Barry Meier

Barry Meier (writer) is a writer and former New York Times journalist who wrote the 2003 non-fiction bookPain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death.[2] His articles "have led to Congressional hearings and changes in federal laws".[1]

Barry Meier
Born1949[1]
Alma materSyracuse University
OccupationAuthor
Columnist

Education

Meier studied at Syracuse University.[1]

Career

In his career as journalist, Meier has specialized in reporting on business, public policy, and health and safety.[1] He reported for The Wall Street Journal for five years,[1] worked at New York Newsday as a special projects reporter,[1] and reported for The New York Times. According to his The Times profile, his articles published by The Times and elsewhere "have led to Congressional hearings and changes in federal laws."[1]

“Pain Killer”

In 2001, Meier began investigating Purdue Pharma and OxyContin,[3] when it was still a relatively unknown drug made by a relatively unknown family, the Sacklers, including Mortimer Sackler and his brother Raymond Sackler, their children and grandchildren—at that time "one of the wealthiest families in the United States".[4] In an August 24, 2001 Meier recorded an interview with Purdue CEO Michael Friedman and executives Howard Udell and Dr. Paul Goldenheim, who told Meier "they had learned of OxyContin’s growing abuse only in early 2000, a statement they also made before congressional committees".[4] They said the company had undertaken a "massive marketing campaign", based on a "unique claim" for OxyContin, with FDA permission, that, "as a long-acting opioid, it might be less likely to cause abuse and addiction than shorter-acting painkillers like Percocet."[4] In 2001 Meier published Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death.[2] A 2004 New York Times review of the book concluded:

"For years, doctors who prescribed OxyContin were told that the risk of addiction to the painkiller was less than 1 percent. Only after the drug had devastated thousands of lives was it revealed that this figure, touted as scientific fact, was based on a small study that had no relevance for the general public."[3]

References
  1. "Barry Meier". The New York Times. nd. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  2. Meier, Barry (October 17, 2003). Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death. Rodale Books. pp. 333. ISBN 9781579546380.
  3. Kenneally, Christine (January 4, 2004). "Pain Killer". New York Times. Books in Brief: Nonfiction. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  4. Meier, Barry (June 8, 2018). "Every Time I Thought the Purdue Pharma OxyContin Story Was Over, I Was Wrong: Not only would a previously undisclosed prosecution report surface more than a decade after it was written, but as fate would have it, I would be in it". New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
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