Among the documents House lawmakers requested last week from opioid painkiller manufacturers is a deposition of the former president of Purdue Pharma — Dr. Richard Sackler — which is also being sought by STAT through the courts in Kentucky.
The letters, sent Thursday by a bipartisan group of members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to Purdue, Mallinckrodt, and Insys Therapeutics, ask for a broad range of documents related to the companies’ marketing strategies and what they knew about their drugs’ potential for abuse and when. But the letter to Purdue also specifies that the committee wants to see an unredacted copy of the deposition by Sackler, who is also a member of the family that owns the company.
The deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit brought by Kentucky against Purdue alleging that the marketing of the company’s drug OxyContin contributed to a spate of addiction and crime. The case was settled in December 2015, with Purdue paying $24 million. While the state attorney general’s office destroyed its copies of Purdue documents as part of the settlement, STAT filed a motion to unseal copies of several documents — including the Sackler deposition — that remained in the Pike County courthouse in Eastern Kentucky.
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To whomever this concerns,
I what you to know i have had 38 surgeries. Dr. Have prescribed all kinds of pain meds. The oxycoton is very addictive, i still take Norco. They have saved my life from compleate pain.. The pro outways the con. Just stop the dr shopping and the over prescribed by Zealous Dr. To young people for a sprained ankle..
Sincerely J.James
They have had over 20 years to “Vet this in the Courts” and it is still ongoing. The obvious answer is corruption. None of our federal agencies attempted to stop this 20 years ago, and even the DEA was sidelines by corrupt politicians, industry insiders and the power of Pharma lobbyists. They had 2 decades to slow the obscene power of big pharma, and the medical and insurance industry profiteers. Even now instead of making big pharma pay for the damage, they are attacking sick people with chronic pain. Pharma is getting a lot of help from the mass media too, deceptively worded opinion pieces, and hair on fire statistics, are designed the mislead the public. When they need a nice positive story, they turn to paid journalists, and public relations people.
Not one of our elected representative has the integrity, or human decency to say follow the money!
20 Effin years people, a Fact that is left out of every thought provoking article cleared by Pharma lawyers and spokespeople. This really is the Mad Hatters Tea Party!