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In a brand new public service advert, drugmaker Purdue Pharma prompt that taking opioids corresponding to its painkiller OxyContin at the same time as prescribed can show harmful — then appeared to backtrack a number of days later.
“We are acutely aware of the public health risks opioid analgesics can create, even when taken as prescribed,” Purdue wrote in a full-page advocacy ad published July 19 in The Washington Post.
Click to learn Purdue’s full-page advocacy advert printed July 19 in The Washington Post.
But a version of the same ad published in the July 24 Washington Post omits the phrases “even when taken as prescribed.” The advert is in any other case an identical.
For years, Purdue Pharma has argued that OxyContin was secure when taken as directed and that deaths attributed to the drug had been the results of a small quantity of people that abused it to get excessive, usually by crushing the tablets and snorting the powder. The firm opposed efforts to limit use of the drug, arguing it could hurt professional sufferers who relied on it for ache aid.
“They’ve always framed it as an abuse problem, as if the opioid crisis was fueled by people trying to get high,” stated Andrew Kolodny, who directs Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, an advocacy group crucial of drug trade advertising and marketing.
Kolodny stated it was “interesting” that the corporate appeared to acknowledge, at the very least initially, that opioids might be harmful for sufferers who take them as prescribed.
Click to learn Purdue’s full-page advocacy advert printed July 24 in The Washington Post.
“I’ve never seen them state that publicly before,” stated Kolodny. “It’s disappointing that they may have backtracked.”
Purdue Pharma spokesman Robert Josephson declined to debate the adjustments made within the Post advert. In an announcement to Kaiser Health News, he stated that the danger of “addiction, abuse, misuse and diversion of opioids, even when taken as prescribed, is well-known and clearly spelled out” in warnings included with prescriptions.
But simply how a lot drugmakers knew concerning the public well being dangers of opioids, corresponding to dependancy and overdose deaths, is a hotly contested problem anticipated to play out within the courts.
Purdue and several other rivals and distributors are dealing with some 1,500 lawsuits, filed totally on behalf of cities, counties and states, that demand payback for the prices of treating dependancy and different compensation. Many of the fits argue that aggressive opioid advertising and marketing downplayed the dangers of dependancy and overdoses.
In a joint courtroom movement filed late final 12 months, the opioid producers argued that opioids “serve a critical public health role in providing relief to patients suffering from pain that is often debilitating” and that they’re being wrongly blamed for inflicting issues.
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The Purdue advert notes it not promotes opioids to docs, saying: “We make prescription opioids. And we want to limit their use.”
The advert says the corporate is “deeply concerned about the toll the opioid crisis is having on individuals and communities across the nation.” Purdue additionally stated it helps insurance policies to restrict preliminary opioid prescriptions to not more than seven days, one thing quite a few states hit onerous by the opioid disaster are learning.
Use Our Content This story might be republished free of charge (details).
KHN’s protection of prescription drug improvement, prices and pricing is supported partially by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
Fred Schulte: [email protected]”>[email protected], @fredschulte
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