue Pharma says, OxyContin accounts for less than 2 percent of all opioids prescribed nationwide, “and, thus, a tiny fraction of a fraction of all opioids (licit and illicit) used and abused in the Commonwealth and elsewhere.”

The 46-page filing in Suffolk County Superior Court also cites a report by the Department of Public Health that said “practically everyone” in treatment for abusing OxyContin or other opioids “began their drug addiction by abusing alcohol and/or marijuana.”

Healey has accused Purdue Pharma of contributing to the deaths of more than 670 Bay Staters since 2009 by selling more than 70 million doses of various opioids across the state.

Her suit seeks unspecified damages and “full and complete restitution to every person who has suffered any ascertainable loss” due to the company’s alleged misdeeds.

A spokesperson said Healey would oppose Purdue Pharma’s motion.

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21 minutes ago, steve from amherst said:

You should be hating the FDA and drug distributers just as much , or more.

Doctors.   Someone's over prescribing it.   Seen it firsthand a number of times.   Disgusting.  

Edited by Highmark
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Just now, Mainecat said:

My point. The push by sales reps is huge. 

No doubt but they don't take the oath.   Today's doctors are like today's parents.   Try to hard to remove the fact that not everything in life is without challenge or yes....some pain.  

Don't get me wrong some patients need long term pain control but those are limited.   My kids both went thru surgeries and other injuries and I can't believe how much they were prescribed and told if you need more just let us know.  

Hippocratic Oath: Modern Version

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

 

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I had 2 friends who were pharmaceutical sales reps years ago. They earned 6 figures for a reason back in the 80’s. They joked they made more than the PC’s they visited. This shit continues today.

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Just now, Mainecat said:

I had 2 friends who were pharmaceutical sales reps years ago. They earned 6 figures for a reason back in the 80’s. They joked they made more than the PC’s they visited. This shit continues today.

My office is right next-door to a multi Dr. General practice. It’s a revolving door with the Pharma reps. And they are always bringing in lunch for the whole staff, like 20 people. You can’t tell me this is an economic and efficient system to supply the practice with what they need for drugs, at the lowest prices to the patient.

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You guys are missing the big picture. Consumers demand to be pain free. They demand a narcotic. Hospital and clinics do these quality assurance surveys. Even the joint accreditation board that certifies health orgs get into the matter. If a doctor gets nicked on these surveys he can and does lose his priledges. He/she also loses patients. More than pharmaco, its consumer demand and pressure to deliver a healthcare product that pleases the consumer. 

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17 minutes ago, DriftBusta said:

My office is right next-door to a multi Dr. General practice. It’s a revolving door with the Pharma reps. And they are always bringing in lunch for the whole staff, like 20 people. You can’t tell me this is an economic and efficient system to supply the practice with what they need for drugs, at the lowest prices to the patient.

It’s all about delivering a service that makes the consumer symptom free. Not really healing the the core issue. Consumers don’t want to be burdened with effort. I’ve sat through countless drug rep lunches. Every study that’s presented at these lunches is based on double blind studies that compare the reduction of symptoms of the drug to placebo. It’s never about getting well. 

Edited by ActionfigureJoe
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6 hours ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

You guys are missing the big picture. Consumers demand to be pain free. They demand a narcotic. Hospital and clinics do these quality assurance surveys. Even the joint accreditation board that certifies health orgs get into the matter. If a doctor gets nicked on these surveys he can and does lose his priledges. He/she also loses patients. More than pharmaco, its consumer demand and pressure to deliver a healthcare product that pleases the consumer. 

Spot on. My wife is a nurse and one of the first questions she has to ask a patient is "Are you in any pain?" and "How would you rate it on a scale from 1 to 10?" It's all about getting that perfect score on the survey at the end of the stay. Anything less than perfect and the "suits" aren't happy.

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15 minutes ago, Skidude600 said:

Spot on. My wife is a nurse and one of the first questions she has to ask a patient is "Are you in any pain?" and "How would you rate it on a scale from 1 to 10?" It's all about getting that perfect score on the survey at the end of the stay. Anything less than perfect and the "suits" aren't happy.

It’s an issue that must be addressed. It’s a sticky subject in the healthcare industry. While I do agree that the drug companies are complicit in this issue, what your wife experiences is the primary problem. If a doctor gets enough black marks because he won’t prescribe a narcotic and the patient complains, he can be shown the door. In most cases of chronic pain, a referral to a PT or yoga class is most appropriate. This means that the patient has to take charge of their recovery in order to treat the nature of the condition rather than just treating symptoms. The entire healthcare system in America is built around symptom relief. That’s why we’re spending so much fucking money on it. 

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3 hours ago, Skidude600 said:

Spot on. My wife is a nurse and one of the first questions she has to ask a patient is "Are you in any pain?" and "How would you rate it on a scale from 1 to 10?" It's all about getting that perfect score on the survey at the end of the stay. Anything less than perfect and the "suits" aren't happy.

Who the fuck is pain free after 30?  You work out, you’re in pain, wipe out you’re in pain, when you get older you sleep wrong and are in pain. 

Isn’t pain suppose to just remind you of the dumb shit you’ve done?  

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3 hours ago, ActionfigureJoe said:

It’s an issue that must be addressed. It’s a sticky subject in the healthcare industry. While I do agree that the drug companies are complicit in this issue, what your wife experiences is the primary problem. If a doctor gets enough black marks because he won’t prescribe a narcotic and the patient complains, he can be shown the door. In most cases of chronic pain, a referral to a PT or yoga class is most appropriate. This means that the patient has to take charge of their recovery in order to treat the nature of the condition rather than just treating symptoms. The entire healthcare system in America is built around symptom relief. That’s why we’re spending so much fucking money on it. 

Yoga?  Lol.

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16 hours ago, revkevsdi said:

Who the fuck is pain free after 30?  You work out, you’re in pain, wipe out you’re in pain, when you get older you sleep wrong and are in pain. 

Isn’t pain suppose to just remind you of the dumb shit you’ve done?  

Exactly. I get that there are some people who may be in extreme pain and its a quality of life issue. However its way too easy nowadays to pop an oxy for a headache. To me a little pain reminds me I worked a little harder than usual and i'm still alive.

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