OxyContin advertiser will pay $350 million, $5.2 million to Oregon, in the first-ever opioid marketing settlement
Publicis
New York (CNN) — For the first time, an advertising company that worked on Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin account has settled a lawsuit that accused it of falsely marketing opioids as safe.
Publicis, a French marketing company, agreed to pay $350 million within the next two months and will not take on any more opioid clients, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. She and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser led the settlement negotiations, which included a consortium of eight other states, including Oregon (see Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s news release below).
“For a decade, Publicis helped opioid manufacturers like Purdue Pharma convince doctors to overprescribe opioids, directly fueling the opioid crisis and causing the devastation of communities nationwide,” said James in a statement. “No amount of money can compensate for lives lost and addiction suffered, but with this agreement, Publicis will cease their illegal behavior.”
Publicis from 2010 through 2019 worked with consultancy McKinsey to develop Purdue’s “Evolve to Excellence” campaign, which advertised OxyContin to doctors who were most frequently prescribing the opioid. For its alleged role in the opioid crisis, McKinsey in 2021 agreed to pay $573 million to states as part of multiple settlements.
The “Evolve to Excellence” marketing scheme barraged doctors with messages that falsely claimed OxyContin deterred addiction and abuse and pushed physicians to increase patients’ doses – even when not medically appropriate, James said. Publicis created the advertisements, pamphlets and brochures for the campaign.
The company, in a statement, said it did not admit wrongdoing and defended its actions as lawful, a contention James disputes. But the company said it hopes the payment will help the effort to combat opioid addiction.
“We recognize the broader context in which that lawful work took place,” Publicis said in a statement. “The fight against the opioid crisis in the United States requires collaboration across industries, lawmakers, and communities, and we are committed to playing our part. That is why we worked to reach this agreement, and why we are also reaffirming our long-standing decision to turn down any future opioid-related projects.”
The company said the division that did the work for Purdue, called Rosetta, has been shut down for a decade.
Purdue Pharma first introduced the opioid drug OxyContin in the 1990s and promoted it as non-addictive. The company has been accused of helping to fuel the opioid epidemic in the United States, which is seen as a massive public health crisis. Between 1999 and 2020, more than 564,000 people died from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Sackler family, which controlled Purdue, agreed to a bankruptcy deal in March 2023 that would have the family pay out between $5.5 billion to $6 billion over 18 years to help fight the ongoing opioid epidemic. Most of the money would go to states, local governments and Native American tribes.
But the Biden administration sued to block the deal, calling it an “unprecedented” arrangement that would ultimately offer the Sackler family broad protection from opioid-related civil claims. In August 2023, the Supreme Court blocked Purdue Pharma from going forward with bankruptcy proceedings, and it heard the case in December in contentious oral arguments.
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Attorney General Rosenblum announces $350 million national settlement with marketing giant Publicis over role in opioid epidemic
“Oregon’s $5.2 million share of the Publicis settlement will be added to the nearly one billion dollars our office has secured for Oregon in legal settlements with companies associated with the opioid crisis. It will go toward treatment and recovery for those Oregonians who suffer from substance use disorder,“ stated AG Rosenblum.
From 2010 until 2019, Publicis, one of the world’s largest healthcare advertising companies, was Purdue’s ad agency of record, and counted Purdue as its top opioid client. Publicis worked with Purdue to promote branded opioids OxyContin, Butrans, and Hysingla and helped develop unbranded marketing campaigns.
“Our fight for accountability from the companies responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic doesn’t end with the manufacturers, distributors, or dispensers of the drugs. In fact, this is the second consulting firm we have settled with for their contributions —as clients of the drug companies —to this ongoing public health disaster. The toll the products promoted by Publicis has taken on Oregon families and communities is simply staggering, and it is only right for them to be held to account for their significant role,” added AG Rosenblum.
Publicis’s projects covered all aspects of Purdue’s marketing and sales, including designing sales strategies and tactics, maximizing the reach and influence of Purdue’s sales force, using electronic media, designing content, developing promotional messaging, drafting scripts and other materials for Purdue sales representatives to use with prescribers, helping with internal operations and sales activities, targeting prescribers who would be most likely to prescribe large amounts of opioids, recording intimate discussions between prescribers and patients about opioids, and a variety of other marketing, consulting, and sales activities. The company was also instrumental in Purdue’s decision to market OxyContin to providers on patient’s electronic health records.
In agreeing to the terms of the settlement, among other injunctive terms, Publicis will disclose on a public website thousands of internal documents detailing its work for opioid companies like Purdue Pharma and will stop accepting client work related to opioid-based Schedule II and Schedule III controlled substances.
According to the Oregon Health Authority, five Oregonians die from opioids every week. Deaths tripled from 2019 to 2022, when 956 people in Oregon died. And last year, there were even more deaths, according to preliminary data. In addition to the devastating impact on families and entire communities, the opioid crisis has resulted in considerable costs for Oregon’s health care, child welfare, and criminal justice systems.
Attorney General Rosenblum served on the executive committee of the multistate group, which included the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont. They are joined by the attorneys general from all states, territories, and the District of Columbia. AG Rosenblum commended the superb work of her opioid crisis legal team led by Assistant Attorney in Charge of Opioid Litigation and Recovery/Pharmaceutical Fraud David Hart.
