French agency Publicis to pay $350 million for its role in the opioid crisis

A subsidiary of the French advertising giant Publicis will pay 350 million dollars (or around 320 million euros) to the United States for its role in the opioid crisis in the country, the public prosecutor announced on Thursday, February 1. New York State. This is the first advertising agency to reach an agreement with the courts for its role in the opioid crisis, Letitia James’ office said on her X account (formerly Twitter).

All states as well as several American territories will receive a share of the compensation set as part of an agreement with Publicis Health, according to the decision consulted by AFP. “For a decade, Publicis helped manufacturers like Purdue Pharma convince doctors to overprescribe opioidsnoted Letitia James, claiming that the advertising agency created flyers describing OxyContin as a treatment “safe and incapable of causing misuse”.

Publicis does not recognize any fault

Publicis Health subsequently published a press release, specifying that the activities concerned had been carried out by the Rosetta agency, purchased in 2011 and closed ten years ago. “This settlement agreement allows us to close three years of discussions and concludes with a net payment of 148 million euros”she added, emphasizing that it did not represent an acknowledgment of fault or responsibility.

The Purdue laboratory produces the pain medication OxyContin, the overprescription of which is generally considered to be the trigger of the opioid crisis in the United States. According to data from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, more than 700,000 people died between 1999 and 2022 from an overdose linked to taking opiates, obtained on prescription or illegally.