Whitehouse among senators urging Purdue not to seek profit from new overdose drug

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, D-R.I., is one of three senators asking Purdue Pharma to commit in writing to not seek profit from the sale of a new, more effective opioid-overdose drug the company has recently developed. / COURTESY OFFICE OF SHELDON WHITEHOUSE

PROVIDENCE – Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on March 28 sent a letter to Purdue Pharma, manufacturer and marketer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, urging the company to back up, in writing, its pledge not to seek profit from sales of a new overdose-treatment drug.

The senators wrote the letter in response to a report concerning the company’s bankruptcy consideration, in which a Purdue officer claimed it was in the process of developing and seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a version of nalmefene hydrochloride – a more powerful overdose-reversal medication than naloxone – on a pro bono basis to combat opioid overdoses.

“We’re not looking to make money, nor do we intend to profit in any way from the development and availability of this hopefully lifesaving treatment,” said Craig Landau, Purdue president and CEO, in an LA Times article.

The senators’ letter asks Purdue to take concrete, transparent and publicly accountable steps to ensure the company does not make a profit from the drug.

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“Through Purdue’s manufacture and marketing of the painkiller OxyContin, your company has played a leading role in, and bears significant responsibility for, the opioid epidemic that claimed more than 47,000 lives in 2017,” senators wrote in the letter. “While the development of a more powerful overdose-reversal medication is welcome, we would like a more concrete commitment from Purdue on your intention not to gain a profit. Indeed, it is a maxim of the common law in this country that no one should be allowed to profit from his own wrongdoing.”

The senators requested that Purdue should commit in writing to a plan of action that establishes transparency in accounting for the new drug’s costs and sales, as well as how the company will guarantee that any profits from the drug will benefit the public and not Purdue.

Rob Borkowski is a PBN contributing writer.

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