Opioid verdict in Oklahoma

[ochotona]

Just a personal observation, I took 2 or 3 doses of Oxycontin after rotator cuff surgery in December 2018, and I had severe hiccoughs. Since the diaphragm is your main breathing muscle, I took that as a sign that this stuff is poison.

I never had a problem with TYLENOL® with Codeine (acetaminophen with codeine phosphate), AKA Tylenol 3. So why do opioids exist?

Because they could not make money off of Codeine, so they had to make up new molecules which bring an economic moat due to IP protection. Same reason why insulin is totally unaffordable for many people in the USA... or asthma inhalers... or epipens... the pharma companies make some little tweak in the compound or the delivery mechanism, it's "new", therefore they have an IP moat and they can rape you financially.

What a wonderful "sick-care" economy we have. Truly an "eff-you" kleptocracy.

As to Oklahoma, I have no clue, but I have my suspicions.

[Kriegsspiel]

At a glance, seems like bullshit. Have you found an article that has some details?

[Kriegsspiel]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/j ... story.html

"“As a matter of law, I find that defendants’ actions caused harm, and those harms are the kinds recognized by [state law] because those actions annoyed, injured or endangered the comfort, repose, health or safety of Oklahomans,” he wrote in the decision."

I meant details as to what actions, specifically. BTW that second part is absurd. People annoy me all the time. Just the other day, a city crew was repairing the road near my house and it both annoyed me, and endangered my comfort as I reposed on my couch watching cat videos. It seems that would be enough to sue, judging by that vague legalese.

The state also said the health-care giant actively took part in the industry’s effort to change doctors’ reluctance to prescribe opioids by mounting an aggressive misinformation campaign that targeted the least knowledgeable physicians.

The company’s “marketing scheme was driven by a desire to make billions for their pain franchise,” Hunter wrote. “To do this, they developed and carried out a plan to directly influence and convince doctors to prescribe more and more opioids, despite the fact that defendants knew increasing the supply of opioids would lead to abuse, addiction, misuse, death and crime.”
. . .
Company lawyers sought to rebut accusations of a misinformation campaign by attributing actions to third parties and contending that sales calls to doctors did not lead to overprescribing or the drug crisis.

“Never once, however, did the state identify a single Oklahoma doctor who was misled by a single statement Janssen made,” the lawyers said in documents filed at the trial.

This is the part I'd want more details on, because the WaPo could have framed some totally normal marketing to make J&J seem like nefarious dudes in back alleys pushing drugs.

I laughed out loud when I saw that the federal government was "seeking a portion" of the settlement with the other drug company. The FDA, who can't be sued because of sovereign immunity, approves a drug, then grabs some of the cash when the company that makes it gets dunked in court.

[WiseOne]

Just a personal observation, I took 2 or 3 doses of Oxycontin after rotator cuff surgery in December 2018, and I had severe hiccoughs. Since the diaphragm is your main breathing muscle, I took that as a sign that this stuff is poison.

To be fair....every medication without exception produces adverse effects in a percentage of the people who take them. By that logic, you would regard every pharmaceutical product as poison, including over the counter drugs you likely have in your medicine cabinet right now.

I still think there's nothing inherently wrong with opioids, as long as they're used correctly. I think the issue here is that the pharmaceutical companies were churning out ridiculous amounts of opioids to fill orders without (as they were required to do by law) checking on the validity & source of the orders. Such as, several pills for each resident of Oklahoma. The amount of the judgment does seem excessive though, and it's pretty safe to assume it will be reduced on appeal.

[Kriegsspiel]

Just a personal observation, I took 2 or 3 doses of Oxycontin after rotator cuff surgery in December 2018, and I had severe hiccoughs. Since the diaphragm is your main breathing muscle, I took that as a sign that this stuff is poison.

To be fair....every medication without exception produces adverse effects in a percentage of the people who take them. By that logic, you would regard every pharmaceutical product as poison, including over the counter drugs you likely have in your medicine cabinet right now.

Coincidentally, I recently read this passage that seems (?) relevant:

In parallel with the loss of olfactory genes, people are also losing genes that detoxify natural plant poisons. The enzymes made by these genes are no longer needed for their original purpose but have assumed an unexpected role in modern societies- that of metabolizing medicinal drugs.This unnatural stimulus does not occur often enough, however, and many of the genes are being lost through disuse. (This process explains much of the variability in the response to drugs, including why some people have severe side effects or require different doses. People who have lost the gene to break down certain drugs maintain a high dose of it in their bloodstream, whereas those who retain the gene will clear the drug rapidly.
- Before The Dawn by Nicholas Wade