Purdue Pharma

Purdue Pharma L.P.

Native name	Purdue Pharmaceuticals L.P.
Type	Private
Industry	Pharmaceuticals
Founded	New York, New York, USA (1892 (1892))
Founders	John Purdue Gray George Frederick Bingham
Headquarters	Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Key people	Dr. Craig Landau (President & CEO)
Website	purduepharma.com (Global website)
Footnotes / references

Purdue Pharma L.P. is a privately held pharmaceutical company. In 2007 it paid out one of the largest fines ever levied against a pharmaceutical firm for mislabeling its product OxyContin, and three executives were found guilty of criminal charges. Although the company has shifted its focus to abuse-deterrent formulations, Purdue continues to market and sell opioids, and continues to be involved in lawsuits around the opioid crisis.

History

Purdue Pharma is a privately held company founded in 1892 by doctors John Purdue Gray and George Frederick Bingham in New York, New York (USA) as the Purdue Frederick Company.^[1] The company is not related to Purdue University or its founder John Purdue.

In 1952, the company was sold to two more doctors, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler who relocated the business to Yonkers, New York. In the intervening years the company opened further offices in New Jersey and Connecticut. The headquarters are in Stamford, Connecticut.

The current company, Purdue Pharma L.P. was constituted in 1991 and focuses on pain management medication, calling itself a "pioneer in developing medications for reducing pain, a principal cause of human suffering". In September 2015 the company's website said it has some 1,700 people on its payroll.^[2]

In September 2015 the company announced it would acquire VM Pharma, gaining access to worldwide development and commercial rights to an allosteric selective tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor program – specifically the Phase II candidate VM-902A. The deal could generate more than $213 million for VM Pharma.^[3]

Structure

The company's different branches include Purdue Pharma L.P., The Purdue Frederick Company, Purdue Pharmaceutical Products L.P. and Purdue Products L.P. The company's manufacturing takes place at three different sites, Purdue Pharmaceuticals L.P. a plant located in Wilson North Carolina, The P.F. Laboratories Inc in Totowa, New Jersey and Rhodes Technologies L.P. in Coventry Rhode Island. Purdue Pharma L.P. also has research labs in Cranbury New Jersey. OxyContin is currently distributed throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Distribution takes place from the P.F. Laboratories Inc in Totowa, New Jersey.

Management

Craig Landau was appointed CEO on June 22, 2017. He joined Purdue Pharma L.P. in1999. During his 14 years with the U.S. organization, he has served as Chief Medical Officer and as Vice President of R&D Innovation, Clinical and Medical Affairs. In this role and as part of the Company’s Management Team, he and the R&D organization were responsible for a number of health policy initiatives as well as product registrations in the U.S. and other regions, including Butrans®, reformulated OxyContin®, Targiniq® ER and Hysingla® ER. In 2013, he was appointed President and CEO of Purdue Pharma (Canada).

Craig earned his B.Sc. in Physiology and Anatomy from Cornell University and his M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed his Anesthesiology residency at Yale University, with specialty training in chronic pain management, obstetric and peripheral vascular anesthesia. He is also a U.S. Army Veteran, having concluded a distinguished 14-year career in 2005.

Controversy

Purdue Pharma makes pain medicines such as hydromorphone, oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine and hydrocodone. It is widely known for the production of drugs such as MS Contin, Oxycontin and Ryzolt. In 1972, Contin (a controlled drug-release system) was developed. In 1984, its extended-release formulation of morphine, MS Contin was released. In 1996 its extended-release formulation of oxycodone, OxyContin was released.^[2]

The controversy behind the company emerged as a result of the drugs that they made and how they carried high potential for abuse by drug abusers and people with a history of addiction. The most commonly abused medications that the company produces are MS Contin and OxyContin. Both can be abused by crushing, chewing, snorting, or injecting the dissolved product. This is a significant risk to the abuser because it can result in overdose and death. Drug-seeking tactics that addicts undergo to obtain the medication include “doctor shopping”, which is visiting a number of different physicians to obtain additional prescriptions and refusal to follow up with appropriate examinations. Along with the high potential for abuse among people without prescriptions, there is also a risk for physical dependency and tolerance for patients that are prescribed them. Nevertheless, strong analgesic drugs remain indispensable to patients suffering from severe acute and cancer pain.^[4]

When Oxycontin was released in 1996, it was marketed as having lower abuse potential than immediate-release oxycodone because of its time-release properties even though there was no scientific evidence backing that conclusion.^[5] However, at the start of 2000, widespread reports of OxyContin abuse surfaced. The results obtained from a proactive abuse surveillance program called Researched Abused, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) sponsored by Purdue Pharma L.P. pronounced Oxycontin and hydrocodone the most commonly abused pain medications.^[6] In 2012, New England Journal of Medicine published a study that found that "76 percent of those seeking help for heroin addiction began by abusing pharmaceutical narcotics, primarily OxyContin",^[7] and draws a direct line between Purdue's marketing of OxyContin and the subsequent heroin epidemic in the U.S.

Oxycontin-related lawsuits

Purdue was involved in measures against prescription drug abuse, particularly of Oxycontin. In 2001, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a statement urging Purdue to take action regarding abuse of Oxycontin; he did note that while Purdue seemed sincere, there was little action being taken beyond "cosmetic and symbolic steps."^[8] After Purdue announced plans to reformulate the drug, Blumenthal noted that this would take time and that "Purdue Pharma has a moral, if not legal obligation to take effective steps and address addiction and abuse even as it works to reformulate the drug."^[9] The company has since fabricated research to make Oxycontin appear less addictive than it really is.

In May 2007 the company pleaded guilty to misleading the public about Oxycontin's risk of addiction and agreed to pay $600 million in one of the largest pharmaceutical settlements in U.S. history. Its president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer pleaded guilty as individuals to misbranding charges, a criminal violation and agreed to pay a total of $34.5 million in fines.^[10][11] Those executives are: Michael Friedman, the company’s president, who agreed to pay $19 million in fines; Howard R. Udell, its top lawyer, who agreed to pay $8 million; and Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim, its former medical director, who agreed to pay $7.5 million.

In addition three top executives were charged with a felony and sentenced to 400 hours of community service in drug treatment programs.^[12]

On October 4, 2007, Kentucky officials sued Purdue because of widespread Oxycontin abuse in Appalachia. A lawsuit filed by Kentucky then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo and Pike County officials demanded millions in compensation.^[13] Eight years later, on December 23, 2015, Kentucky settled with Purdue for $24 million.^[14]

In January 2017 the city of Everett, Washington sued Purdue based on increased costs for the city from the use of oxycontin as well as Purdue not intervening when they noted odd patterns of sale of their product, per agreement in the 2007 suit noted above. The allegations include not following legal agreements to track suspicious excess ordering or potential black market usage. False clinics created by unscrupulous doctors using homeless individuals as 'patients' to purchase oxycontin, then sell to the citizens of Everett was the factual basis of the suit. The blackmarket sale of the drug out of legal pharmacies based in Los Angeles with distributions points in Everett is also part of the experience of the city. No intervention was made by Purdue to contact the DEA for years despite knowing of the practice and the overuse and sale of their product. The suit is asking for a yet to be determined reimbursement related to costs of policing, housing, health care, rehabilitation, criminal justice system, park and recreations department, as well as to the loss of life or compromised quality of life of the citizens of the city directly.^[15][16][17]

References

External links

• Official website