LINK How the American opiate epidemic was started by one pharmaceutical company
On December 12, 1995, the Food and Drug Administration approved the opioid analgesic OxyContin. It hit the market in 1996. In its first year, OxyContin accounted for $45 million in sales for its manufacturer, Stamford, Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma. By 2000 that number would balloon to $1.1 billion, an increase of well over 2,000 percent in a span of just four years. Ten years later, the profits would inflate still further, to $3.1 billion. By then the potent opioid accounted for about 30 percent of the painkiller market. What's more, Purdue Pharma's patent for the original OxyContin formula didn't expire until 2013. This meant that a single private, family-owned pharmaceutical company with non-descript headquarters in the Northeast controlled nearly a third of the entire United States market for pain pills.
OxyContin's ball-of-lightning emergence in the health care marketplace was close to unprecedented for a new painkiller in an age where synthetic opiates like Vicodin, Percocet, and Fentanyl had already been competing for decades in doctors' offices and pharmacies for their piece of the market share of pain-relieving drugs. In retrospect, it almost didn't make sense. Why was OxyContin so much more popular? Had it been approved for a wider range of ailments than its opioid cousins? Did doctors prefer prescribing it to their patients?
During its rise in popularity, there was a suspicious undercurrent to the drug's spectrum of approved uses and Purdue Pharma's relationship to the physicians that were suddenly privileging OxyContin over other meds to combat everything from back pain to arthritis to post-operative discomfort. It would take years to discover that there was much more to the story than the benign introduction of a new, highly effective painkiller.
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I just love reading news links that I've already read before. To think I came to this site to avoid politics - boggles the mind.
SLBushway
Level 7
Jan 15, 2019
1
You aren't forced to read it again or comment. I've never seen it and I was just about to say I think it's a great article.
I hope you didn't come to this site for dating because you are coming off as an ass right now.
@CaroleKay I didn't come to this site for dating - I came to this site to discuss agnostic views and opinions. "Agnostic" it's in the title - if it's about recycled news articles - perhaps the forum should be renamed to "crap we've all read before coming here" - well, at least to those that are capable.
@CaroleKay I am suggesting the same for you as you're a bit of a drama queen. I simply stated that I didn't much care for recycled news that wasn't followed up with an opinion by the person that created the post. Look at where or to the extent that you've taken it. Everything this member posted in terms of what would be considered an opinion - was already posted online. There's an easy way to confirm this but you're clearly not capable. Post an opinion or STFU - otherwise - most people have read it already and unless you're doing it for points so that you can move up another level - it doesn't make much sense to "contribute" - though it is not really a contribution.
Hey Shawn, I'm sorry you don't seem to like what I posted. I haven't checked recently but there are a heck of a lot of posts every day, I don't have a number. So treat the site as a smorgasbord, pick and choose. And if it isn't to your liking, move on. Not everything on this site is going to be tailored to you. Others seem to be enjoying the discussion, don't be the black cloud. Thanks!
It is because of opiates like this that I am married to someone that cannot be reasoned with. I cannot have an intelligent conversation with her and I feel as though I no longer have a companion. I know that I should leave however I feel that I would be abandoning her. It's just not that easy for me to walk away.
19dacar52
Level 7
Jan 14, 2019
1
How are people getting RX pain meds? I can only get RX NSAIDS, 
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