How Purdue planted its ‘anti-story’ and delayed the reckoning for its role in the opioid epidemic
This story is a collaboration between STAT and ProPublica.
In 2004, Purdue Pharma was facing a threat to sales of its blockbuster opioid painkiller OxyContin, which were approaching $2 billion a year. With abuse of the drug on the rise, prosecutors were bringing criminal charges against some doctors for prescribing massive amounts of OxyContin.
