'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
During episode #1873 of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, former pharmaceutical representative Brigham Buhler told the podcast host that pharma companies were unethically pushing highly addictive painkillers such as OxyContin.
Buhler stated that OxyContin was originally designed to provide relief for people suffering from extreme pain due to terminal illnesses like cancer. He added that sales for the drug increased as pharma companies started increasing the patient demographic by recommending the drug even for patients suffering from simple migraines:
"So originally, Oxy[Contin] was meant for people who were terminally ill with cancer and were in severe pain or somebody who were in the upper echelon on the pain threshold. And the goal of a company and a Rep. is to grow the market and to hit the [sales] number. So when you go out, it's like how do you grow the market, we're going to grow the patient demographic, we need the doctors to write more of this. So what they did with OxyContin was... It got to a point where they were literally promoting it for people with migraines and they were pumping these pain pills into all these practices."
Watch Joe Rogan and Brigham Buhler talk about OxyContin below:
Furthermore, Buhler said that the family that owns OxyContin released the drug to the market, piggybacking on an old drug delivery system. He elaborated that a former head of the FDA even helped the owners get the drug FDA-approved.
According to WebMD, OxyContin is highly addictive and is prone to substance abuse by patients who have a history of addiction. Withdrawal symptoms such as muscle aches, mood swings, diarrhea, and nausea are also associated with the drug.
Brigham Buhler tells Joe Rogan his experience of launching a new drug
During the same podcast, Brigham Buhler told Joe Rogan that as part of his first assignment while working as a medical representative for Eli Lilly, he got to launch the erectile dysfunction medication Cialis.
Buhler told the UFC commentator that even 20 years ago, the company gave him a car and a $17,000 monthly expense account to throw expensive dinners and parties to network with doctors who would potentially push the drug to their patients:
"I start, and they give me a $17,000 monthly expense account, a company car, and the drug I got to launch was Cialis, which is the 36-hour Viagra... It's [the money] use it or lose it. So if I didn't use the expense account, I would get in trouble. My manager [would] say, 'What are you doing? Why aren't you doing dinners?'... But it was fun... When I got into it, it was so surreal... All I got to do was talk to doctors about this new drug that they all want to talk about? "
Watch The Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode below:
