Editor’s Note:  Marianne published the article below five years ago.  What would have happened had people listened?

Was critical information withheld that potentially could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives from addiction and death as billions of dollars were put in the pockets of the perpetrators and their benefactors?

The Orlando Sentinel published a 5-part series that exposed the criminal marketing of OxyContin by Purdue Pharma.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) – Below are photos of the front page of The Orlando Sentinel, which did an explosive series in October 2003 on Purdue Pharma and their deadly new drug, OxyContin.

The 5-part series exposed the criminal marketing of OxyContin by Purdue Pharma.  You will not find this series on the internet.  Fortunately, I have copies of the newspapers and will protect the name of the journalist whom I consider a hero for the investigative work put into the series.

The journalist was an award-winning writer who, as a result of this series, caused Purdue Pharma to threaten The Orlando Sentinel and the journalist was unceremoniously terminated.

One of the shocking revelations written about the maker of OxyContin was reference to a Marek Zakrzewski, one of Purdue Pharma’s former top researchers who sued the company alleging it had tried to cover up defects in OxyContin that led to addiction and fatal overdoses.

Zakrzewski said he was fired a month after he went to the FDA to report his concerns.  He had been hired as an assistant director in July 2000 and discovered inconsistencies in OxyContin that caused some tablets to dissolve more quickly than others. This could potentially dissolve more quickly into the human body than expected causing overdosing and potentially leading to addiction and death.  He was told not to share his concerns because Purdue Pharma did not want problems with the FDA.

Zakrzewski named (17) Purdue Pharma officials who were told about irregularities including the allegation that some OxyContin were unstable when exposed to humidity or the passage of time.  He also referenced inaccurate testing methods and refusal to adhere to FDA specifications.

How many lives could have been saved if Purdue Pharma had been charged under “The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act” or RICO based on Zakrzewski’s court documents?

There was a pharmaceutical representative who worked for Purdue Pharma and sued them for giving false information to physicians in order to have OxyContin prescribed to patients.  She was fired and filed a whistleblower suit against Purdue Pharma, citing retaliation for raising concerns about OxyContin sales tactics.  Purdue Pharma countered that poor performance that resulted in the termination.

Photo by rawpixel.com /Pexels

The whistle-blower lost her case against Purdue Pharma.  Where are the files that the pharmaceutical representative had in the arsenal against Purdue Pharma?   They were handed over to an attorney who was going to look into her lost lawsuit but instead passed on representing her.  That attorney has now filed lawsuits all over the country against Purdue Pharma and has benefited quite nicely from the naive whistle-blower relinquishing files.What took so long for there to be a “feeding frenzy” of lawsuits filed against Purdue Pharma, maker of the annihilating opioid, OxyContin?  Most recently, the attorney general of Massachusetts filed a creative lawsuit naming the owners of Purdue Pharma, the wealthy philanthropic Sackler family.

There was information contained in the lawsuit that begged to be asked. Where did this all come from? Why was the privately held Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family not charged under “The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act” or RICO?

A concerning issue in the Massachusetts lawsuit is that the attorney general worked for the law firm Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr, which represented Purdue Pharma as a client.  The AG’s “significant other” is a partner in this same firm that still represents Purdue Pharma.

I wrote about my concerns with the Massachusetts lawsuit and why key players from Purdue Pharma were not named, but Board of Director members of the privately held company without day-to-day activity of the running of Purdue Pharma were named.

Is the name Curtis Wright, MD mentioned in the lawsuit?  He worked for the FDA in the approval phase of OxyContin and shortly after the approval of the opioid, became an employee of Purdue Pharma.  Did he violate his FDA employee contract?  He sure did, but the FDA claimed they did not know he was working for Purdue Pharma.  Here is a link to my article on the Massachusetts attorney general lawsuit: www.Salem-News.com/articles/august062018/ag-healey-purdue-pharma-msp.php

Now, ask yourself why, after so much loss of life spanning almost two decades, the assassins of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family have been allowed to get away with murder for so long.  Think this epidemic was fueled not only by the “assassins,” but also by the FDA, politicians, attorneys, organizations with non-profit status, conflicts of interest, and pharma?  You would be correct.

Think this total miscarriage of justice couldn’t get any more criminal? Think again — it does become more criminal.