Mass. AG Implicates Family Behind Purdue Pharma In Opioid Deaths
The
Sackler family behind Purdue Pharma knew that their painkiller
OxyContin was causing overdoses, yet continued to cash in as deaths
mounted, the Massachusetts attorney general alleges in court documents
filed Tuesday.
In a new 274-page memorandum,
Attorney General Maura Healey details a chain of command that she
alleges implicates eight Sackler family members, as well as nine Purdue
board members or executives, in the nation's deadly opioid epidemic.
An
earlier version of the memo, filed on Dec. 21, was more than half
redacted, after Purdue Pharma argued to withhold information about the
Sacklers, one of the richest families in the United States. Some
sections remain blacked-out in Tuesday's filing.
The
new memo spells out Healey's allegations that the Sacklers flooded
Massachusetts with sales reps, influenced state legislation, and
financially backed medical facilities and universities so they could
tout Purdue opioids.
Healey
describes former Purdue Chairman and President Richard Sackler as a
micro-manager, obsessed with profits in Massachusetts and the rest of
the country.
Tracking national sales,
Sackler demanded he travel to doctor’s offices alongside reps and
complained advertising about the opioids wasn’t as positive as he
wanted. Internally, execs worried about Sackler’s promotion of opioids,
according to Healey.
Sackler wasn’t
satisfied with Purdue Pharma's sales in 2011, the documents allege.
“After one week of prescriptions doubled Purdue’s forecast, Richard
[Sackler] wrote to the sales staff: ‘I had hoped for better results.' ”
That
year Massachusetts sales reps pushed doctors to prescribe Purdue
Pharma's opioids more than 1,000 times to elderly patients with
arthritis, the memo says. But Sackler wanted more.
One
sales rep was ordered to increase prescriptions by 62 percent in
Massachusetts. Purdue also threatened to fire two reps in Massachusetts
because the physicians they visited hadn’t written enough opioid
prescriptions, Healey says.
The
then-sales vice president, Russell Gasdia, drafted a message to Purdue’s
Boston district in February 2012, stating “the Boston District is
failing.”
The sales manager agreed in
an email, stating they should fire Massachusetts sales reps who weren’t
increasing their opioid prescriptions. Gasdia allegedly agreed that
firing all the reps would "send a message."
It’s unclear if they fired anyone.
In
a statement to WBUR, Purdue Pharma claims that Healey is trying to
"vilify a single manufacturer whose medicines represent less than 2
percent of opioid pain prescriptions rather than doing the hard work of
trying to solve a complex public health crisis."
The
company, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut, adds that "the
complaint distorts critical facts and cynically conflates prescription
opioid medications with illegal heroin and fentanyl, which are the leading cause of overdose deaths in Massachusetts."
The
AG's complaint includes a map of Massachusetts with areas of the state
Purdue allegedly targeted during a rapid period of sales workforce
expansion: Boston, southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. Sales reps
visited primary care doctors considered ripe for influence. In a few
cases these were daily visits.
Purdue
staff warned its board that a New Bedford doctor and Brookfield doctor
had prescribed opioids inappropriately, according to the memo, but no
one in the company immediately reported it to medical licensing
officials. The two doctors made Purdue Pharma $823,000 combined in two
years.
The two physicians and several
others, who became Purdue's most frequent prescribers in Massachusetts,
eventually lost their licenses but not before authorizing hundreds of
thousands of pills each. At least three of the physicians lost patients
to an overdose death.
In 2013, according to the memorandum, staff told the Sacklers that drug overdose deaths had tripled since 1990, while OxyContin had become the top-selling painkiller in the country.
The
complaint alleges “staff told the Sacklers that tens of thousands of
deaths were only the 'tip of the iceberg.' … [F]or every death, there
were more than a hundred people suffering from prescription opioid
dependence or abuse.”
Purdue counters
in its statement that Healey "has cherry-picked from among tens of
millions of emails and other business documents produced by Purdue."
In
the memo, Healey lists Purdue or Sackler family investments and
influence in Massachusetts, including a Purdue pain program at
Massachusetts General Hospital and the Sackler School of Graduate
Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University.
After
Purdue Pharma donated $3 million to MGH in 2002, the hospital named its
pain center after the company. The hospital's plan included seminars
designed by Purdue to increase OxyContin prescriptions.
MGH
dropped Purdue Pharma’s name from the pain center after a nationwide
spike in crime was attributed to those addicted to the medication.
In
2007, Purdue Pharma and three of its top executives were criminally
charged in the federal Western District of Virginia with intentionally
deceiving doctors about OxyContin.
The
company's then-president, lawyer and chief medical officer pleaded
guilty to a felony and Purdue Pharma paid $600 million in fines for
misleading the public about the addictive qualities of the medication.
While individuals of the Sackler family weren’t charged, as board
members they admitted the company encouraged physicians to overprescribe
OxyContin.
In a separate suit, Purdue Pharma also paid 26 states, including Massachusetts, a total of $19.5 million.
In
a 2007 press release, Purdue Pharma stated: "During the past six years,
we have implemented changes to our internal training, compliance and
monitoring systems that seek to assure that similar events do not occur
again."
Healey alleges Purdue Pharma
and the Sackler family never stopped the deception, leading to hundreds
of overdose deaths. The company double-downed its efforts in
Massachusetts, sending even more sales reps to meet with doctors, nurses
and pharmacists to pressure them to prescribe even more OxyContin, she
alleges.
In May 2007 — immediately after the 2007 convictions — then-CEO John Stewart
began planning to expand Purdue’s sales force in Massachusetts and
across the country. Even though Purdue sales reps were already visiting
Massachusetts prescribers more than 1,000 times each month, executives
worked to quantify the “market impact” that adding sales reps would
have.
Purdue focused on Tufts University. It declined to comment to WBUR.
The
memo states Purdue believed the marketing benefits the Sacklers reaped
from Tufts were so great that they offered to send Stewart to
Massachusetts to sustain the courtship. Healey also alleges that Purdue
executives promoted opioids to clinicians, fellows and medical residents
in Massachusetts at a presentation at Tufts in 2008.
The
complaint says "convincing Massachusetts doctors that Purdue opioids
were the best way to manage chronic pain" was part of its scheme.
It also states that, in 2013, Purdue staff claimed they defeated Massachusetts legislation to restrict OxyContin.
In
the past 11 years Purdue sales representatives visited Massachusetts
prescribers and pharmacists more than 150,000 times, the memo alleges.
In June, Massachusetts was the first state — followed in October by Suffolk County, New York — to file a lawsuit that names individual members of the Sackler family.
A status hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25 in Massachusetts' Suffolk County Superior Court.
Purdue Pharma has in the past attempted to shield documents from becoming public.
Four
years ago the Kentucky attorney general agreed to Purdue Pharma’s
demand that the prosecutor destroy millions of pages of documents in
exchange for a $24 million settlement.
This segment aired on January 15, 2019.
In a separate suit, Purdue Pharma also paid 26 states, including Massachusetts, a total of $19.5 million.
In
a 2007 press release, Purdue Pharma stated: "During the past six years,
we have implemented changes to our internal training, compliance and
monitoring systems that seek to assure that similar events do not occur
again."
Healey alleges Purdue Pharma
and the Sackler family never stopped the deception, leading to hundreds
of overdose deaths. The company double-downed its efforts in
Massachusetts, sending even more sales reps to meet with doctors, nurses
and pharmacists to pressure them to prescribe even more OxyContin, she
alleges.
In May 2007 — immediately after the 2007 convictions — then-CEO John Stewart
began planning to expand Purdue’s sales force in Massachusetts and
across the country. Even though Purdue sales reps were already visiting
Massachusetts prescribers more than 1,000 times each month, executives
worked to quantify the “market impact” that adding sales reps would
have.
Purdue focused on Tufts University. It declined to comment to WBUR.
The
memo states Purdue believed the marketing benefits the Sacklers reaped
from Tufts were so great that they offered to send Stewart to
Massachusetts to sustain the courtship. Healey also alleges that Purdue
executives promoted opioids to clinicians, fellows and medical residents
in Massachusetts at a presentation at Tufts in 2008.
The
complaint says "convincing Massachusetts doctors that Purdue opioids
were the best way to manage chronic pain" was part of its scheme.
It also states that, in 2013, Purdue staff claimed they defeated Massachusetts legislation to restrict OxyContin.
In
the past 11 years Purdue sales representatives visited Massachusetts
prescribers and pharmacists more than 150,000 times, the memo alleges.
In June, Massachusetts was the first state — followed in October by Suffolk County, New York — to file a lawsuit that names individual members of the Sackler family.
A status hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25 in Massachusetts' Suffolk County Superior Court.
Purdue Pharma has in the past attempted to shield documents from becoming public.
Four
years ago the Kentucky attorney general agreed to Purdue Pharma’s
demand that the prosecutor destroy millions of pages of documents in
exchange for a $24 million settlement.
This segment aired on January 15, 2019.
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