Oxycontin Manufacturer Ordered to Pay Fine for Misleading Public

Joe Saunders

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Purdue Pharma L.P., the manufacturer of the popular Oxycontin, has been ordered to pay the stiff penalty of $634.5 million fine for misleading the public regarding the drug's addiction risk. In a Boston Globe article,the drug is "designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected. From 1996 to 2001, the number of oxycodone-related deaths nationwide increased fivefold while the annual number of OxyContin prescriptions increased nearly 20-fold, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In 2002, the DEA said the drug caused 146 deaths and contributed to another 318."

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