Sacklers Launch PR Drive To Make Case For Opioid Manufacturing
The prescription opioid painkiller OxyContin is displayed at a drugstore. Image by Getty Images
By Nathan Guttman December 22, 2017
Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, has embarked on a new ad campaign after coming under fire for manufacturing and distributing the powerful opioid.
The company, owned by the Sackler family, is arguing in the ads placed in major newspapers, that is is part of the solution, not of the problem.
“We manufacture prescription opioids,” one of the ads states. “How could we not help fight the prescription and illicit opioid abuse crisis?”
The company, which has been accused of profiting from widespread abuse of OxyContin, noted in the ads that it has worked to support strict subscribing rules for opioids as well as limits on opioid painkillers.
Purdue is now being sued by several states and counties for providing misleading information about the dangers of the opioids it produces.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
