According to the Los Angeles Times, Purdue Pharma has informed employees that it will stop promoting its opioid drugs for use among doctors for prescription. 
The drugs include the painkiller OxyContin, a drug that is highly addictive, resulting in multiple lawsuits from people and cities that say it has been overprescribed, leading to addiction and loss.
The company announced it would cut its sales force as a result of the decision.
“We have restructured and significantly reduced our commercial operation and will no longer be promoting opioids to prescribers,” the company said in a statement, according to the Times. “Going forward, questions and requests for information about our opioid products will be handled through direct communications with … our medical affairs department.”
Critics of the manufacturer have said that while this is good news, it may be too late to have an impact, as opioid over-prescription has already harmed too many people.
“Millions of Americans are now opioid-addicted because the campaign that Purdue and other opioid manufacturers used to increase prescribing worked well. And as the prescribing went up, it led to a severe epidemic of opioid addiction,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny of Brandeis University, according to the Times.
To read the report, you can click on the source link below.
Were You Over-Prescribed Opioids?
It is unfortunate that so many people have been prescribed opioids in such high numbers. The bottom line is addiction impacts not only the person struggling, but family members, friends, coworkers and the community in general.
This is why so many cities, counties and states are suing opioid manufacturers. To read more about this, click on our opioid crisis page. If you or your family member has been harmed by a dangerous prescription drug, contact our defective drug attorneys.
We can review your situation and can potentially help you move forward with litigation that can help pay for medical treatment and rehabilitation. We are the personal injury law experts of Central Texas.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-purdue-marketing-20180210-story.html
