[Pmoceo]

Several states are actively suing Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic. The suit claims the company and its founders, the Sackler family, spent nearly a decade deceiving doctors and patients on the addictive nature of the drugs. Internal documents reveal that Purdue was well aware of the stark addictive nature of Oxycontin and how the drugs were directly correlated with the rising number of overdoses and deaths.

The memo implicates the company for pursuing aggressive marketing strategies, targeted to cover up the addictive nature of the drugs. More specifically, Purdue Pharma secretly launched a plan "Project Tango" to become an "end-to-end pain provider". By selling opioids and opioid addiction treatment drugs, Purdue received more than $4 billion in profits. The lawsuit accuses the company of being directly responsible for contributing to the national opiate crisis that has killed over 200,000 people since 1996.


Purdue marketed Oxycontin as having a low addiction risk. Furthermore, Purdue Pharma first introduced the anecdotal overdose drug, Narcan, as a "complementary" product to the same doctor it sold opiates. Richard Sackler, who served as Purdue president for several years, told management that they should "measure our performance by Rx's by strength, giving higher measures to higher strengths." The suit also says that the marketing company advised Purdue that it could increase opioid prescriptions by sending sales reps dozens of times per year to visit prolific prescribers. The lawsuit also claims the company continued to collect revenue from doctors suspected of inappropriately prescribing the medications.

Secret documents revealed Richard Sackler told the company, via email, that it needed to shift blame on the addicts by calling them "reckless criminals." The company has consistently shifted blame to the victims suffering from opioid addiction. Purdue is blaming the patients, that took their medication, as the "problem." The complaint addresses the company's aggressive marketing tactics as fueling the overprescribing of such medications to drive sales.