New court documents show former Purdue Pharma chief's role in marketing OxyContin

New court records reviewed by Stat show how Richard Sackler, a former executive at Purdue Pharma, guided the company's promotional strategy for the launch of its opioid pain medication OxyContin.

Why it matters: Sackler's family founded and controls Purdue Pharma. The company in 2007 pleaded guilty to a felony related to falsely promoting OxyContin as less addictive and not as likely to produce tolerance or symptoms of withdrawal than other pain medications, even though the drugs is twice as strong as morphine. More than 218,000 Americans have died from overdoses of all prescription opioids.

https://www.axios.com/richard-sackler-purdue-pharma-oxycontin-marketing-705ab167-a453-4f35-aceb-4a055c2d06ff.html