Advertising agency Publicis Health agreed to pay a $350 million settlement to be split among the 50 states over its role in marketing opioids, including OxyContin, to consumers.
The settlement will largely be used to fund opioid abatement, treatment, and prevention efforts.
The firm, which is part of the French media conglomerate Publicis Groupe, agreed to pay the entire sum over the next two months, along with an additional $7 million to cover the states’ legal fees in the suit that was led by New York attorney general Letitia James and Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser.
The attorneys general said the advertising firm was behind advertisements and promotional materials that promoted OxyContin as safe and nonaddictive.
Publicis was OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s top marketing partner, according to a court filing. The firm worked with the pharma giant to market OxyContin, Butrans, and Hysingla.
The attorneys general alleged that Publicis relied on data from recordings of in-office conversations between patients and providers to hone its sales tactics. The firm played a key role in pushing Purdue to market OxyContin to providers through patients’ electronic health records software.
The agency was also behind the implementation of Purdue’s “Evolve to Excellence” campaign, which centered on increasing marketing to the doctors who prescribed the most OxyContin and ensuring them of “abuse-deterrent” aspects of the drug, and extolled the benefits of upping patients’ dosages.
McKinsey & Company, which masterminded the plan, has reached settlements worth nearly $1 billion for its alleged role in the opioid crisis.
Nearly 645,000 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids, both prescription and illicit, between 1999 and 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The settlement agreement bars Publicis from accepting any future contracts related to the marketing or sale of opioids. It also requires the agency to publicly release hundreds of thousands of internal documents regarding its work in opioid promotion.
Publicis said in a statement that the settlement “is in no way an admission of wrongdoing or liability” and claimed that its work “was at all times fully compliant with the law.”
It said the work was done by Rosetta, a small agency that it bought and later closed ten years ago.
“We recognize the broader context in which that lawful work took place. The fight against the opioid crisis in the United States requires collaboration across industries, lawmakers, and communities, and we are committed to playing our part,” Publicis said.
New York AG James celebrated the settlement in a statement on Thursday.
“No amount of money can compensate for lives lost and addiction suffered, but with this agreement, Publicis will cease their illegal behavior and pay $350 million to help our communities rebuild,” James said.
New York state will receive $19 million of the settlement. The state had previously won more than $2.6 billion in settlement funds related to the opioid crisis.