What You See Is Not What You Get - Purdue Pharma Executives Pleaded Guilty, but the Oxycontin Billionaires Went Unnoticed

What you see if often not what you get.   Nine years ago, three top executives of Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to criminal charges of "misbranding" Oxycontin.  The case appeared to be a landmark.  In previous years, top executives of large health care corporations rarely faced legal consequences when their companies misbehaved.  Yet in the Purdue Pharma/ Oxycontin case, things were not what they seemed.  Maybe that is why this case never did yield a new era of accountability for top corporate health care leaders.Background - the Oxycontin Guilty PleasIn 2007, we posted about the executives' guilty pleas.  Relying on the New York Times coverage, we noted that the Department of Justice charged that the company used aggressive, deceptive marketing, including claims that Oxycontin had little potential for addiction, even though they then knew otherwise.  Unlike many other settlements, the executives and the company admitted their dishonesty, although they were not apparently charged with fraud.In a statement, the company said: 'Nearly six years and longer ago, some employees made, or told other employees to make, certain statements about OxyContin to some health care professionals that were inconsistent with the F.D.A.-approved prescribing information for OxyContin and the express warnings it contained about risks associated with the medicine. The statements also violated written company policies requiring adherence to the prescribing informatio...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Management Tags: anechoic effect conflicts of interest deception health care corruption legal settlements marketing narcotics Oxycontin Purdue Pharma Source Type: blogs