RAPP
Relatives Against Purdue Pharma
Dedicated To All The Victims Of The Prescription Drug
Oxycontin
Q: What is RAPP?
A: Relatives Against Purdue Pharma, is a group of
dedicated family members, friends and concerned
citizens, committed to changing current Government and
FDA guidelines concerning the powerful prescription
narcotic, Oxycontin. RAAP conducts peaceful protests,
nationwide, in an effort to have this dangerous drug
more closely regulated and returned to the medical
purpose of it�s development and manufacture �
administration to cancer patients and patients with
severe chronic pain. To help stop this epidemic please
email [email protected]
Q. Why do you blame Purdue Pharma for the
OXYCONTIN epidemic?
A.
The trail of addiction and death due to the Oxycontin
epidemic was fueled by the over prescribing and easy
street access to this powerful narcotic. Instead of
acknowledging the problem, Purdue denied it, as they
aggressively marketed this powerful narcotic to general
practitioners for moderate pain. They downplayed the
risks and exaggerated the benefits; however, they were
not selling widgets, but a powerful drug that almost
always causes addiction that often leads to death.
Here
are just a few of the many examples of their corporate
greed, which have been documented in newspapers,
magazines, television, and the book, Painkiller,
by New York Times journalist, Barry Meier:
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Sales representatives for Purdue Pharma have
come forward to reveal the aggressive marketing
practices that Purdue trained them to use. They
reported the tactic of "targeting general
practitioners,� advising them that less than 1% of
patients get addicted and that OxyContin is less
likely to be abused. One representative for Purdue
Pharma claims to have been fired for refusing to deal
with �PILL MILL� doctors.
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Purdue Pharma was aware of the doctors who were
writing HUGE numbers of prescriptions for OxyContin,
but never once offered this data to law enforcement,
even after they received a large number of death
reports resulting from over prescribed OxyContin.
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In the year, 2001, Purdue Pharma spent two
hundred million dollars in advertising to promote
OxyContin, even after they had knowledge of the
hundreds of addiction and death reports.
-
"The former Acting Director of FDA Review Division",
was the lead actor and prime mover to get OxyContin
pushed through FDA approval. After retiring from the
FDA he was given a job by Purdue Pharma.
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Many of the death reports are from relatives and
the addiction reports from patients, many of whom
should never have been prescribed OxyContin.
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Purdue Pharma reported they were shocked that
people were crushing OxyContin in spite of the proof
that Purdue Pharma was warned that this had also
happened to another one of their time-released drugs,
MS Contin.
-
A Clinical Researcher employed by Purdue Pharma
alleges in a lawsuit filed against the pharmaceutical
company that he had informed Purdue management of a
flaw in the design of the drug�s time-released
coating. In addition, this employee claims that he
was advised to not alert Purdue Pharma�s in-house drug
regulators of this flaw, including the government.
Shortly thereafter, this employee�s job was
terminated.
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Purdue Pharma approached the FDA for OxyContin�s
approval, claiming that their �research� revealed that
less than 1% of those who used the drug would become
addicted; however, recent media reports refute that
claim, contending that Purdue Pharma had evidence that
the addiction rate would be much higher.
-
Many elected officials, along with law
enforcement who once fought the OxyContin epidemic,
have been hired by Purdue Pharma and, now, as paid
employees of the company, tout OxyContin�s �safety and
effectiveness.�
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�Cutting a deal� with Florida�s former State
Attorney General, Bob Butterworth, on his last day in
office, included Mr. Butterworth accepting a two
million dollar donation for a prescription monitoring
program to be engineered by one of his closest friends
who Purdue Pharma had hired as a lobbyist, under the
terms that the state would drop its investigation into
Purdue Pharma�s marketing practices.
-
The FDA produced warning letters to Purdue
Pharma, addressing their �false and misleading�
advertising in magazines and promotional materials.
-
A New York Federal Judge recently ruled that
Purdue Pharma misled government officials to prevent
other companies from marketing a generic form of
OxyContin.
-
Purdue Pharma is now attempting to get approved
a time-released Dilauded pain killer to treat moderate
pain called Palladone, and it is reportedly ten
times stronger than OxyContin.
Many
more examples of Purdue Pharma's corporate greed, can be
found at
www.oxyabusekills.com Please read the
Guestbook, then see the Updated News Stories
on this website. Read the many heartbreaking stories
from victims on the Memorial page; also, for the
complete truth about Purdue Pharma and its painkillers,
order the book �Pain Killer�. You will be
shocked that these kind of aggressive marketing
practices have been allowed to continue for so many
years and that so many deaths from one pain killer,
OxyContin, has not been addressed sooner.
Q: Who manufactures Oxycontin?
A: Stamford, Connecticut based Purdue Pharma,
L.P. Introduced in 1995, Purdue Pharma�s profits
from the sales of Oxycontin have increased every
year since. In 2002, 7 million prescriptions were
written, resulting in a 1.5 billion dollar windfall
for Purdue Pharma.
Recently, allegations of a design flaw in
Oxycontin�s 12 hour time released coating, false and
misleading advertising and aggressive marketing by
Purdue Pharma Sales Reps, have made major headlines.
These types of allegations, prompted the Florida
State Attorney General, Bob Buttersworth, to launch
an investigation in to Purdue Pharma�s marketing and
sales tactics in that state. The investigation was
suddenly dropped, on the Attorney Generals last day
in office, after Purdue Pharma pledged 2 million
dollars towards a statewide Prescription Drug
Monitoring Program. RAPP would like to see this
investigation reopened as a 2 million dollar
donation does not indicate INNOCENCE. These media
allegations need to be investigated. Many are still
dying.
Faced with hundreds of lawsuits, claiming
compensation for Oxycontin injuries and deaths,
Purdue Pharma has donated thousands of dollars to
communities, in an effort to combat the Oxycontin
problem. They defeat that effort by spending
millions in advertising. They continue to promote
the safety and effectiveness of Oxycontin, while
news reports, from all over the country, talk of
addiction, injury and death. In 2001 Purdue spent
200 MILLION dollars promoting the painkiller to
Doctors.
While mired in the Oxycontin controversy, Purdue
Pharma is developing another time released and even
stronger narcotic drug, "Palladone". Palladone will
reportedly be 10 TIMES STRONGER than Oxycontin. RAPP
believes that given the ongoing, nationwide problems
with Oxycontin, our Government and the FDA SHOULD
NOT ALLOW Palladone�s approval for moderate pain and
delay approval until a tamper resistant form of the
pill has been developed. History would repeat itself
if this mistake were allowed to happen again.
Purdue Pharma CAN and SHOULD do more to fight the
Oxycontin problem. Making billions but only spending
a small portion to help Law Enforcement fight a
problem, is little help. Purdue spends huge amounts
on PR and Lawyer retainer fees are 4 million a
month.
Oxycontin continues to wreak havoc in our
communities. Purdue also has not helped those
addicted whether former patients or street users.
Richard Blumenthal, the CT Attorney General, called
on the company to estimate the percentage of sales
to illicit use and allocate that percentage of
profits to help those addicted, but nothing was
done. Any patient who gets addicted is left on their
own. Mr. Blumenthal was also very critical of Purdue
for claiming that less than 1% of patients get
addicted while he said studies show the addiction
rate is closer to 13%. The
GUEST BOOK on this website is full of death and
addiction stories and MANY are from legitimate
patients.
For the full story on Purdue Pharma and the
Oxycontin epidemic, buy the book "Pain Killer: The
True Story of a Prescription Drug Disaster", by
Barry Meier. Ordering information can be found at
the top of website.
RAPP (Relatives Against Purdue Pharma)
CLICK HERE for more RAPP PICS
See the news story about the
protest on the
newspage 10/23/03
My name is Kay and I lost my only child, my son Jason
Lancing Kelley on June 6, 2003, only four and a half
months ago as of 10/03. He was involved in a motorcycle
accident 2 1/2 years ago and given the drug OxyContin
for non-terminal pain... he became addicted not long
after.... The last two years of his life were a horror
story of addiction, withdrawal, pharmacy hopping, being
over prescribed the drug and so on...... Then he finally
lost his battle against this miserable drug when he
breathed his last breath.. I lost my life, my love and
my heart.
I have taken an active stance against Purdue Pharma...
In fact, Thursday, October 23rd we protested the main
headquarters in Stamford, CT..... I have the news
articles and photos of the coverage..... ..
Let's do this for our kids...
thank you
Kay Kelley-Moretti
Visit my webpage
(Jay's Place)
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