November 9, 2012
You’ve likely heard of OxyContin; it’s that heavy duty narcotic painkiller, the one that has spurred the prescription drug addiction problem to new heights over the past several years. It’s highly addictive. So addictive, in fact, that it is said to lead people to using heroin in order to get a cheaper high when their budget can’t keep up with their Oxycontin habit. (This move only became more pronounced after the maker of Oxy changed their formula to reportedly discourage addiction).
Well, the maker of this wonder-drug, responsible for countless overdose deaths, is so concerned with their patent running out, that they’ve decided to test the drug on children as young as six years old.
The company is Purdue Pharma LP. And their concern isn’t in helping children overcome some deadly illness or debilitating pain, but instead lies (not surprisingly) with their bottom line. The patent of OxyContin is set to expire in August of 2013; when that occurs, other Big Pharma companies will be able to make generic versions of the pricey narcotic and sell them for much cheaper, taking some away from Purdue’s pockets.
By starting new trials on children, Purdue Pharma is able to extend their patent by six months. They are able to do this with a program from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that actually encourages drug companies to test their poisons on the youngest members of our communities.
According to Natural News, the FDA states “ testing drugs on children helps to bridge the “pediatric knowledge gap” of how drugs that are approved for adults perform in children. Since doctors often prescribe drugs “off label” to children, the FDA considers aftermarket testing on children to be beneficial for society.”
OxyContin is a highly addictive drug. It’s a narcotic, an opiate. This means it’s made from the same stuff as heroin (another reason users switch over to the much cheaper street-drug), and now children will be fed the drug just to see “how it works” on them. But is isn’t terribly surprising, as major drug and vaccine corporations are continuously found to experiment on children, even illegally.
In one case, vaccine and drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been fined 400,000 pesos (around the equivalent of $93,000) by an Argentinian judge for killing 14 babies during illegal lab vaccine trials that were conducted between 2007 and 2008. The judge also asserted that the corporation actually falsified parental authorizations so that babies could participate without legitimate parental permission.
The six month extension for Oxy seems like a little bit of gain for a major sacrifice, right? The company is willing to put kids in the lab in exchange for only six months? But, for Purdue, and likely any other drug company in their shoes, it’s a no brainer. Purdue made $2.8 billion in sales on OxyContin last year alone. Six months has the potential to earn them another nearly billion-and-a-half.
It seems that pharmaceutical painkillers will continue to ravage the population.
This article first appeared on Natural Society.com.