In 2002, my daughter Jill died as a result of being prescribed Purdue Pharma’s opioid named OxyContin for back pain.
I began a 23-year journey of exposing Purdue Pharma for marketing OxyContin for chronic pain and as being non-addictive. For six years, I worked closely with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a successful effort at convicting Purdue Pharma of criminally marketing OxyContin. The DOJ led me to testify in front of the US Senate Judiciary Committee along with the US Attorney instrumental in holding Purdue Pharma responsible for addictions and deaths throughout the country.
Unfortunately, my journey for justice for Jill and hundreds of thousands of victims of Purdue Pharma did not end in a small courtroom in Virginia.
Purdue Pharma never wavered and continued marketing and manufacturing OxyContin with a green light by the FDA — while making billions of dollars and having no conscience.
I persevered and attended FDA meetings, met with FDA officials, met with Attorneys General and dogged Purdue Pharma in creative ways.
There were heroes along the way such as Ed Thompson, who has an exemplary resume of expertise on opioids, being featured on CBS 60 Minutes exposing Purdue Pharma.
There were books written about Purdue Pharma well researched with accurate reporting where my reporting was referenced. One poorly written book was made into a movie where all my hard work was plagiarized. I was portrayed in the movie fairly accurately although my name was shown as “Skolnik” rather than “Skolek.”
So why today did the “watchdogs” of the U.S. — the FDA announced that their approval of OxyContin was illegal. Let’s travel down that road.
The current FDA Commissioner, Marty Makary, M.D. had an article published today in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) where he admitted that the FDA’s approval of OxyContin was “illegal.”
Below is an excerpt from Dr. Makary’s article:
“The FDA will take conflict of interest seriously. We will never forget one of the worst self-inflicted wounds of US health care—the FDA’s illegal approval of oxycontin for chronic pain based on a 14-day study, the immediate hiring of the former FDA regulator by Purdue Pharma, and a subsequent epidemic that killed approximately 1 million people in the US.”
The Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has blasted medical journals for being “corrupt” in their articles. Interestingly enough, Dr. Makary has used medical journals to communicate the FDA’s “vision.” He further stated decisions made by the FDA were made before clinical trials were completed by the sponsors.
Knowing firsthand Secretary Kennedy’s dedication to the health of Americans, my hope is he expands his attention to the FDA officials and especially their criminal conflicts of interest while profiting financially.
Below are several links to articles I have written regarding the FDA and questionable behavior by the highest officials.
It’s Time for Impunity to End with the FDA: PART 3 – Salem-News.Com
It’s Time for Impunity to End with the FDA: PART 2 – Salem-News.Com
Problematic Employment Move for FDA Heads – Salem-News.Com
Two Physicians and Their Motives Leading to Financial Gain – Salem-News.Com
