Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14335

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Van Zee A.
The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy.
Am J Public Health. 2008 Sep 17;
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18799767

Abstract:

I focus on issues surrounding the promotion and marketing of controlled drugs and their regulatory oversight. Compared with noncontrolled drugs, controlled drugs, with their potential for abuse and diversion, pose different public health risks when they are overpromoted and highly prescribed. An in-depth analysis of the promotion and marketing of OxyContin illustrates some of the associated issues. Modifications of the promotion and marketing of controlled drugs by the pharmaceutical industry and an enhanced capacity of the Food and Drug Administration to regulate and monitor such promotion can have a positive impact on the public health