Addiction as a messaging constraint

Purdue / Sackler

OxyContin’s public sentence was that addiction is rare — less than one percent — when the drug is used for pain. The private sentence, in owner email, was to hammer on the abusers and to play down the risks. Addiction was not only a medical fact. It was a branding assignment. STAT reconstructed Richard Sackler’s plan. UCSF’s Industry Documents Library holds the wider opioid file. This room is three pairs. It is the pharma cousin of the Exxon advertorial: technical staff often know; comms is told to sell a different rate.

Pair 1 of 3

Addiction is rare

advertorial

Public

Purdue Pharma / OxyContin marketing · 1996-2007

sales story to doctors

Detailing, ads, CME

“Addiction is rare when opioids are used to treat pain. Less than one percent. The drug is a revolution in chronic-pain care.”

Private

Purdue and Sackler family communications · late 1990s–2000s

owners and executives

Internal mail later in UCSF / litigation

“Internal files treat addiction as a messaging constraint — something to play down, reassign to “abusers,” and keep off the sales story.”

Rare is a public rate. Messaging constraint is a private one. The science staff and the sales staff were not given the same number.

The tell · If addiction is a branding problem, the medical claim is already split.

How this became public: Opioid litigation productions; UCSF Industry Documents Library.

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Pair 2 of 3

Play down the risks

advertorial

Public

Purdue public affairs · 2001-2010

company line as deaths rose

Statements and sales aids

“Purdue said it was committed to responsible use, that the label was adequate, and that the crisis was about abuse, not the medicine.”

Private

Richard Sackler · circa 2001

Purdue president / owner family

Internal plan, later reported by STAT

“Richard Sackler proposed a plan to play down OxyContin’s risks and to keep the public story pointed at abusers rather than at the drug.”

A plan to play down a risk is an advertorial assigned to an owner. The sales force then carried it into clinics.

The tell · If the owner writes the talking points, the medical affairs page is literature.

How this became public: STAT reporting on Purdue files; UCSF opioid collection.

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Pair 3 of 3

Hammer on the abusers

euphemism

Public

Purdue · 2000s

patient-compassion story

Public comments on the opioid crisis

“Public Purdue spoke of patients in pain, a few bad actors, and the company’s wish to help doctors treat suffering.”

Private

Richard Sackler · 2001-02-27

email, Purdue

Internal email later entered in litigation

“We have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals.”

Patients are the public noun. Abusers are the private one. The reclassification protects the molecule.

The tell · Watch who gets the moral noun. That is the preference.

How this became public: Widely quoted Sackler email from opioid cases; UCSF / STAT.

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