Two members of the Perdue family, the folks who made tens of billions of dollars addicting patients to dangerous drugs, testified before Congress yesterday. Both averred there was nothing they could have done to avoid/prevent the damage their company did.
Yesterday the CDC reported 81,230 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in the 12-months ending in May 2020.
Quoting the CDC:
This represents a worsening of the drug overdose epidemic in the United States and is the largest number of drug overdoses for a 12-month period ever recorded.
The Perdue family’s complicity in this national disaster is obvious and damning to everyone but the billionaires who’ve parked more than $10 billion of their profits from drug dealing offshore, safe from recovery efforts by American law enforcement and Perdue’s victims.
This from Kathe Perdue:
“I have tried to figure out, was there anything that I could have done differently? Knowing what I knew then — not what I know now?” said Dr. Sackler, who served on the board from 1990 to 2018. “There’s nothing that I can find that I would have done differently based on what I believed and understood then.”
Perdue on the Board through 2018, many years after Perdue Pharma’s criminal sales practices had been prosecuted, fines paid, settlements authorized. She was on the Board in 2007 when it authorized a $600 million settlement to resolve just one set of charges.
Oh, that represented 1/50th of the family’s net worth.
Two conclusions are possible – and only two.
Either Ms Perdue really couldn’t think of anything she could have “done differently” to stop her company’s ongoing, continuous and highly effective efforts to addict people, or she’s a bald-faced liar.
In the first instance, she’s a psychopath.
In the second, she lied to Congress.
What does this mean for you?
When are you going to sue these bastards for what they’ve done to your customers, employees, members, and organization?
Thanks to Steve Feinberg MD for the heads up on the CDC data.
Medications do not overdose patient’s , the patient’s overdose on medications. I do not believe that any drug company is to blame anyone who abuses medication. If the FDA approves it then its up to the doctor’s to control the prescribing and intake. Do more tests to make sure that the medication is needed, learn to identify if a patient is addicted and get them weaned off and provide an alternate medication. Send them to psychological therapy. Electrical Stimulation, physical therapy is available why not do that. It’s like blaming Smith & Wesson for gun related deaths.
Ma. C – You clearly have no understanding of what Perdue and other opioid manufacturers did to drive up usage. They lied, misstated facts, co-opted physicians, paid off medical boards, sued opponents, and published misleading information – all part of their effort to make billions.
Most recently Purdue pled guilty to criminal charges. https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2020/11/purdue-pharma-plead-guilty-opioid-criminal-charges/
A five second google search will list several other criminal actions.
Those are the facts. You are entitled to your own beliefs. You are not entitled to your own facts.
Mr Paduda, I will certainly research on this Pharmaceutical company but I was speaking in general about the Opiod crisis. Thank you for correcting me.
Ma. C – thanks for the note.
Re the opioid crisis, there are several excellent books on the subject, as well as a wealth of reporting. A few suggestions:
great longform article on the Sacklers https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain
Barry Meier’s Pain Killer – https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525511105?ots=1&ascsubtag=%5B%5Dst%5Bp%5Dcjlsf3dn10016v7yeo838anr6%5Bi%5DJKEhGC%5Bd%5DD%5Bz%5Dm%5Bt%5Dw%5Br%5Dgoogle.com&tag=thestrategistsite-20
Sam Quinones’ Dreamland is excellent – and terrifying
Beth Macy’s Dopesick ties docs, Purdue, and addiction together https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525511105?ots=1&ascsubtag=%5B%5Dst%5Bp%5Dcjlsf3dn10016v7yeo838anr6%5Bi%5DJKEhGC%5Bd%5DD%5Bz%5Dm%5Bt%5Dw%5Br%5Dgoogle.com&tag=thestrategistsite-20
Thanks for reading – Joe
Their testimonies before congress disgusted me.
what a disgusting display by these family members, have they no consciences?
This was a clear cut effort to make unsuspecting patients the source of their making billions of dollars.
As soon as they came under fire, the sent their billions out of the country to protect their assets for a good future for their family.
That said, this is a lesson for all of us to think for ourselves and do our due diligence in our healthcare.
Well said Diana – and beware of pharma bearing gifts without risks
America is so forgiving, and in no time the Perdue’s “PR/image expert” will have the family crying on Oprah–conflicted, wringing their hands and seemingly debilitated by the unfair court of public opinion by which they have been victimized. Of course they knew nothing—just like Kenneth Lay at Enron, Bernie Ebbers at Worldcom, Richard Scrushy at HealthSouth, and Bernie Madoff’s sons. All were the last to know and allegedly (self-proclaimed) squeaky clean. And then there are those wrongly accused who devote their lives to proving their righteousness. (You do know that OJ is still assiduously searching for Nicole’s killer.)
The irony is this family feels no pain. None whatsoever. They were very successful pushers and deserve more punishment than a insignificant financial penalty. Then they bought their freedom; with monies generated by addicting people. Talk about a recurring revenue model with a subscription-fee-like structure.
Anyone who has even a smidgen of a doubt about the Purdue family’s guilt, should read the Massachusetts Attorney General‘s complaint against Purdue Pharma. It is a ringing indictment of what the Sackler family has done.