yes. for these ethical cal about ,2023, 1:37 PM CASE STUDY 10.1 zemhe MARKETING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC Mar3 One hundred forty-five Americans die from opioid overdoses every day, In addition to causing deaths, opioid addiction damages local economies, raises Purdue changed prescribing habits by fund- ing favorable research studies and by paying health care costs, increases the demand for drug doctors to argue that fears of opioid addiction treatment, boosts the crime rate, and breaks up were overstated. They did so at a time when atti- families, President Donald Trump declared the tudes about pain care were changing. Prominent opioid epidemic a national emergency in 2017. physicians believed that many patients were needlessly suffering because they couldn't get Most observers blame Purdue Pharma, owned strong enough painkillers. The company con- y the Sackler family, for triggering the opioid epi- vinced the Food and Drug Administration that emic. In 1995, the company launched an aggres- the drug was safer than rival products because ve marketing campaign to promote OxyContin@ it had a delayed absorption formula that "is he oxycodone in OxyContin is closely related to believed to reduce the abuse liability." shot on moto g stylus (xt2115dl) Company executives set up a speakers' Susan Freeman Smith rain, which is twice as powerful as morphine. bureau, paying clinicians to attend medical until that time, doctors were reluctant to pre- gatherings to deliver presentations touting the strong opioids for fear of addicting patients. the medication. (Those attending these semi- use was restricted to treating cancer pain nars prescribed OxyContin more than twice as end-of-life palliative care. (Continued) WSMITH SEY 344 Part Four = Practicing Ethics in Organizational Systems (Continued) users for abusing it . "We have to hammer on much as those who did not attend.) Purdue also abusers in every way possible," then Purdue sponsored research studies demonstrating president Richard Sackler said in 2001. "They the drug's effectiveness; advertised in medical are the culprits and the problem. They are reck- journals; distributed luggage tags, plush toys, less criminals." The firm had data indicating and other promotional items with the OxyContin which doctors and pharmacists were overpre- label; and sent tens of thousands of videos to scribing but refused to act. Company executives physicians containing testimonials from pain claimed that because they shipped the medica- specialists and satisfied patients. tion to wholesale distributors, it was the respon Purdue more than doubled its sales force in order to push the drug. They targeted gen- sibility of the wholesalers to cut off supplies to eral practitioners, who are not pain specialists, pharmacies and to notify the Drug Enforcement encouraging them to prescribe OxyContin for Administration of suspicious activity. They also less severe forms of pain like arthritis, sports ignored evidence that their claims of 12-hour injuries, and back pain. Purdue told sales reps relief were false. Patients had to dose every to assure doctors that the addiction rate for 8 hours. Even those following their doctor's patients taking OxyContin was less than 1% orders to take a pill twice a day began experi- when, in reality, it was much higher. Salespeople encing withdrawal symptoms and were likely to were handsomely rewarded for their efforts. In become addicted. 2001, the company paid average bonuses of over Purdue Pharma replaced the original $70,000. It encouraged physicians to offer cou- OxyContin pill with a new version that can't be pons for a free initial prescription to patients and ground up, and prescription rates have dropped. marketed heavily to doctors in poor communi- Addicts who can't get OxyContin on the street ties. Within five years, OxyContin was generating have turned to heroin, fentanyl, and other syn- $1 billion a year for Purdue Pharma, becoming thetic opioids. As the market for OxyContin the firm's top money maker. By 2004, OxyContin shrinks in the United States, Purdue appears was the most abused prescription opioid in the United States. to be ramping up its efforts to market the drug overseas using the same tactics-commissioned Users quickly discovered that they could get a studies, junkets, paid medical presenters, and powerful, often toxic, high by crushing OxyContin videos. pills and then snorting them, dissolving them in liquid, or injecting them. Patients began selling In 2007, the company pled guilty to criminal their pills, and some doctors set up "pill mills" to charges that it had marketed OxyContin "with the profit from issuing OxyContin prescriptions. In intent to defraud or mislead." Three company offi- Los Angeles, the Crips street gang transported cers were convicted, and they and the company groups of homeless people to pill mills where paid $635 million in fines. There are currently they would be handed prescriptions for the drug thousands of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, and took the transients to nearby pharmacies including those brought by nearly every state. to get the prescriptions filled. Gang members Sackler family members are included in many of would then sell OxyContin on the street for as these legal actions. much as $100 a pill. The Sacklers, one of the richest families in the Despite evidence of abuse, Purdue didn't world, are also among the most philanthropic, withdraw the drug but blamed recreational funding museums, colleges, and institutes. These include the Sackler Museum at Harvard, AA shot on moto g stylus (xt2115dl) Susan Freeman Smith Mar 30, 2023, 1:37 PMAr Chapter 10 Mar the Sackler Wing at the Louvre, and the Sackler Institute for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at Yale University. Some of these insti- tutions are now refusing gifts from members of the Sackler family who run the company. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York dropped ties with the Sacklers after protests by activ- ists. The Guggenheim Museum in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in Britain, some academic institutions, and other organizations followed suit. The Louvre removed the Sackler name. However, many museums and universities will keep previous donations from the family, and the Sackler name will stay on their buildings. AA Discussion Shot on moto g stylus (x121 16dd) 5 Susan Freeman Smith What les and stan Man 80 2028, 1.97 PMusing complete sentences and 1. What ethical responsibility did Purdue Pharma have in marketing OxyContin? 2. What ethical issues in marketing are present in this case study? 3. Apply specific ethical principles and strategies that could have prevented this situation This assignment is worth 40 points (12 points each for # 1 & 2 and 16 points for #3). Show desk