Purdue Pharma LP, the Connecticut company that developed OxyContin, has been vilified for planting the seeds of today’s opioid crisis, which kills an estimated 78 Americans a day. But the role of Abbott in pushing the drug has largely escaped notice. The documents reveal it was a crucial partner in the aggressive — and misleading — selling of OxyContin during its first decade on the market.
Abbott’s relationship with Purdue and its part in building the OxyContin brand are detailed in previously secret court filings unsealed by a Welch, W.Va., state court judge at the request of STAT. The records were part of a case brought by the state of West Virginia against Purdue and Abbott that alleged they inappropriately marketed the drug, causing users to become addicted to the opioid. The case was settled in 2004 when Purdue agreed to pay $10 million to the state. Neither company admitted any wrongdoing.
The documents include internal Abbott and Purdue memos, as well as sales documents and marketing materials. They show that Abbott sales reps were instructed to downplay the threat of addiction with OxyContin and make other claims to doctors that had no scientific basis. The sales reps from the two companies closely coordinated their efforts, met regularly to strategize, and shared marketing materials.
Abbott, a much larger company than Purdue, had a sales force entrenched in hospitals and surgical centers, and had existing relationships with anesthesiologists, emergency room doctors, surgeons, and pain management teams. Abbott devoted at least 300 sales reps to OxyContin sales — about the same number of people Purdue initially dedicated to the drug — as part of a co-promotional agreement with Purdue.
Winning Abbott’s help was so important to Purdue that it agreed to indemnify the larger company from any legal costs that might arise from the selling of the drug. It was a provision that ended up saving Abbott millions of dollars, and also kept the company out of the headlines as Purdue was forced to pay huge fines and settlements from the illegal marketing of OxyContin.
Abbott declined to comment about the marketing techniques outlined in the court documents, or disclose how much it was paid by Purdue to sell OxyContin. A spokeswoman’s only comment was that “Abbott was indemnified by Purdue in the lawsuit.” Abbott no longer sells pharmaceutical products in the United States, having split off that business into a new company in 2013.
