OxyContin Maker, Executives Hit with $634.5 Million Fine
By Daniel Hawn
Published on July 23, 2007
U.S. District Court Judge James P. Jones accepted the plea agreement reached between prosecutors and attorneys for Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma and three of its current and former executives. The agreement includes $600 million in fines against Purdue and $34.5 million against former company president Michael Friedman, general counsel Howard R. Udell, and former medical director Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim.
Jones also placed the executives on three years' probation and sentenced them to 400 hours each of community service working with drug rehabilitation programs.
The plea agreement stems from charges that Purdue falsely claimed to doctors and patients that OxyContin has a lower risk of abuse and addiction than competing painkillers such as Percocet and Vicodin. In May, the company pleaded guilty to the charges in exchange for the fines.
During the sentencing hearing, family members of OxyContin users who fatally overdosed on the drug spoke out against Purdue and the executives, asking Jones to reject the plea agreement in favor of prison sentences for the defendants.
Attorneys for the executives defended their clients by saying they were unaware of the wrongdoing at Purdue and that the crime to which they pleaded guilty did not require prosecutors to show that they intentionally mislead anyone.
Jones, apparently unaffected by the defense's claims, expressed dismay at being unable to sentence the executives to prison. He said, however, that a lack of evidence on the prosecution’s part prevented him from being able to hand down any prison sentences in the case.
Keyword Tags: