Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14976

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Publication type: news

Goldstein J.
Former Purdue Execs Excluded from Doing Business With Feds
The Wall Street Journal Blog 2009 Jan 23
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/01/23/former-purdue-execs-excluded-from-doing-business-with-feds/#more-4752

Full text:

Three former Purdue Frederick execs who pleaded guilty to misdemeanors tied to the marketing of the painkiller OxyContin can’t do business with Medicare or Medicaid for 15 years, the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said.

The exclusions initially came down last year; they were upheld by an administrative law judge earlier this month. The three former executives are Michael Friedman, who was CEO; Paul Goldenheim, who was chief scientific officer; and Howard Udell, who was general counsel.

Mary Jo White, an attorney representing the former execs, said in a statement that the decision was a “miscarriage of justice” and was “based on unfair and unsupported allegations OIG has made against these three upstanding, well-respected men.” White said the guilty pleas were based on “no-fault, no-intent strict liability misdemeanors,” and there was no evidence the men personally engaged in any wrongdoing. They’re in the process of appealing the exclusions, White said.

The case is somewhat unusual because it’s rather uncommon for individual executives to face penalties when companies get in trouble. “It’s important that we send a message to corporate America that we are going to hold not just the corporate entity but their leaders responsible for the acts of the corporation,” Lewis Morris, general counsel for the HHS inspector general, told the Health Blog.

Udell still consults for Purdue on “matters that do not relate to federal healthcare programs,” the company said in a statement. The company added that the exclusions are “unwarranted and unjustified” and said the men have “acted with integrity” throughout their careers.