Article

2019-08-03 Home Front: Culture Wars

Families say Purdue Pharma must ~~pay reparations~~ be ‘held accountable'

BOSTON (AP) ‐ They came bearing oversized images of the sons and daughters they lost to drug overdoses and signs demanding justice from the pharmaceutical company they hold most responsible.

The parents and their supporters rallied outside a Boston courthouse Friday as a judge heard arguments in Massachusetts’ lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, over its role in the national opioid epidemic.

"Unless you’ve lost a child, you don’t know what that pain is like," said Kathleen Scarpone, a New Hampshire resident whose 25-year-old son died of an overdose in 2015, just a few years after serving as a Marine in Afghanistan. "You wake up every day and your heart breaks a little. I don’t want anyone to ever feel that."

Scarpone was among more than 100 people gathered in front of Suffolk County Superior Court through the daylong hearing. The group laid poster boards filled with photos of hundreds of Massachusetts overdose victims on the courthouse steps.

Some held signs saying, "Sack the Sacklers," referring to the wealthy family that owns Purdue Pharma and whose name is emblazoned across major institutions such as the Smithsonian, Guggenheim and Harvard from years of philanthropy.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-08-03 06:39|| || Front Page|| [13 views ] Top

#1 The product was willfully - not accidentally - misused. Same issue as with gun liability. The manufacturer in no way facilitated or encouraged the misuse. Automobiles, liquor, makeup and even money itself are just as easy to misuse, yet no one calls for the manufacturer of those things to be held liable for what the mis-user does.

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-08-03 07:21|| 2019-08-03 07:21|| Front Page Top

#2 True, but they're known highly-addictive drugs. The doctors who overprescribe and don't monitor their consumption, as well as the black market distributors certainly have liability

Posted by Frank G 2019-08-03 07:59|| 2019-08-03 07:59|| Front Page Top

#3 Pharma knowingly manufactures 100s of times the statistical requirement for these opioids

They don’t care as long as doctors write prescriptions and someone pays for it they don’t care

And they pay doctors kickbacks for the number of prescriptions they write

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2019-08-03 08:10|| 2019-08-03 08:10|| Front Page Top

#4 I agree with #2-3. Where is the gummint in this? Don't they regulate this stuff?

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-08-03 09:15|| 2019-08-03 09:15|| Front Page Top

#5 Where is the gummint in this?

Watching their 'Big Pharma' portfolio dividends explode.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-08-03 09:40|| 2019-08-03 09:40|| Front Page Top

#6 Not to let Purdue off the hook, but the DEA should have been on top of the over production and over prescription as well, especially when the bodies of OD victims started stacking up. Gotta wonder why so many doctors over prescribed unless they thought they could get away with it.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2019-08-03 16:07|| 2019-08-03 16:07|| Front Page Top

#7 I always recommend taking a look at:

In the pipeline
Derek Lowe's commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry. An editorially independent blog from the publishers of Science Translational Medicine. All content is Derek’s own, and he does not in any way speak for his employer.

Derek Lowe is a research chemist who works in Big Pharma so he has some interesting insights.

Posted by magpie 2019-08-03 17:38|| 2019-08-03 17:38|| Front Page Top

01:42 DarthVader
01:11 Angealing+B.+Hayes4677
00:59 Angealing+B.+Hayes4677
00:48 trailing wife
00:44 Elmaper+McGurque1612
00:36 Elmaper+McGurque1612
00:18 Beldar+Uneter3543
00:11 Skidmark