Purdue Pharma pushed opioids as "hope in a bottle" in Tennessee

"We sell hope in a bottle"

"Purdue summarized the marketing of its opioid products with the slogan" We sell hope in a bottle "in One of the

Purdue employees up to 87 sales representatives in Tennessee for the last decade. None were a health professional. All, however, were aggressive traders – trained, records show, to deal with the deadly opioid such as real estate.

"Purdue has trained its representatives to be aggressive in sales calls with suppliers," the lawsuit said. Tennessee sales representatives have been specially trained at ABC – "Always be closing" – a well-known phrase of "Glengarry Glen Ross", a piece theater and a film about aggressive sellers who use deceptive tactics to sell unwanted real estate.Purdue told its sellers to target overworked medical providers, serving poorer Tennessee communities with less training, calling them high-value prescribers' easily persuaded to increase prescriptions and doses of Oxycontin.

"Track the money"

The company literature – obtained by the office of Slatery in a 2007 lawsuit that the state alleges that Purdue raped – shows employees that it was a "strategic imperative" to target primary care – practices and clinics employing nurse practitioners and assistants to the doctor.

"Follow the money," a "call note" from a sales representative said. 8] Suppose the doctor "do not know med", another reading.

The strategy, alleges the trial, worked.

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In an effort to combat the growing epidemic of drugs and heroin, the FBI and the DEA released "Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict" , a documentary aimed at educating students and young adults about addiction.
FBI

"Between January 2007 and August 2017, these providers prescribed 65% of all Oxycontin tablets in Tennessee," says the trial

. Tennessee providers – Tennessee prescribers distributing Oxycontin prescriptions at a rate guaranteed to cause fatal overdoses – continue to push the drug on their patients.

The company even had a club for the vendors who grew the most Oxycontin. "Purdue specifically told his representatives to focus on the doctors who would give the best return on investment and the best potential prescribers," said the lawsuit

. ] Sales employees were trained to position themselves as medical experts and then provide suppliers with carefully written lies about the addictive and deadly properties of Oxycontin, the internal archive file.

oviders) believe me on info? "A salesman wrote." Buy-in … (Provider) "buys me first."

Purdue representatives made more than 300,000 calls to medical providers in Tennessee in seven years, often in person and always bringing false fake opium safety advocacy literature and tagging the growing epidemic of opioids as "pseudo-diction" that would stabilize if providers simply prescribed more d & rsquo; Oxycontin

Vendors were trained to teach providers that the best way to prevent habituation was to "prescribe higher and higher doses." The "symptoms" of addiction gone, the trial declared

To find out more: Here's what the new opioid restrictions of Tennessee mean for your doctor and your pharmacy

For know more s: "Henry's Law", named for the local teenager Granju, increases the time of imprisonment for drug traffickers if the OD miners and die [19659011] "Unlikely to become hooked"

Staff members lied to medical providers, business leaders, and even members of the firm's founders who used the profits of Oxycontin to pay doctors to lecture, intentionally lying on the dangers and addictive properties of opioids. The firm funded the creation of advocacy groups with names such as the American Pain Society and American Pain Foundation, and brochures, videos, and social media campaigns to convince Tennesseans that Oxycontin was a drug wonderful – even as the number of fatal overdoses related to it began to skyrocket.

In an effort to combat the growing epidemic of heroin abuse, the FBI and DEA have published " Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict, "a documentary aimed at educating students and young adults about the dangers of drug addiction. (Photo: FBI) ​​

The firm specifically targeted veterans with a Web campaign called "Exit Wounds," and called Oxycontin "the gold standard" for the treatment of pain.

"Long experience with opioids shows that are not predisposed to addiction are not likely to become addicted to opioid drugs," veterans said. "When used properly, opioid pain relievers increase the level of functioning of a person. "

To learn more: Haslam sign TN Together, gives life to the state of epidemic d & # 39; Opioid

The lawsuit reveals that purdue sellers have been instructed to ignore police warnings, indictments and overdose deaths involving medical providers in Tennessee and continue to ask them to distribute Oxycontin – the most profitable brand of the business –

The lawsuit and Purdue's internal records link the firm's vendors to some of the most famous doctors of the Tennesseen pills factories ee, including one of the largest in eastern Tennessee

Purdue staff members called a health care provider, who is not identified in the trial, 48 times – after law enforcement said at the company that the provider had prescribed deadly doses of Oxycontin

Vendors were also ordered to postpone the resistance of medical providers to prescribe Oxycontin, call notes were shown .

When a "pain specialist in the Knoxville area" told a doctor. He did not use Oxycontin as his "first line" of patient care because he "feels that once a patient is put on Oxycontin, they will never try anything out." 39; other because they like drugs, "replied the staff member," Is a bad thing?

Another staff member wrote a pharmacy technician Dickson who complained that Oxycontin was "a bad drug" that needed to be "corrected", telling the technician, "Good drugs, bad people who abuse them. "

The trial covers 272 pages and contains a large number of internal Purdue records

Proceedings are being brought against Purdue and other manufacturers and distributors of Big Pharma drugs across the country and in smaller communities, including several in eastern Tennessee.Tennessee is one of the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic in the country and one of the most profitable of Purdue

Tennessee had already sued Purdue ten years ago for failing to monitor its sales force, and Purdue promised to create a program to ensure that Oxycontin prescriptions are reduced and that Prescription medical providers were reported to the authorities.

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Prosecutors allege that a group known as "The Italians" launched a criminal enterprise the medical community and distributed billions of dollars. o more than 700 people by overdose in East Tenn.
Angela Gosnell / News Sentinel

As part of this settlement, Purdue was required to submit internal documents to the Attorney General of Tennessee.

The current lawsuit alleges that Purdue has done nothing to stem the epidemic of opioids and, in fact, has only grown more aggressive in its marketing tactics. Slatery now uses the documents generated during the 2007 settlement.

Purdue Pharma's Response

Purdue Pharma issued a statement on Friday stating, "We share the Attorney General's concerns about the opioid crisis, but we are disappointed that, in good faith negotiations with many states, Tennessee has decided to pursue a costly and lengthy litigation process.While our opioid drugs account for less than 2% of total prescriptions, we will continue to work collaboration with states to find relevant solutions to this public health problem

"We strongly denounce the allegations of the state.The Attorney General claims that Purdue acted wrong by communicating with prescribers on scientific information and medical that the FDA has specifically reviewed and continues to approve.We believe that & # 3 9 It is inappropriate for the state to substitute its judgment for the judgment of FDA regulatory, scientific and medical experts. "

The News Sentinel will review the internal files in the coming days for other reports.

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