Report Details Ties Between Purdue Pharma, Tufts University

Tuesday, May 21, 2019 | 0

A master’s degree program on pain, research, education and policy at Tufts University in 2006 featured a Purdue Pharma executive as an adjunct professor and recurring speaker, according to an investigative report from the Tufts Daily, the university’s student newspaper.

Attorney General
Maura Healey

The involvement of the Purdue executive, anesthesiologist J. David Haddox, reflected the company's close relationship with PREP, the publication said. The Sackler family, the owner of Purdue Pharma, made a six-figure donation before Tufts launched the program in 1999.

Purdue Pharma’s support for the PREP program is referenced in Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s lawsuit against the drug company and the Sackler family. Healey alleges that Purdue ran a deceptive marketing campaign for OxyContin that downplayed the risk of addiction.

Purdue spokesman Robert Josephson told the publication that Healey’s lawsuit “grossly distorts and mischaracterizes” the company’s relationship with Tufts. Purdue has filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Josephson said the company ended its financial support for the PREP program in 2008. Tufts officials said they are phasing out the program due to lack of student interest.