Guilty Plea for OxyContin Makers

Jamie Sheller

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 475

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Over $630 million in fines will be paid by the makers of OxyContin. In a federal court in Virginia, Purdue Pharma L.P. and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty to making false and misleading claims about the drug. OxyContin is a powerful and highly addictive painkiller and Purdue Pharma claimed to physicians and the public that it was less addictive than other medicines. The company encouraged doctors to overprescribe OxyContin by knowingly using false information about the drug's potential for addiction and abuse. OxyContin is the brand name for oxycodone, and between 1996 and 2001, the number of OxyContin prescriptions increased 20-fold and the number of deaths related to the drug increased five-fold.