Categories: OLD Media Moves

OxyContin maker seeks to prevent media from accessing marketing records

Purdue Pharma LP, the maker of the prescription pain killer OxyContin, filed its opposition Monday to an effort by STAT to unseal documents related to how it marketed its powerful opioid medication, reports David Armstrong of STAT.

Armstrong writes, “The filing in Pike Circuit Court, Kentucky, argues that STAT has no constitutional or common law right to unseal the records, which include a deposition of Dr. Richard Sackler, a Purdue board member and former company president who is a member of the family that controls the closely held company.

“The documents sought by STAT were produced during a lawsuit filed by the state of Kentucky against Purdue, alleging the company helped create a wave of addiction by improperly downplaying the addictive properties of its drug while aggressively marketing the drug to doctors. Purdue denied the claims. In December, the case was settled, with Purdue agreeing to pay the state $24 million.

“A hearing on the STAT motion to unseal documents in the case is scheduled for Friday in Pike Circuit Court in Pikeville, Ky. A spokesman for Purdue said the company had no comment on the court filing.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.