How Big Pharma Hooked America On Legal Heroin 499
pigrabbitbear writes "The active ingredient in OxyContin, oxycodone, isn't a new compound. It was originally synthesized in Germany in 1916. The patent on the medication had expired well before Purdue Pharma, a Stamford, Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company and the industry leader in pain medication, released it under the brand name in 1996. The genius of Purdue's continued foray into pain-management medication – they had already produced versions of hydromorphone, oxycodone, fentanyl, codeine, and hydrocodone – was twofold. They not only created a drug from an already readily available compound, but they were able to essentially re-patent the active ingredient by introducing a time-release element. Prior to the 1990s, strong opioid medications were not routinely given for miscellaneous or chronic, moderately painful conditions; the strongest classes of drugs were often reserved for the dying. But Purdue parlayed their time-release system not only into the patent for OxyContin. They also went on a PR blitz, claiming their drug was unique because of the time-release element and implied that it was so difficult to abuse that the risk of addiction was 'under 1%.'"
Dont forget the low cost (Score:4, Interesting)
Why is that, one might ask.
lies, damn lies (Score:3, Interesting)
The son of a colleague of mine chewed up a few at a party and promptly over dosed. Happy 19th birthday kid, you dead.
More hype and angst (Score:4, Interesting)
Another Slashdot 'article' full of slant and hyperbole.
Yep, Purdue over marketed the drug, Pharma always does that.
No, it was never considered 'safe' - oxycodone has always been DEA schedule II (the most 'dangerous of legal drugs').
What isn't discussed is that the reason that long acting opiates were allowed by the FDA was the increasing realization that medicine has done a historically poor job of treating pain.
Now, allopathic medicine has used, and continues to use a very immature and inadequate model both pain control and addiction. The former is hobbled by limited good research on the issue and the fact that the opiates (heroin, morphine, oxycodone and similar drugs) have been the most effective against serious pain while being significantly addictive. The latter hobbled by addiction being both a legal and a medical problem in the US. The legal system and the medical system tend to work poorly with each other and this is not an exception to that rule.
And I've not even started on the human propensity to stuff whatever it can down it's collective gullet in order to achieve some different level of consciousness.
Yep, Purdue did some poor marketing and a lot of docs (for some bizarre reason) fell for it, but they are hardly the only players in the game.
Here's the problem (Score:4, Interesting)
15-20 years ago, doctors were written up and called out for not treating enough pain. As a profession, we understand intimately the inherent dangers of opioid pain medication, and we were hesitant to use them. But patients were hurting, articles were written, and I'm sure somewhere doctors were sued. So practices changed, "pain management" is now standard curriculum at medical schools and now look, deaths and hospitalizations from prescription pain medication are at all-time highs. Purdue was likely riding the wave of the change in pain management philosophy at the time when they introduced OxyContin. The right drug at the right time, etc.
Re:Well you know... (Score:4, Interesting)
He supports candidates that support the criminalization of cannabis. That's close enough. Yes, that applies to anyone who supports Obama too. The War on Drug Users is an atrocity.
Re:Breaking the addiction is easier than you think (Score:5, Interesting)
Cannabis, of course, is ALWAYS an option :)
Chronic Pain. (Score:5, Interesting)
Is Chronic, so why not ACCEPT and MANAGE addiction?
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:More hype and angst (Score:3, Interesting)
Thank you, ColdWetDog
I find that many people who have not personally experienced years of serious chronic pain tend not have the slightest idea of what they are talking about. For these people Oxycontin=Rush. That's all they really need to know. Nevermind the solid, repeated research that shows only 2% of chronic pain patients on long term opiate therapy become addicted. Nevermind the conflation of addiction and physical dependence. Nevermind the studies showing that when properly managed, long term opiate therapy is both safe and effective over periods of 20 years or longer. Nevermind the strict protocols [wa.gov] in place for both doctor and patient when initiating chronic opiate therapy (COT) for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP). Nevermind the legally binding agreement [wa.gov]
The truth is that for many people, opiates are the only medicine that provides relief from excruciating pain. But opiates do not make the pain go away, it only reduces the pain to the point where the other tools you are given - relaxation techniques, breathing, exercise, guided imagery, etc. to have a chance to make positive contributions to your condition.
Frankly, I'm not at all surprised that the community here at Slashdot would hold long-ago disproven ideas and stereotypes about opiate therapy. It doesn't bother me all that much - it is human nature to fear what we do not understand (take Linux for example). I won't try to change your opinion. But I am truly offended by the large percentage of medical professionals who are both willfully ignorant and tragically arrogant on this issue. And because these medical professionals have no desire to enlighten themselves, many people who are in constant pain will not recieve the relief they need.
"Fear paints pictures of ghosts and hangs
them in the gallery of ignorance."
~Robert Green Ingersoll
Re:1% is probably true for all opiates (Score:2, Interesting)
How many people do you know that have tried heroin and not gotten addicted?
Quite a few, actually. A lot of people I knew experimented with heroin at my college, and very few (if any) developed an addiction. I don't think the overall percentage is 1%, but I don't think most people will get physically addicted on first use.
As for psychological addiction ("loving the stuff"), that's a different story. But the notion of psychological addition and the "addictive personality" is mostly a cultural construct anyway. Not entirely, since some people clearly have a biological susceptibility to certain chemicals -- but mostly.
Everyone has emotional pain in their lives, but if a person can't resist the urge to constantly turn to intoxicants to make that pain go away, saying that they have an "addictive personality" is basically a gussied-up way of saying that they lack self-control and the ability to make rational choices. They haven't learned to say "no" to the bratty toddler inside them; they expect to get what they want, when they want it, and can't handle the fact that life is both pleasure and pain, joy and disappointment, excitement and boredom.
("Oh, but it's not their fault, they have an addictive personality"...well, nothing is anyone's fault then, is it? What bad or destructive act can a person commit that can't be blamed on society, parents, or biology? At what point do we say that a person has some free will, and if they're a shitty person it's their own fault more than anyone else's?)
Re:Which is why... (Score:4, Interesting)
Nope. The NSAIDs (ibuprofen, etc) ARE analgesics - they work directly on the pain pathways. They ALSO are (weak) anti inflammatories and inflammation often plays a part of pain.
And it's also in your head (where else would it be?).
Re:Well you know... (Score:4, Interesting)
There is no particular intellectual component to pandering. The fact that the mouth-breathing, knuckle dragging masses that gobble up his swill are less bright than he, only tells me that his IQ isn't in the single digits... there's still plenty of room for profound idiocy, and Rush has publicly uttered inanities that remain classic even to this day. You do remember his verbal assault on Michael j. Fox for "Faking his Parkinson's" after doing a commercial for Democrat in Missouri. By the way, the year before Mike did a similar commercial for a Republican in another state whose voting record on stem cell research was admirable. Because Mike is passionate about curing the disease that will ultimately kill him. Russ is like Samson from the bible. He kills with the jawbone of an ass.