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Sacklers’ Chinese Affiliate Tells Docs OxyContin Is Less Addictive Than Other Opioids: Report

The family’s Chinese company is allegedly using the same false claims as Purdue Pharma to peddle OxyContin.

The Sackler family’s Chinese drug company, Mundipharma, is allegedly using the same tactics it previously employed in the U.S. to push its signature painkiller OxyContin, according to the Associated Press. The findings add to the thousands of explosive lawsuits in the U.S., which accuse Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, of directly fueling the deadly opioid epidemic by using false claims. The epidemic has already cost the lives of more than 400,000 people, while millions more became addicted.

Through documents and interviews, the AP found that representatives from Mundipharma gave the same argument to doctors as Purdue Pharma once did: that painkillers like OxyContin are not as addictive as other opioids. The outlet also found that Mundipharma, created in 1993, prescribed even higher doses of the drug, which is proven to come with greater risks. Former sales representatives for the Chinese drug company, which is still hiring, told the AP that they sometimes disguised themselves as medical staff by wearing white doctor’s coats to visit patients in the hospital.