blog Archives - Page 3 of 7

A drugmaker used “The Wizard of Oz” to sell OxyContin

by Tony Wagner

Dec 15, 2017

In an internal sales document, Purdue told sales reps to “follow the yellow brick road” and get doctors to prescribe the opioid.

Publicity photo from the 1939 adaptation for "The Wizard of Oz," which inspired a pharmaceutical sales document.

CBS via Wikimedia Commons

The Uncertain Hour

FDA statement on The Uncertain Hour's OxyContin episode

by Marketplace Staff

Dec 13, 2017

FDA spokesman Michael Felberbaum provided Marketplace with this statement in response to The Uncertain Hour’s investigation into the agency and Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. The goal when developing a drug label is to include the necessary information about a drug’s safety and efficacy so that trained physicians can use this information and their medical expertise […]

The Uncertain Hour

Purdue Pharma statement on The Uncertain Hour's OxyContin episode

by Marketplace Staff

Dec 13, 2017

Purdue Pharma spokesman Robert Josephson provided Marketplace with this statement in response to questions from The Uncertain Hour about OxyContin, the company, and its relationship with the FDA. The company’s responses are published in full below. Purdue Pharma L.P. Response December 12, 2017 1. Why did Purdue not do any clinical studies to back up the […]

The Uncertain Hour

How one sentence helped set off the opioid crisis

by Caitlin Esch

Dec 13, 2017

Recently unsealed documents shed light on how the maker of OxyContin seems to have relied more on focus groups than on scientific studies to create an aggressive and misleading marketing campaign that helped fuel the national opioid epidemic.