Purdue Pharma to pay $19.5 million over illegal OxyContin promotion

Drug maker Purdue Pharma L.P. has agreed to pay $19.5 million to 26 states - including Massachusetts - and the District of Columbia to settle complaints over its promotion of the powerful painkiller OxyContin, especially to doctors, the company said Tuesday.

The states had complained that Purdue had been encouraging physicians to prescribe the drugs for use every eight hours, instead of the every 12-hour dose approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

This may seem like an excessive amount to be fined, but the argument here is that Purdue Pharma was urging patients to use an extremely addictive drug with higher frequency than recommended, thus using more pills (25% more) and making addicts out of more patients. The settlement is being distributed to 26 states, who will presumably use the funds to fight teen prescription drug abuse.