OxyContin Maker, Execs Plead Guilty

AP
ROANOKE, Va. (May 10) - The maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty Thursday to misleading the public about the drug's risk of addiction, a federal prosecutor and the company said.

Purdue Pharma L.P. and the executives will pay $634.5 million in fines, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said in the news release.

The plea comes two days after the Stamford, Conn.-based company agreed to pay $19.5 million to 26 states and the District of Columbia to settle complaints that it encouraged physicians to overprescribe OxyContin.

"With its OxyContin, Purdue unleashed a highly abusable, addictive, and potentially dangerous drug on an unsuspecting and unknowing public," Brownlee said. "For these misrepresentations and crimes, Purdue and its executives have been brought to justice."
Inserted from AP

Is there any doubt about the greed in the Pharma industry? And they were able to convince Congress that our buying drugs from outside the US is so dangerous that the FDA must certify anything imported (even from US Co's). So how come the FDA approved OxyContin and its marketing plan in the first place?