Thread by @ProPublica

1/ So, we reviewed some previously secret passages of a court document filed by the state of Massachusetts in its civil complaint against @purduepharma, the makers of OxyContin.

Here’s what it said.

@purduepharma 2/ First, some background:

MA’s civil complaint contends that the Sackler fam (who founded @purduepharma) pushed for higher doses of OxyContin, guided efforts to mislead doctors and the public about the drug’s addictive capacity, and blamed misuse on patients.

@purduepharma 3/ For example, the part of the doc made public earlier this month revealed an email from 2001 in which Richard Sackler wrote:

“We have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible, they are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals.” propub.li/2DKX6ui

@purduepharma 4/ But it didn’t end there. The prev. secret sections we reviewed allege that execs considered entering the “attractive market” of opioid addiction treatment.

To be clear: we’re talking about treatment for addiction to the drugs they were working to sell as much of as possible.

@purduepharma 5) In internal correspondence beginning in 2014, Purdue Pharma executives discussed how the sale of opioids and the treatment of opioid addiction are “naturally linked” and that the company should expand across “the pain and addiction spectrum,” the document alleges.

@purduepharma 6/ In response to our q’s, the company accused the state of trying to vilify it by taking snippets “out of context.”

...but it acknowledged that it had considered acquiring the rights to sell drugs that combat addiction or reverse the effects of an overdose.

@purduepharma 7/ (BTW, Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of Oxy is blamed by some analysts for propelling the crisis that has resulted in 200,000 overdose deaths related to prescription opioids since 1999).
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@purduepharma 8/ This story was published in partnership with @statnews.

Sign up here to get all of our investigations as we publish them: propub.li/2HEjQA8

@purduepharma @statnews 9/ PS: the redacted passages also allege that @McKinsey worked with @purduepharma on how to “counter the emotional messages from mothers with teenagers that overdosed in [sic] OxyContin.”

A McKinsey spokesman declined comment.
propub.li/2WxDb9A