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posted by martyb on Friday November 22 2019, @08:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the if-it's-non-addicting,-give-it-to-every-exec-for-a-month dept.

Report: Sacklers using fake doctors, false marketing to sell OxyContin in China

The mega-rich family behind the OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma is back to selling its highly addictive pain-killer with underhanded tactics and deceptive advertising—this time in China, via its international company, Mundipharma. That’s all according to a searing new investigation by the Associated Press.

The Sackler family, which owns both Purdue and Mundipharma, is embroiled in litigation in the United States over its alleged role in sparking the country’s epidemic of opioid abuse and overdoses. Thousands of plaintiffs—many state and local governments—claim that Purdue and the Sacklers misled patients, doctors, and regulators on the addictiveness of their drugs, aggressively marketed them, and wooed doctors into over-prescribing them.

While Purdue has since declared bankruptcy and stopped promoting OxyContin in the US, the Sacklers seem to be employing the same practices in China.

Based on documents and interviews with multiple Mundipharma representatives in China, the AP investigation found that reps were at times posing as doctors, providing debunked information that its long-acting opioids are safe and less addictive, and even illegally copying private medical records of patients to inform sales tactics.

[...]Mundipharma, meanwhile, is still hiring in China.

The AP story linked above is in-depth and well worth reading. See also: HuffPost.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by deimtee on Friday November 22 2019, @12:36PM (3 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Friday November 22 2019, @12:36PM (#923368) Journal

    Extradite them to China.

    --
    If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 22 2019, @04:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 22 2019, @04:43PM (#923443)

    No problem. They can afford to purchase their bullet.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 22 2019, @08:07PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 22 2019, @08:07PM (#923496)

    We have extrajurisdictional prosecution and conviction in absentia here in the U.S. If the Chinese held a trial and issued a warrant, there would be very little the U.S. could say about it in terms of international law, since we do the same thing.

    Note that they don't have to snatch them here to get them. You just have to walk down to the flightline to read the N numbers on their jets. I'm sure a healthy bounty would result in some enterprising individuals making the right phone calls the next time they are vacationing in their favorite tax haven countries.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday November 23 2019, @05:13AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 23 2019, @05:13AM (#923691) Journal

      We have extrajurisdictional prosecution

      What's extrajurisdictional about someone being prosecuted for crimes they committed in the jurisdiction where the crimes were committed?