Russel Portenoy, MD, a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, was an early evangelist for the use of opioids for chronic pain. He shared these views at physician conferences, in academic journals and in other forums — and was paid to do so.
Now, the medical school professor has switched sides, agreeing to testify that drugmakers helped fuel the opioid epidemic by failing to acknowledge the risk of abuse.
“The opioid manufacturers should have tempered their positive messaging about opioids with a greater focus on risk, particularly as early signals of opioid risk emerged,” Dr. Portenoy said in his court declaration, according to Bloomberg. Drugmakers also “should have responded as evidence of increasing adverse affects [sic] mounted” to increased awareness and “reduce inappropriate or risky prescribing.”
Dr. Portenoy switched sides in 2018 when cities and counties agreed to dismiss him from their lawsuits in exchange for his cooperation and testimony.
Read the full report here.
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