Foulkes: Purdue Pharma “Lied to Us” - Actually It Paid Big Bonuses to CVS for Keeping Pills Flowing
GoLocalProv News Team
Foulkes: Purdue Pharma “Lied to Us” - Actually It Paid Big Bonuses to CVS for Keeping Pills Flowing
The U.S. Department of Justice states in a lawsuit unveiled in December of 2024 against the company, “CVS has put profits over patients and indiscriminately dispensed and billed opioid prescriptions that were inappropriate and/or medically unnecessary.”
The Department of Justice lawsuit covers the four years in which Foulkes served as CVS' President and Vice President of Pharmacy. During this period, proxy statements filled by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that Foulkes received in excess of $21 million.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFoulkes is again running for governor of Rhode Island — she lost to Dan McKee in the Democratic primary in 2022 by fewer than 5,000 votes.
GoLocal has been reporting on the role of CVS in the opioid epidemic going back a decade.
CVS, Purdue Pharma, and the Payoffs
In an interview on GoLocalLIVE in January of 2022, Foulkes blamed Purdue Pharma and made the first of many false claims about her knowledge and CVS’s role in the epidemic.
“I’m also really angry. I am angry because Purdue Pharma, in particular, lied to all of us, and that really makes me angry. You know, all I can say is that as soon as we saw what was going on, we took action, and I feel very strongly about that,” said Foulkes.
Purdue Pharma was the mastermind company that manufactured and marketed OxyContin, driving the opioid crisis. A New Yorker investigation titled “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain" may be the best description of the Sacklers and how they fueled their wealth.
"The Sackler dynasty’s ruthless marketing of painkillers has generated billions of dollars—and millions of addicts," wrote Patrick Radden Keefe for the publication.
The Purdue Pharma marketing team produced this video below for physicians; the salesman made false claims about how addictive opioids were.
For years, top physicians like Art Van Zee warned the industry and Congress about the dangers. Van Zee testified before Foulkes' uncle, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, the home of Purdue Pharma. Dodd dismissed Van Zee's warnings. MORE ON DODD, FOULKES, AND THE SACKLERS IN PART THREE OF THIS SERIES.
CVS and Hundreds of Millions in Rebates From Purdue Pharma
But Foulkes' claims about Purdue Pharma lying have come unraveled. A New York Times report unveiled that CVS and other companies were not being lied to by Purdue Pharma — CVS and others were being paid rebates to kick the opioids flowing.
“From 2003 to 2012, for example, the amount Purdue was paying P.B.M.s in rebates roughly doubled to about $400 million a year, almost all of it for OxyContin," wrote the Times.
“For years, the benefit managers, or P.B.M.s, took payments from opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, in return for not restricting the flow of pills. As tens of thousands of Americans overdosed and died from prescription painkillers, the middlemen collected billions of dollars in payments,” reported the New York Times.
Why Were Payments So Important?
“Purdue’s strategy to ensure broad access to its blockbuster painkiller OxyContin was explicit: ‘Offer rebates to remove payer restriction,’ according to an internal presentation. The company didn’t want doctors to have to provide additional justification for prescribing a powerful narcotic, and it didn’t want strict limits on the number of pills that could be dispensed,” reported the Times.
“Our work behind the scenes is paying off!” one Purdue executive emailed a colleague in 2003, recounting how she had worked with P.B.M.s that later became part of CVS Caremark and Express Scripts to persuade insurers to lift restrictions on OxyContin.
CVS' PBM was AdvancePCS, and CVS purchased the company in 2007 and became a part of the Caremark function of CVS — an area that Foulkes oversaw as President of CVS, according to the announcement of her appointment.
“I am excited to take on this new role and am committed to driving CVS/pharmacy’s continued strong growth. At the same time, I look forward to working closely with our enterprise leadership team to continue to introduce innovations that meet the changing needs of clients, patients and payors while driving growth for CVS Caremark,” said Foulkes in 2013.
"Long before the big P.B.M.s rolled out their opioid safety programs in 2017 and 2018, there was ample evidence that they had the power to help curb the opioid epidemic," wrote the Times.
While Foulkes claimed Purdue Pharma lied, CVS was profiting.
Foulkes the Face of CVS' Opioid Story
At the 4:37 mark of this interview with Foulkes on the CBS This Morning broadcast on January 18, 2018, she talks not about the payoffs from Purdue Pharma but about the success CVS is having in combatting the opioid crisis by using its PBM.
"I Don't Want to be [CVS'] Spokesperson"
Fast forward to the summer of 2022, just weeks before the Democratic primary for governor, Foulkes does not want to answer questions from GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle about CVS' role in the crisis under her leadership and the growing number of lawsuits against the company.
"I can't speak to the lawsuits. I don't work at CVS right now and I don't want to be their spokesperson, but I can tell you as soon as we saw the data, we took action," said Foulkes.
COMING NEXT: DODD, FOULKES, AND THE SACKLERS