Was OxyContin’s 12-hour claim motivated by profit?

With the U.S. amid an opioid addiction crisis, new allegations have arisen towards a pharmaceutical company who misled consumers by marketing a best-selling painkiller incorrectly and adding to the opioid abuse.

Purdue Pharma claimed that the drug OxyContin would have lasting pain-relieving effects for 12 hours – a claim that made them over $35 billion in sales – despite knowing that the pain relief would most likely wear out before this window of time.

OxyContin has helped many people control acute pain but has also been criticized in propelling opioid addiction with many turning to the drug for dependency, addiction and overdose.

The Food and Drug Administration approved OxyContin back in the 1990s based on research that over half of the control groups used to test the drug found that it worked. However, after an investigation by the Los Angeles Times, unseen court records and company documents showed that Purdue Pharma used the marketing strategy knowing that the drug would most likely wear off before the 12 hour period.

Despite doctors recommending to take OxyContin for 8 hours, the company insisted on sticking with the 12 hour marketing plan and even recommended healthcare professionals to prescribe stronger drugs on top of the daily dose of Oxycontin.

Theodore J. Cicero of the Washington University School of Medicine says that with the drug wearing off before the 12 hour period, the patient enters “the beginning stages of acute withdrawal” and “that becomes a very powerful motivator for people to take more drugs.”

OxyContin remains popular with 5.4 million prescriptions written in 2014 and the company defended itself against the claims that were brought against them by the Los Angeles times investigation.

“In an attempt to resurrect a long-discredited theory, the paper ignores the clinical and regulatory data that directly contradicts their story,” the company said. “Over the course of two years, Purdue Pharma provided the LAT with more than a dozen hours of briefings and discussions regarding the clinical evidence supporting OxyContin’s 12-hour dosing and the regulatory requirement that we promote the product as such.”