A bipartisan investigation alleges the international group took directions from the drugmaker’s marketing and sales strategies.
By Katie Zezima Katie Zezima National reporter covering vice Email Bio Follow May 22 at 6:50 PM A new congressional report claims that the World Health Organization’s guidelines on treating pain were directly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, including a set of directions for prescribing powerful painkillers that appear to have been taken from opioid giant Purdue Pharma.
Purdue said the company “strongly denies the claims” in the report, arguing that it “seeks to vilify the company through baseless allegations.” It said the company is based in the United States and has no international operations.The report alleges that two WHO reports that provide guidelines for treating severe pain — one in adults and the other in children — draw directly from Purdue’s strategies on how to market opioids.
Five years later, Purdue’s 2001 budget plans said that OxyContin was “recommended and promoted” for Steps Two and Three in WHO’s ladder.In a 2012 document on how to treat pain in children, the WHO did away with the three-step pain protocol in favor of a two-tiered approach that recommended starting a child on a nonnarcotic painkiller such as ibuprofen and then moving to a powerful narcotic if necessary.
Purdue is now the subject of a slew of lawsuits alleging that it engaged in the deceptive marketing of opioids, claims the company denies. The company pointed to a ruling by a North Dakota judge this month that dismissed a lawsuit against Purdue, ruling that the company’s labeling practices were consistent with federal regulations.
The report claims that both Purdue and the WHO played down the risk of addiction, with the global health organization saying there was an “unreasonable fear” of opioids.
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