Oxycontin and Self Destructing Emails: Welcome to Purdue Pharma's World

Right out of 'Mission Impossible' -- This email will self-destruct in Five Seconds in Purdue Pharma World.

(MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.) - Right out of "Mission Impossible" -- This email will self-destruct in five seconds in Purdue Pharma World There is a recent article in an Internet business journal called BNET.

For those who don't know, BNET provides working professionals with the tools, advice, and insight they need to succeed in today's workplace and who believe in the meaning of work, and who know that a fulfilling career is an excellent way to make personal ambitions come true.

It is a very informative means of keeping informed on businesses nationally and internationally.

They recently did an article entitled "OxyContin Study Concealed Withdrawal Rates - 10,000 Copies Sent to Doctors. It seems that Purdue Pharma promoted a study of OxyContin that indicated that withdrawal was not an adverse event with the drug -- when in fact the data indicated rates of withdrawal were as high as 20 percent.

This was according to documents filed in the federal court. The BNET report further states "Purdue’s promotion of OxyContin as safe and not prone to hooking its users led to nearly a decade of “hillbilly heroin” addiction among thousands of patients in the U.S."

Purdue Pharma's former CEO, Michael Friedman and its chief legal counsel Howard Udell are working frantically with their high powered attorneys to lift a ban on their working on doing business with government agencies because according to them -- they did not engage in misconduct or untrustworthiness.

Friedman and Udell conveniently forget that they pleaded guilty in Federal Court in 2007 to charges against them. Maybe Udell needs to have one of his attorneys give him the definition of the word "perjury."

I have provided the link to the BNET article below, which conveniently provides links to other filings and articles about these convicted felons.

The BNET article goes on to say that in 2001, a Purdue employee emailed a supervisor regarding the withdrawal data and asked if it were worth writing up the study data, or would it cause more negative press against them. The supervisor replied “I would not write it up at this point.”

The company distributed more than 10,000 copies of the study to doctors. The study’s conclusion was:

"… Use of controlled-release oxycodone, 20 mg, was superior (P<.05) to placebo in reducing pain intensity and the interference of pain with mood, sleep, and enjoyment of life."

BNET goes on to say that "the statement of facts contains no names identifying the sender or the recipient of the email. Nor does it say who in Purdue Pharma ordered the study to be promoted. Perhaps the D.C. judge could ask Friedman and Udell to shed some light on that matter before he or she writes a ruling?"

What many people don't know is Howard Udell didn't spend every waking hour at being Purdue Pharma's general counsel and playing golf at the country club. He is also an inventor.

Now I'm sure readers as well as the judge hearing the case to lift the ban against Udell and Friedman may be curious as to what this multi-talented convicted individual obtained a patent for. It is a self-destruction document or email messaging system that automatically destroys documents or email messages at a predetermined time by attaching a "virus" to the document or email message.

A virus in the form of a Trojan horse is attached to the file -- such as an email message or document when it is created. The virus contains a portion of executable code or an executable program which instructs the computer to overwrite and/or delete the file to which the virus is attached at a desired time.

Since the virus is attached to the file, it will travel with the file even when the file is copied, forwarded, or saved to disks or tape drives.

Right out of Mission Impossible -- but why add the extra feature of a virus? What could Purdue Pharma have been trying to hide? Maybe the judge contemplating lifting this ban has to ask himself/herself that same question.

Just in case Udell has a lapse of memory and denies that he has a patent, below is the patent information. Sometimes Howard has problems with the words "criminal conviction" and "total denial."

Inventors:
Udell, Howard R. (US)
Baker, Stuart D. (US)
Kappel, Cary S. (US)
Sherman, Greg M. (US)
Ries, William (US)
Application Number:
EP19980934143
Publication Date:
05/17/2000
Filing Date:
06/16/1998

Salem-News.com Reporter Marianne Skolek, is an Activist for Victims of OxyContin throughout the United States and Canada. In July 2007, she testified against Purdue Pharma in Federal Court in Virginia at the sentencing of their three CEO's who pled guilty to charges of marketing OxyContin as less likely to be addictive or abused to physicians and patients. She also testified against Purdue Pharma at a Judiciary Hearing of the U.S. Senate in July 2007. Marianne works with government agencies and private attorneys in having a voice for her daughter Jill, who died in 2002 after being prescribed OxyContin, as well as the voice for scores of victims of OxyContin. She has been involved in her work for the past 7-1/2 years and is currently working on a book that exposes Purdue Pharma for their continued criminal marketing of OxyContin.

Marianne is a nurse, having graduated in 1991 as president of her graduating class. She also has a Paralegal certification. Marianne served on a Community Service Board for the Courier News, a Gannet newspaper in NJ writing articles predominantly regarding AIDS patients and their emotional issues. She was awarded a Community Service Award in 1993 by the Hunterdon County, NJ HIV/AIDS Task Force in recognition of and appreciation for the donated time, energy and love in facilitating a Support Group for persons with HIV/AIDS.