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posted by janrinok on Monday February 12 2018, @05:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the prevent-pill-popping dept.

Pain Pill Giant Purdue to Stop Promotion of Opioids to Doctors

Pain-pill giant Purdue Pharma LP will stop promoting its opioid drugs to doctors, a retreat after years of criticism that the company's aggressive sales efforts helped lay the foundation of the U.S. addiction crisis.

The company told employees this week that it would cut its sales force by more than half, to 200 workers. It plans to send a letter Monday to doctors saying that its salespeople will no longer come to their clinics to talk about the company's pain products.

"We have restructured and significantly reduced our commercial operation and will no longer be promoting opioids to prescribers," the company said in a statement. Instead, any questions doctors have will be directed to the Stamford, Connecticut-based company's medical affairs department.

OxyContin, approved in 1995, is the closely held company's biggest-selling drug, though sales of the pain pill have declined in recent years amid competition from generics. It generated $1.8 billion in 2017, down from $2.8 billion five years earlier, according to data compiled by Symphony Health Solutions. It also sells the painkiller Hysingla.

Oxycodone.

Also at Reuters, USA Today, The Verge, and CNN.

Previously: City of Everett, Washington Sues OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma
OxyContin's 12-Hour Problem
South Carolina Sues OxyContin Maker Purdue

Related: Opioid Crisis Partly Blamed on a 1980 Letter to the New England Journal of Medicine
President Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
Study Finds Stark Increase in Opioid-Related Admissions, Deaths in Nation's ICUs
CVS Limits Opioid Prescriptions
Congress Reacts to Reports that a 2016 Law Hindered DEA's Ability to go after Opioid Distributors
Opioid Crisis Official; Insys Therapeutics Billionaire Founder Charged; Walgreens Stocks Narcan


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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 12 2018, @07:10PM (8 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 12 2018, @07:10PM (#636783)

    remember when prescription drugs weren't marketed to consumers?

    It has been a while - I remember in the 1990s listening to TV news at lunch time, and being constantly bombarded with direct-to-consumer marketing for all sorts of "new" "ask your doctor" drugs, I think a Herpes treatment was the big one, happy looking people kayaking through mountain streams, 3 times an hour for years.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Monday February 12 2018, @07:20PM (7 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 12 2018, @07:20PM (#636789) Journal

    There can be only one.

    Introducing new KuewrZall®. It cures everything from the common cold to insomnia, ingrown toenails, left handedness, baldness, impotence, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, seizures, color blindness, internal hemorrhage, hearing loss, skin conditions.

    So try it today! Ask your doctor if KuewrZall® is right for you!

    Minor side effects may include:
    * vomiting
    * diarrhea
    * convulsions
    * seizures
    * baldness
    * color blindness
    * loss of fingernails and toenails
    * massive internal hemorrhage
    * total hearing loss
    * painful oozing boils and blisters on skin
    * bleeding from the eyes
    * shriveled up hands and feet
    * extreme weight loss
    * arms and legs eventually fall off
    * impotence
    * unconsciousness
    * death
    * zombification

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    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 12 2018, @07:52PM (1 child)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 12 2018, @07:52PM (#636799)

      Introducing new KuewrZall®

      Any similarity to the name of the first immortal of the singularity Ray Kurzweil is entirely intentional.

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      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 12 2018, @09:10PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 12 2018, @09:10PM (#636830) Journal

        Intention was to have pronunciation similarity to "cures all".

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 12 2018, @07:56PM (2 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 12 2018, @07:56PM (#636801)

      My wife and I just about died laughing the first time we heard the side effects of Olestra, including "oily discharge..." who, exactly, would use a dietary supplement that causes "oily discharge" and more to the point, who would pour massive amounts of money into marketing such a thing?

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olestra#Side_effects [wikipedia.org]

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @04:06AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @04:06AM (#636975)

        My wife and I just about died laughing the first time we heard the side effects of Olestra, including "oily discharge..." who, exactly, would use a dietary supplement that causes "oily discharge" and more to the point, who would pour massive amounts of money into marketing such a thing?

        Where's the spamtastic "rancid rectum" guy? He'd love that, methinks.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @10:54PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 13 2018, @10:54PM (#637318)

        Don't forget Futurama's take on olestra [youtube.com]

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday February 12 2018, @08:04PM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday February 12 2018, @08:04PM (#636804) Journal

      * zombification

      So you're saying this medication will make me immortal?

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      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 12 2018, @08:34PM

        by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday February 12 2018, @08:34PM (#636816)

        This drug will make you healthy for the rest of your life.

        Technically.

        --
        "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh