OxyContin

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A Searing New Report Claims Opioid Drugmakers Spent 8 Times as Much as the NRA on Lobbying

Erin Brodwin | Business Insider | September 19, 2016

A searing new report from the Associated Press claims that the makers of opioid painkillers, the dangerous drugs at the center of the tragic overdose crisis, outspent the US gun lobby on lobbying and campaign contributions by 8:1. The report looked at the period from 2006 to 2015, when deaths from the drugs began to skyrocket. Here are some of its most striking findings...

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Could There Be a Blockchain Solution to High Prescription Drug Prices?

Michael Scott | Bitcoin Magazine | March 28, 2017

Prescription drugs are one of the biggest contributors to soaring healthcare costs in the U.S.  And for both individuals and families, particularly where multiple prescriptions are needed, drug expenses can quickly escalate to thousands of dollars. According to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 8 in 10 Americans would like the government to negotiate prices for those on Medicare. Additionally, Americans want limits set on the amount drug companies can charge for high-cost drugs, such as those to treat cancer...

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Inside Big Pharma's Fight to Block Recreational Marijuana

Alfonso Serrano | The Guardian | October 10, 2016

Marijuana legalization will unleash misery on Arizona, according to a wave of television ads that started rolling out across the state last month. Replete with ominous music, the advertisements feature lawmakers and teachers who paint a bleak future for Arizona’s children if voters approve Proposition 205, a measure that would allow people aged 21 and over to possess an ounce of pot and grow up to six plants for recreational use. “Colorado schools were promised millions in new revenues” when the state approved recreational pot use, says the voiceover in one ad. Instead, schoolchildren were plagued by “marijuana edibles that look like candy”...

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Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Death Points To Broader Opioid Drug Epidemic

Joel Achenbach | Washington Post | February 7, 2014

The death last Sunday of ­Oscar-winning actor Philip ­Seymour Hoffman at age 46 ­focused media attention on the nationwide surge in heroin use and overdoses. But the very real heroin epidemic is framed by an even more dramatic increase since the beginning of the century in overdoses from pharmaceutical drugs known as opioids. Read More »

Secret Document Trove Reveals Bold ‘Crusade’ to Make OxyContin a Blockbuster

David Armstrong | STAT | September 22, 2016

The doughnut ploy, highlighted in a trove of internal documents obtained by STAT, shows the lengths to which Abbott went to hook in doctors and make OxyContin a billion-dollar blockbuster. The sales force bought takeout dinners for doctors and met them at bookstores to pay for their purchases. In memos, the sales team referred to the marketing of the drug as a “crusade,” and their boss called himself the “King of Pain.”

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