Record $8 billion payout won’t turn back the clock on US opioid crisis

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2258122-record-8-billion-payout-wont-turn-back-the-clock-on-us-opioid-crisis/

 

Analysis 23 October 2020
By Clare Wilson

A long-running lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company accused of fuelling the US opioid addiction crisis was settled this week when Purdue Pharma agreed to pay out $8.3 billion, the largest ever such settlement. The firm admitted to violating anti-kickback laws, conspiring to defraud the US and to facilitating the dispensing of medication without a legitimate medical purpose.

While the size of the payout may sound like a big win, it won’t reverse the US’s opioid dependency problems, nor is it likely to be sufficient deterrent to similar behaviour by drug firms in future, say critics. No individuals from the company and none of the Sackler family owners have been convicted as part of the settlement, but a criminal investigation into individuals is ongoing.

“Criminal charges against corporations don’t work. They’re seen by companies as the cost of doing business,” says Andrew Kolodny at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

Doctors used to be highly cautious about giving opioids, the most potent class of painkillers, reserving them for severe short-lasting pain like that from surgery, or for people with terminal cancer.

In the 1990s, US doctors started prescribing them more liberally, spurred in part by Purdue’s marketing of a new opioid OxyContin, which the firm claimed rarely caused dependence. The firm promoted the product heavily to some doctors with free trips and paid speaking engagements.

But OxyContin can lead to addiction, and some users sought ever-increasing doses. Over time, some people switched to using illegally bought pills or injecting heroin.

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But this latest record-breaking settlement may never be paid in full, as Purdue filed for bankruptcy last year. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that opioid misuse costs the country nearly $80 billion every year. “That $8.3 billion doesn’t really make a dent in the problem,” says Joseph D’Orazio at Temple University in Pennsylvania.


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