All in the Name of $$$ Oxycontin Makers Pushing for FDA to Ok Use for SIX YEAR OLDS

The maker of OxyContin is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to label the controversial painkiller for use by children as young as 6 in a move that could serve to extend the company’s expiring patent on the lucrative drug, The Daily has learned

Looking to extend their patent. One of the most abused and addictive pain killers that exists. They claim it is in the name of research, but that is so obviously not true.

“They are doing (the pediatric trial) for patent exclusivity, there’s no doubt about it in my mind — not out of largesse,” said Dr. Elliot Krane, director of pain management at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. “That’s important for their bottom line.”

The family-owned pharmaceutical company earned an estimated $2.8 billion in revenue last year from sales of the powerful opioid, part of the same drug family as morphine and heroin. Purdue is fiercely guarding its exclusivity in the market through ongoing legal battles, and now, it appears, through a pediatric trial that could stave off competitors for another six months.

Is there an upside? Of course, studies give information, which can be beneficial.

Many of the nation’s top pediatric pain experts say Purdue’s children’s trial is, all in all, a good thing. But critics, citing Purdue’s history of criminal marketing practices, worry that use of the drug by children could expand and lead to greater addiction and abuse woes.

“There’s good medical evidence that suggests a brain that’s not fully mature is at greater risk at developing the disease of addiction,” said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and the head of psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. The pediatric community underestimates those risks, he said, because they have given too much credence to drugmakers, who have systematically downplayed the dangers.

What do you think of Purdue?

In a landmark case for the pharmaceutical industry, Purdue in 2007 admitted in court that it misled doctors and the public about OxyContin’s risk of addiction. The company and three top company executives, each charged with a felony, paid $635 million in fines.

How much longer will the medical establishment be run by pharmacuetical companies?

OxyContin’s track record for abuse so far is stark. Last year painkillers — mainly oxycodone, as the brand OxyContin, and hydrocodone — caused more deaths than coc aine and heroin combined. The opioid epidemic has killed more than 100,000 people since 1999, more than U.S. military deaths during the Vietnam war.

Death in a Bottle



ColoradoJens

Absolutely sickening, thank you for posting this.

And I can see the FDA approving the measure simply to line more of big pharma's pockets. They have a symbiotic relationship so it only makes good business sense to do so.

The younger they can drug up the American people into subservience, the better... and all for a profit!

reply to post by ColoradoJens


This is our fault. Florida had 97 of the top 100 Oxy prescribers about 3 years ago, and today we only have 14, and it is probably lower than that after last week's "Pill Street Blues" record bust!

So, with all those Oxy's not being prescribed, they have to now look elsewhere.

What kind of pain does a 6 year old need an Oxy for? I know I wrecked my bike, straddled the bar and split my boys, went head over the handlebars many times, and my Mom wouldn't even give me tylenol! Usually I got alcohol and iodine instead!!! On good days I might get a frozen bag of peas to put on my swollen peas.

BURN the OPIUM fields and find new ways for PAIN relief this is insane especially since its known what effects this and other prescription drugs have on the general masses. SEEMS LIKE SOMEBODY IS LOOKING FOR NEW CUSTOMERS, ELIMINATE excuses for usage of these crops. SMH there ARE alternatives.

Yep...

and the free natural solution for pain is illegal...


Sure why not lets give kids hardcore RX narcotics because Big Pharm can make a profit.

reply to post by Dreine


It is true what you say. And to boot, they even go so far as to make people getting addicted pay top $...

HARTFORD, Conn., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- A number of consumer groups and individuals today filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, L.P. ("Purdue") claiming that the drug maker reaped billions in unlawful profit from OxyContin consumers through fraudulent patents and sham lawsuits that blocked generic alternatives to the widely prescribed pain reliever.

www.opioids.com...

CJ

All I have to say is that it would take me both hands to count on my fingers the number of people I know who have either been killed or put in the hospital by O.C.

This is absolutely disgusting. That drug should be outlawed.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Even as they know how addictive it is, when you become addicted it is no longer their issue.

Teresa Bright, one of five plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, claimed to have become addicted after using OxyContin that was prescribed to her husband. Bright's "own illegal conduct" is the sole cause of her problem, Purdue Pharma maintained in court papers.

Addicted? Tough.

CJ

reply to post by ColoradoJens

What a disgrace! I wonder how many pharma reps will give this to their kids?!
I wonder what the side effects will read? Caution, this drug may create addiction and form neural pathways that can only be satisfied with opiates, in super pharmaceutical form. After just one, your child will welcome future doses. They may scratch their arms and feel agitated, but it is nothing the drug won't fix.
Man, maximum(beyond good ole viability) jobs growth and bottom line just do not mix with pharma co's imo.
Today there is a report of GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3bn in US drug fraud scandal too, and here is a little gem.

"The sales force bribed physicians to prescribe GSK products using every imaginable form of high-priced entertainment, from Hawaiian vacations [and] paying doctors millions of dollars to go on speaking tours, to tickets to Madonna concerts," said US attorney Carmin Ortiz.

Look, I appreciate the pursuit of profits, but to what end? Viability is not enough, they want maximum profits. I just hope there are enough people/parents AND DOCTORS to speak out against this.

ETA:

The profit margin associated with the illicit sale of OxyContin is enormous. Legitimate prices for OxyContin generally range from $.09 to $.13 per milligram compared to illicit prices of up to $1 per milligram. For example, an 80-mg tablet that costs approximately $7 to $8 in a pharmacy can sell for between $50 and $80 illicitly. Therefore, a 100-tablet bottle of 80-mg strength OxyContin purchased legally for approximately $750 can sell for $5,000 to $8,000 illicitly. Law enforcement reporting indicates that the most commonly diverted dosages of OxyContin are the 40-mg and 80-mg varieties.

OXYCONTIN: Price per tablet
Dosage
10-mg
20-mg
40-mg
80-mg
160-mg
Licit Retail
$1.30
$2.35
$3.75
$7.60
$14.00
Illicit Retail
$5 - $12
$10 - $20
$30 - $40
$50 - $80
$60 - $160

Sources: Federal, state, local law enforcement authorities and pharmacists

www.deacompliance.com...
Smell that money!

reply to post by ColoradoJens


Isn't this the drug that, after copious amounts were flushed into the sea, drove thousands of shrimp to commit suicide?

Children beware...

reply to post by captaintyinknots


They were sued in 07 after it came out they pushed doctors to prescribe it every eight hours instead of the reccomended 12 hours - how many more pills were sold alone due to this?

Hartford, CT: (May-08-07) In a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and state Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. against Stamford-based Purdue Pharma LLC, the maker of the painkiller OxyContin, they alleged that the company propagated illegal marketing practices that led to greater abuse of the highly addictive painkiller. The suit claimed that Purdue Pharma also violated FDA rules by encouraging doctors to prescribe the drug to be administered every eight hours rather than every 12 hours, which has led to misuse, diversion and abuse of Oxycontin by increasing the amount of the drug in circulation. In a settlement reached with 27 states, Purdue agreed to pay $19.5 million as well as not to market the drug for off-label purposes, that is uses other than those approved by the US Food and Drug Administration

take it all the time

CJ

reply to post by getreadyalready

Kids who have aggressive cancer, and other extreme illness that cause major pain. I do not think they will be giving young kids synthetic heroin for a stuffed knee, or bike wreck.. I would hope not anyway.

While I might not agree with some points, this drug has worked very well for people who really do need it, and are honestly in that much pain.
Yet over and over again the junkies tend to throw a turd in the punch bowl.
Take away these pills, and the junkies will find something else.

But I think we all know what is really going on here. This drug is rooting into our society. And I have seen far to much in my days to know how evil of a drug this really is.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
All I have to say is that it would take me both hands to count on my fingers the number of people I know who have either been killed or put in the hospital by O.C.

This is absolutely disgusting. That drug should be outlawed.

7 per day are accidentally killed by prescription drugs in Florida alone.

A cousin of mine died last summer. He had been through a divorce and had an anti-depressant. Then he got a new job and a new girlfriend, but he hurt his back at work one day. The doc prescribed a painkiller, and a muscle-relaxer, and he already had a sleep aid and an anti-depressant. He took his meds as prescribed, went to bed, and never woke up. He wasn't addicted, he didn't overdose, he didn't do anything wrong, and legally neither did the doctor, yet he was dead.

I wrote about it a while back...
The Pandemic of Prescription Drugs

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Agreed. Sad state of affairs. This, from the Physician's Desk Reference Guide:

OxyContin is not for use in children

Not Made for Kids

CJ

Just so everyone knows, if the doctor prescribes oxycodone to you or your child, you are under no obligation to actually have it filled or take the pills. People act like these drug companies own them because they don't have enough sense to just say "no". I couldn't care less if anyone is addicted to anything, I have no business keeping them from their stuff. I just know I would ask the doctor for something not in the opiate category. Why is only worrying about yourself so difficult? Why is thinking for yourself so much more difficult?

That's just plain NUTS!
Has anyone here ever taken it?
I pulled my back last year, I was in extreme pain. A friend of mine gave me one....OH MY GOD! Talk about loopy. Yes it worked. It is easy to see why people get addicted to it. I would never want to be on it for any length of time.
But for kids....NOT!

reply to post by zysin5

More like kids who have aggressive cancer, and other extreme illness that cause major pain. I do not think they will be giving young kids synthetic heroin for a stuffed knee, or bike wreck..

Sure, but do the doctors know that?

I work in healthcare regulation. You should see the things I see. The intention might be for the worst cases, but parents will be using their kids to get drugs for themselves, and doctors will be prescribing the drugs for anything that walks through the door. In fact they already are, but this will just make it harder to nail them for it.

It's a well known fact that people in this nation, and probably to a lesser degree worldwide, are over-diagnosed and over-prescribed drugs that do nothing but promote further drug dependency.

My step-aunt was recently 'diagnosed' with panic attacks (more like normal stress had gotten to her, but I digress). As of the last time I spoke with her (May), she is now on 4 different medications for her panic... FOUR! Not one drug, not two, but four costly, exotic drugs that I am sure are doing nothing other than creating a toxic stew in her body to addict her to the cocktail. Of course, she is of the mindset that the drugs, and her doctor, and helping her.

I did not ask her exactly what meds she was taking but will the next time I see her so I can do some research... FYI, I happen to DESPISE pharma companies.

Originally posted by TruthSeekerMike
Just so everyone knows, if the doctor prescribes oxycodone to you or your child, you are under no obligation to actually have it filled or take the pills. People act like these drug companies own them because they don't have enough sense to just say "no". I couldn't care less if anyone is addicted to anything, I have no business keeping them from their stuff. I just know I would ask the doctor for something not in the opiate category. Why is only worrying about yourself so difficult? Why is thinking for yourself so much more difficult?

You are missing one factor here:

Your child is in pain. The ONLY thing the doctor will prescribe is OC. what then? Let your child stay in pain, or give them the drug?

reply to post by captaintyinknots


You, sir, are missing another factor. Who says the administered drug has to be over the counter? Who says it has to be prescription? Maybe at that point, if your faith in the pharmaceutical industry fails, you should rely on natural remedies.

Just don't advise it to anyone else. Feds frown on that sort of helpfulness.