White-collar crime is defined as “crime committed by persons of respectability and high social status in course of their occupation” (White Collar Crime, 2013). This type of crime takes form in many avenues of work: credit card fraud, embezzlement, mail fraud, bribery, public corruption. One of the most harmful of these crimes is health care fraud, due not only to the amount of money involved but also the quality of life for individuals. Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin twenty years ago with the marketing claim that one dose relieves pain for 12 hours, more than twice as long as generic medications. This crime committed had the company lying to generate profit, a government agency failing to detect and expose the lie, and the lack of any serious…show more content… Purdue envisioned a bigger market. “Anticipating competition from generic brands—and a subsequent loss of revenue—the company pursued an innovation that would render a narcotic painkiller eligible for a new patent, and consequently insulate it from competition. Purdue scientists pioneered a slow-release methodology designed to release a drug into a person’s system incrementally instead of all at once. The problem was, although the innovation was real, the claims made on its behalf did not materialize for many of the drug’s users. In early drug trials, OxyContin failed to ensure twelve hours of pain relief in a substantial number of patients. But without twelve hour scheduling, the drug represented no genuine…show more content… A 2002 study found that almost 87% of people taking the drug were taking it more than every 12 hours. In drug trials and clinical use, patients told their doctors that OxyContin wore off after five to eight hours, subjecting them to not only pain but withdrawal. “The opioid epidemic would seem to demand more action, but a political establishment under the thumb of large corporate donors has yet to summon the will” (Frydl, 2016). In the case of OxyContin, Dr. Curtis Wright, charged with medical review of the drug for the FDA, left the agency shortly after he approved the drug. According to the Times, Wright was working at Purdue within two years of his departure from the
