In the cross hairs today: Purdue Pharma, or as I shall call them because I'm a mature individual, PP. PP is the maker of OxyContin, which you may recognize as a painkiller that's frequently at the center of concerns over opioid addiction. It seems some reporters at the LA Times got it in their heads to ask why. Why is OxyContin so addictive? Here's what they learned:
The major marketing advantage of OxyContin over other painkillers was that it was supposed to be effective for twelve hours. Turns out, however, that it actually isn't effective for that long. For a great many people the effects of the drug wore off way sooner than twelve hours, leaving them both in horrible pain and with the beginning symptoms of withdrawal. This, then, drives the cravings and drug seeking that lead to addiction.
As an aside, as I learned following my surgery, the docs focused on pain relief really want patients to stay on top of their pain. At the first sign that pain was returning, they wanted my hitting the little button that sent drug into my system and, if that didn't work in a short period of time, pressing the call button to have someone come help. They do not want patients cycling through waves of pain, no pain, etc.
Anyway, back to OxcContin. When PP learned that their drug didn't generally last as long as they thought it did, rather than telling doctors to prescribe OxyContin so that it would be taken more frequently -- which would a) keep the pain from returning, and b) prevent the withdrawal symptoms, but also c) erase OxyContin's competitive advantage over competing drugs -- PP doubled-down. They instructed doctors to prescribe higher doses on the same twelve hour schedule. This, of course, just made things worse for patients, who were still cycling between relief and pain plus withdrawal, but now they were dropping off a higher high and so driven even more strongly into pattern of addiction.
And now here's the best part: knowing that their drug had a effectiveness duration no longer than morphine, whenever that evidence was brought out in lawsuits or court proceedings, PP would have the records sealed under the argument that this was necessary to protect their "trade secrets." In other words, they knew what they were doing, they knew it was causing harm, and they just did everything they could to hide that fact, both from the parties that were harmed and the doctors out there prescribing the drug to new patients.
I really shouldn't be surprised by this kind of shit anymore, and yet here I am.
I started to despise the pharmas when we were working with industry back in the day, this just confirms what I had suspected all along. They are all about the profit and care nary an iota about the patient or consumer.
ReplyDeleteYup, that about covers it. Sad thing is, I know some really great people who work for big pharma.
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