'A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar' - Mark Twain

"Corporate Counsel" recently wrote an article concerning due process in the debarment of Purdue Pharma's general counsel, Howard Udell by the Health & Human Services Agency.

Howard R. Udell, the top lawyer for Purdue Pharma; to his right is Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim, the company’s former medical director. Photographs by Don Petersen for The New York Times.

(MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.) - The Washington Legal Foundation is concerned with our government debarring General Counsel Howard Udell, CEO Michael Friedman and Chief Medical Officer Paul Goldenheim of Purdue Pharma from involvement in any federal healthcare programs for 12 years. 

They feel it "raises serious constitutional due process concerns about the government's interpretation" of the law.  The Washington Legal Foundation website proudly proclaims "advocates for freedom and justice."

I wonder where the Washington Legal Foundation was when these same three individuals pleaded guilty in Federal Court in 2007 to misleading physicians and patients about the addictive and abusive qualities of their blockbuster drug, OxyContin.  The actions of Udell, Friedman and Goldenheim - as well as their privately held company, Purdue Pharma - has resulted in thousands of deaths and addictions throughout the U.S. and Canada.  Where is the justice for the victims and their families because of the criminal activities of this pharmaceutical company and their executives?  My guess is the money trail of close to $10 billion leads to the front door of Purdue Pharma and not to victims and their families for the Washington Legal Foundation to advocate for the victims.

"Corporate Counsel" further reported that the statement came in the group's amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. The brief supports the appeals of former Purdue Pharma executives Udell, Friedman and Goldenheim.

Richard Samp, chief counsel at the Washington Legal Foundation and co-author of the brief, called the case a precursor of things to come.

Udell is the first known general counsel to be debarred under the responsible officer doctrine. It says, in effect, that an executive can be convicted of a criminal misdemeanor even if he personally did nothing wrong, but failed to detect and stop those who did.  I'm sure Purdue Pharma launched an extensive internal investigation to determine who was responsible for misleading physicians and patients about OxyContin.  May I suggest to Mr. Samp that he ask Purdue Pharma to produce the results of this extensive internal investigation.  That should be a strong defense against the government.  But then if an investigation was never conducted, it could look bad against Purdue Pharma.

"Since this was filed, and in the last year or so, the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] has come out with guidelines that suggest they will be bringing exclusion proceedings against executives in similar situations," Samp said. "If they have their way, this case will no longer be the outlier."

"Corporate Counsel" further reports that the foundation offers two key arguments in asking the court to overturn the debarments. First, that exclusion is too severe a penalty for a strict liability misdemeanor and raises serious due process concerns. And second is that the government's interpretation of a statute allowing strict liability is wrong and conflicts with the U.S. Constitution's requirement of due process. The brief urges the court to overturn that interpretation of the statute.

All briefs are due to the court by September 1, and no date for oral arguments is yet set.

Udell has indicated he is in private practice at the Udell Law Office, LLC in Westport, Connecticut -- "Corporate Counsel" even acknowledged this in their reporting.

Below is the email that Udell sent out when he was debarred and became a liability to Purdue Pharma as their Chief Counsel -

Please be advised that I have retired as a Purdue Pharma employee and am now
 working as a consultant for Purdue on certain matters.   You may contact me at
 my new e-mail address:  UdellLawOffice@pharma.com.  You do not have to resend
 your message as it has been forwarded to the appropriate e-mail address.  The 
remainder of my contact information is unchanged and appears below.  Please make
 a note of the new email address for future use.

Howard R. Udell
Udell Law Office LLC
One Stamford Forum
Stamford, CT 06901
Tel (203) 588-7020
Fax (203) 588-6204

UdellLawOffice@pharma.com