Purdue Pharma Just Settled a Major Lawsuit in Oklahoma for $270 Million
Toby Talbot/A Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, will pay $270 million to settle a case brought by the Oklahoma Attorney General for helping to lay the groundwork of America’s opioid epidemic. The settlement, announced Tuesday, comes two months before the scheduled start of a televised…
Do the Microbes Swimming in Our Guts Control Our Happiness?
Tzido/Getty Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. We now know that the bacteria living in our guts play a key role in keeping our bodies healthy. These microbes can even be transferred from one gut to another to alleviate illnesses. In recent years, researchers have even posited that these microscopic creatures may play a role in…
A Damning New Report Says McKinsey Allegedly Helped Purdue Sell Even More Opioids
Toby Talbot/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. For years, McKinsey & Company allegedly consulted for Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid OxyContin, on how to boost painkiller sales and counter bad PR—namely, “the emotional messages from mothers with teenagers that overdosed.” The relationship was revealed in a new explosive article by ProPublica’s David Armstrong based on Massachusetts’…
This New App Turns Opioid Users’ Phones Into Overdose Detectors
MattGush/Getty Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. According to a November report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses killed more than 70,000 people in 2017—a 10 percent increase from 2016. Synthetic opioids, the most common drug involved in overdoses that year, took nine lives for every 100,000…
Marsha Blackburn Tells Voters She’s Fighting Opioids. Her Track Record Doesn’t Agree.
Mark Humphrey/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. “Every death from opioids is heartbreaking,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican running for senate, in an earnest September campaign ad. Looking straight into the camera, Blackburn talked about new funding for treatment and the need to crack down on “drug makers who flood…
The Senate Just Passed a Sweeping Opioid Bill. It’s Still Not Nearly Enough.
Education Images/Getty Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the Senate passed a sweeping legislative package Monday evening aimed at the opioid epidemic. It includes a number of important provisions, including funding for treatment and recovery programs, but many drug policy experts say the package is…