Analyzing the Effects of Oxycontin - Essay Sample

Introduction

On May 5th, 2016, the Los Angeles Times carried out an investigation on Oxycontin, a painkiller that is commonly used by many people in the United States of America. According to the manufacturers of this drug, one dose could relieve pain for up to 12 hours which is almost twice the time the other drugs take to give the same effect. Due to its surprising results, the company reaped heavily making at least $31 billion of income (Ryan et al., 2016). The purpose of this piece is to look at the arguments that arose from the use of Oxycontin in the USA.

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According to Purdue, Oxycontin was supposed to relieve pain for 12 hours. However, clinical trials indicated that this claim was not true. The company was refuted the clinical reports and evidence given by some patients on the ground that it could lose its revenues if the truth were to be revealed at last. It is interesting to note that what the management of Purdue was doing is unethical and clinically wrong. They had also intensified their campaign to increase their sales. The company had introduced competitions whereby those employees who sold the largest pills (40mg) were awarded (Ryan et al., 2016). Sadly the drug posed a high risk of overdose, addiction and even death among the frequent users. Those who used high levels of this drug were most likely to die according to reports from the experts. For instance, Ernest Gallego's mother died from high levels of Oxycontin in 2012. Other people experienced organ failures and other adverse side effects.

The arguments that exist in this case can be analyzed from two sides that is Purdue Management and from the medical experts. From the Purdue management, they wanted to create a trick that could increase their revenues (Ryan et al., 2012). They created a false image on Oxycontin. However, this raises questions especially on why they could create such false information on a drug that was widely used by many people. When asked about the allegations, the Purdue officials claimed that they knew what exactly they were doing. On the other hand, the medical experts realized that Oxycontin advantages were being exaggerated for the purposes of increasing revenues. They also realized that the drug was addictive and had side effects to the users such as euphoria and pain.

Conclusion

From this case, it is clear that Purdue was carrying out an unacceptable practice by luring people to believe that Oxycontin was helping them much better than other painkillers. However, the Purdue officials knew that this was not true. To make it worse, they did not reveal the side effects that came with the excessive use of this drug such as nausea, addiction, and death. In my opinion, a good drug manufacturer needs to be as clear as possible while giving the information on their drugs. In this way, the patients can be in a position to underst6and the risks that can arise from improper use of the drugs. For instance, the manufacturer needs to indicate what can happen in case one takes an overdose of the drug. Some drugs can cause minor effects while others can be worse causing one to be paralyzed or even die if used wrongly. As well, the manufacturers do not need to use shortcuts in an attempt to increase their sales. They lied that Oxycontin reduced pain for 12 hours which was not true and this was unethical.

References

Ryan, H., Girion, L. I. S. A., & Glover, S. C. O. T. T. (2016). 'You Want A Description of Hell?' Oxycontin's 12-hour Problem. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/projects/oxycontin-part1/