OxyContin was approved by the FDA in 1996 as a 12-hour time-release pain medication for the treatment of moderate to severe pain experienced chronically in patients with terminal cancer, paralysis, and musculoskeletal conditions. The advantage of OxyContin over other pain tablets is that the pills are required once every twelve hours instead of every three to six as required with alternative pain medications.
However, there are multiple problems stemming from the painkiller OxyContin. If the tablets are broken, chewed, or crushed, the patient could absorb a potentially fatal dose of the oxycodone as it is rapidly released in the bloodstream. As a popular black market drug, OxyContin tends to be consumed improperly by addicts. OxyContin has been linked to more than 120 overdose deaths nationwide, and the death rate is expected to increase as its popularity on the black market grows.
OxyContin has further received the reputation as a drug more
addictive than heroine. This coupled with allegations that OxyContin
has been over-prescribed, in part by the push of manufacturer
Purdue Pharma, LP, causes a dangerous situation. OxyContin’s
sales have exceeded $1 billion. When patients who do not have
severe or chronic pain are prescribed OxyContin, they may end up
addicted after the injury is healed.
These factors have contributed to a series of lawsuits alleging
that the manufacturer Purdue Pharma, and co-promoter Abbott
Laboratories, with affiliates P.F. Laboratories, and PRA Holdings
Inc., aggressively marketed OxyContin and downgraded the risks.
In addition, doctors are being sued for the unwarranted prescription
of such a potentially dangerous medicine.
