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by Causes | 6.14.18

UPDATE — September 10, 2018: Billionaire pharmaceutical tycoon Richard Sackler has secured a patent for a new drug to treat opioid addiction, according to the Financial Times.

The drug, a reformulation of buprenorphine, is essentially a milder opioid that can blunt the symptoms of withdrawal while a person is being weaned off. Competing variants are already generating nearly $900 million in U.S. sales.

Several members of the Sackler family are currently facing a mountain of lawsuits for their alleged role in spurring the opioid epidemic in the first place. The buprenorphine patent has sparked observations that Sackler made millions off of sales of a drug that caused a massive public health crisis, and now stands to make millions more by selling the public a solution.

Countable's original story below was published on June 14, 2018.

The story

This week, Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against the executives of the company that produces the prescription painkiller OxyContin for their role in allegedly creating the opioid epidemic.

The lawsuit names Purdue Pharma, along with 16 current and former directors and executives, including CEO Craig Landau and members of the Sackler family, which owns the company.

Why it matters

According to USAFacts, opioid-related deaths in the United States have increased by more than 115 percent between 2002 and 2013, the most recent year for which government data are available. By all indications, the problem has ballooned substantially since then.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants deceived patients and doctors about the risks of opioids, pushed prescribers to keep patients on the drugs longer, and aggressively targeted vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and veterans. Additionally:

“Purdue Pharma created the epidemic and profited from it through a web of illegal deceit… Purdue peddled falsehoods to keep patients away from safer alternatives. Even when Purdue knew people were addicted and dying, Purdue treated patients and their doctors as ‘targets’ to sell more drugs. At the top of Purdue, a small group of executives led the deception and pocketed millions of dollars.”

Individual responsibility

Purdue Pharma is already facing multiple lawsuits over its role in the opioid epidemic, but this one is the first to personally name the company’s executives.

In the United States, prosecutions of corporate crimes seldom target the individuals who were ultimately responsible.

In May 2018, the New York Times reported on a confidential Justice Department report that found “Purdue Pharma was aware early on that OxyContin was being crushed and snorted for its powerful narcotic, but continued to promote it as less addictive.”

In October 2017, the New Yorker published a scathing piece alleging that the “Sackler dynasty’s ruthless marketing of painkillers [had] generated billions of dollars — and millions of addicts.”

Purdue Pharma denies the charges.

What do you think?

Should individual executives bear legal responsibility for corporate criminal activity under their leadership? Should this latest patent be enforceable? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force / Public Domain)

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