Purdue was engaged in aggressive marketing of their opiate drugs to doctors who then prescribe them. Their marketing objective was to rehabilitate doctors’ then dim-view on opiates - and their marketing material went with unchallenged claims such as that they had developed new opiate formulations that weren’t addictive or otherwise had less addictive potential compared to older opiates - these claims have all since been debunked. I understand that the marketing executives at Purdue and others were aware that they were both being dishonest and that what they were doing would result in more OD deaths and ruined lives.
Charitably, it can be argued that making opiates more accessible to those who benefit from them who were previously denied them due to doctors’ reservations about opiates - despite increased OD deaths - would still result in a net improvement in overall disability-adjusted-life-years, but because Purdue’s leadership stood to personally gain from increased sales (and cynically: assured long-term sales due to iatrogenic addiction) we cannot assume they were simply acting in the public’s best interest and the increased revenue was just a pleasant side-effect. That is the problem.
I recommend checking-out the work of Ben Goldacre if you’re interested to find out more.
Pharma companies, of all sizes, manufacture drugs with very high addictive potential - no-one is angry at other companies for making generic fentanyl: those companies weren’t telling doctors it was somehow “safe”. (So I’m not saying it was only Purdue).
Charitably, it can be argued that making opiates more accessible to those who benefit from them who were previously denied them due to doctors’ reservations about opiates - despite increased OD deaths - would still result in a net improvement in overall disability-adjusted-life-years, but because Purdue’s leadership stood to personally gain from increased sales (and cynically: assured long-term sales due to iatrogenic addiction) we cannot assume they were simply acting in the public’s best interest and the increased revenue was just a pleasant side-effect. That is the problem.
I recommend checking-out the work of Ben Goldacre if you’re interested to find out more.
Pharma companies, of all sizes, manufacture drugs with very high addictive potential - no-one is angry at other companies for making generic fentanyl: those companies weren’t telling doctors it was somehow “safe”. (So I’m not saying it was only Purdue).