The AP report shows that in China, Mundipharma representatives are informing doctors that OxyContin is less addictive than other painkillers, which is a similar tactic the company used in the 1990s in the United States.
The Sackler name has become synonymous with the opioid epidemic that has swept across America due to the family’s support of aggressive marketing tactics for Purdue Pharma’s lead drug, OxyContin. It appears the family may be on the same path in China.
A recent report from the Associated Press alleges the Sackler family is using similar marketing tactics to push sales of OxyContin in China through another company they own, Mundipharma. The AP report shows that in China, Mundipharma representatives are informing doctors that OxyContin is less addictive than other painkillers, which is a similar tactic the company used in the 1990s in the United States. Additionally, Mundipharma has pushed for the use of even larger doses of opioids in China, the AP reported.
It is estimated that the Sackler family has earned more than $4 billion from the sale of OxyContin. Documents from a lawsuit against the company in Massachusetts showed that former company president Richard Sackler announced at a launch party for OxyContin after its approval that his colleagues should imagine a “blizzard of prescriptions.” A 2018 report released by the U.S. Department of Justice showed the company knew about “’significant’ abuse of OxyContin in the first years after the drug’s introduction in 1996 and concealed that information.”
The AP reported that as the opioid market in the United States became more fraught due to the increased lawsuits, lawsuits that have ultimately led to their company Purdue Pharma to declare bankruptcy, the Sackler family turned to the growing market in China. According to the report, Mundipharma leadership encouraged its sales team to copy the private medical records of patients without their consent, a violation of Chinese law. Also, former Mundipharma sales representatives told the AP that on occasion, some would don white lab coats and pretend to be doctors. These reps would enter hospitals and talk to patients about their pain and encouraged them to ask for Mundipharma medications. Paid speaking gigs were also part of Mundipharma’s playbook to “deepen relationships” between the company and prescribing doctors, the AP report shows.
Under Chinse law, opioids are not as widely available as they are in the United States. Patients have to get the painkillers from specially certified physicians, the AP said. As a result, it’s not likely that China will go through an opioid epidemic like the United States.
Additionally, the Mundipharma marketing team made use of bogus claims about the safety of OxyContin and other opioids in the materials they provided. The AP said the marketing materials used data from company-funded studies, as well as “outdated data that has been debunked.”
Not only has Mundipharma operated in this manner in China, but the AP said the company has also “promoted OxyContin in questionable ways” in countries like Italy and Australia.
The future of Mundipharma, at least as a Sackler-controlled company, is at the center of the Purdue bankruptcy plan and opioid settlement in the United States. There is pressure on the Sackler family to sell Mundipharma in order to increase the amount the family will ultimately pay as part of the settlement agreement.
