Marketing firm Publicis sued by Massachusetts AG for fueling pain meds epidemic and getting docs to prescribe more pain meds

 Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Health sued a global marketing company  Publicis for engaging in unfair and deceptive marketing schemes to help a pain medication maker to market and sell certain pain medications that are addictive painkillers. The work included creating sales training materials and emails and other information distributed to prescribers to “humanize” the particular pain medication brand, Healey said. The suit says that the firm collected more than $50 million to develop marketing strategies to convince doctors to prescribe more patients higher doses for longer periods of time.

Federal officials say roughly 500,000 people died from pain medication overdoses from 1999 to 2019, and thousands of lawsuits have been filed against drug makers and others in response. A settkementwith McKinsey & Company for advising a pain medication maker on marketing the drug.

JEFFREY NEWMAN REPRESENTS WHISTLEBLOWERS WORLDWIDE. 617-823-3217 www.newmanshapiro.com