R.I. gets $600K from OxyContin settlement

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Medicaid Fraud Unit has recovered $589,310 from the federal government’s OxyContin settlement, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said last Tuesday.
The Purdue Frederick Co. Inc. of New York and Purdue Pharma LP of Delaware promoted the habit-forming drug as a low-risk painkiller from 1996 to 2001. In May, Purdue and its top three executives pleaded guilty to knowingly and fraudulently branding the prescription drug as less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications, Lynch’s office said.
The money is Rhode Island’s share of a $634.5 million civil settlement agreement with the U.S. and 26 state governments, approved July 20 by a U.S. District Court judge in Abingdon, Va., which also requires the companies to submit to monitoring by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The illegal practices … put people’s health and their very lives at risk,” Lynch said. •