Rutgers Experts Available to Discuss Purdue Pharma Guilty Plea

Rutgers emergency physician and opioid addiction experts are available to discuss Purdue Pharma’s guilty plea for its role in the nation’s opioid crisis.

“This stark admission from Purdue Pharma demonstrates that it was a driving force for the nation’s opioid crisis, which is also associated with the epidemics of heroin and fentanyl”, said Lewis Nelson, a medical toxicologist and chair of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. “Through their manipulated science and misleading promotion of Oxycontin, many people are now dealing with addiction to prescription opioids and heroin, which has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Purdue Pharma’s guilty plea and settlement is a small step toward justice, and toward righting the criminal actions that unleashed an opioid epidemic costing tens of thousands of American lives each year,” said Erin Zerbo, assistant professor of psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. “However, true justice will not be achieved until those responsible for Purdue Pharma’s actions are held personally accountable, and the billions in profits allegedly siphoned from Purdue Pharma into the offshore bank accounts of the Sackler family are repatriated and repurposed to help combat the opioid epidemic.”

To interview Nelson and Zerbo, contact Maud Alobawone at [email protected] or 848-445-1913.

 

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