What did Purdue falsely claim about OxyContin?
In its 2007 guilty plea Purdue admitted fraudulently marketing OxyContin as less addictive, less abusable and less likely to cause withdrawal than other painkillers — claims made without FDA approval or supporting research, and covering roughly 1995 to 2001.
In its 2007 guilty plea, Purdue admitted it had fraudulently marketed OxyContin by falsely claiming it was less addictive, less subject to abuse and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than other pain medications, with no medical research to support those claims and without FDA approval of them. The misconduct covered roughly 1995 to 2001. The US Attorney said Purdue "unleashed a highly abusable, addictive, and potentially dangerous drug on an unsuspecting and unknowing public". A central idea in the marketing was that the extended-release design made the drug harder to abuse. In practice, crushing or dissolving the tablets released the full dose at once, which made OxyContin attractive for misuse.