Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong

by Paul A. Offit

IN LATE 1995, at the same time that Russell Portenoy was urging American physicians to get over their fear of painkillers, the FDA approved Purdue Pharma’s timed-released version of OxyContin. Purdue’s sales force promoted the drug for the treatment of lower back pain, arthritis, trauma, fibromyalgia, dental procedures, broken bones, sports injuries, and pain resulting from surgery. In other words: everything. And they constantly repeated Portenoy’s mantra that less than one percent of patients would become addicted to the drug. In 1996, more than 300,000 prescriptions for OxyContin were written for a net profit to Purdue Pharma of $44 million. Realizing it had created the right drug at the right time, Purdue doubled its sales force, offered coupons for a free 7- to 30-day supply of the drug (34,000 coupons were redeemed), increased its yearly advertising budget to $200 million, and paid $40 million in incentive bonuses. In 2001, Purdue reaped $1.45 billion from the sale of OxyContin, the highest retail sale of any named pharmaceutical product, including Viagra.