Publicis Health has agreed to pay a $350 million (£274 million) settlement over its role in helping promote OxyContin, a drug at the forefront of the country’s opioid epidemic.
A subsidiary of French holding company Publicis Groupe, Publicis Health has become the first advertising firm to reach such a settlement over its role in helping proliferate opioids across the United States.
Negotiated by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, the $350 million settlement will be split across every US state over the next two months, with the majority going directly to initiatives designed to fight rampant prescription painkiller abuse.
Publicis Health had worked with OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma from 2010-2019 designing campaigns for OxyContin and other prescription painkillers such as Butrans and Hysingla. Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that between 1999 and 2021 nearly 645,000 Americans died from an overdose involving opiods.
“For a decade, Publicis helped opioid manufacturers like Purdue Pharma convince doctors to overprescribe opioids, directly fuelling the opioid crisis and causing the devastation of communities nationwide,” James said.
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In cooperation with the settlement, Publicis Health has agreed to release internal documents relating to its work for Purdue and other opioid manufacturers.
The company highlighted in a statement that the settlement was not an admission of guilt, and that most of its work relating to the pay out was carried out by Rosetta – a subsidiary that Publicis closed ten years ago.
A Publicis statement read: “Rosetta’s role was limited to performing many of the standard advertising services that agencies provide to their clients, for products that are to this day prescribed to patients, covered by major private insurers, Medicare, and authorised by State Pharmacy Boards.”
“We recognise the broader context in which that lawful work took place. The fight against the opioid crisis in the United States requires collaboration,” the company said.
“We are committed to playing our part. That is why we worked to reach this agreement, and why we are also reaffirming our long-standing decision to turn down any future opioid-related projects.”
