Prescription Drug Safety Network Reached More Than 22,000 Students with Prescription Drug Safety Digital Education During 2021-22 School Year

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Purdue Pharma L.P. lauds the Prescription Drug Safety Network (“the Network”) for educating thousands of students about prescription drug safety during the 2021-2022 school year. The Network, of which Purdue Pharma L.P. is a founding member, released annual impact data for the digital education curriculum it provides to middle and high school students across the U.S. The curriculum was made available to schools at no cost through the Network’s strategic partnership with EVERFI, the leading Impact-as-a-Service^TM education innovator.

Since the Network’s launch in 2017, Purdue Pharma has sponsored educational programming for middle and high school students in North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee. To date, more than 101,000 students have taken the course in over 1,200 schools throughout these states. Program highlights from the 2021-2022 school year include:

• Reach: The program was used by more than 22,000 students across 250 schools in North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
• Knowledge Gain: Students increased their scores on understanding prescription drug safety by 47%, and 51% felt more confident in supporting a friend when the course was complete.
• Attitudinal Changes: After taking the course, 89% of students would be able to avoid misusing prescription drugs if offered and 86% would step in to discourage someone from sharing or selling prescription drugs.

The Prescription Drug Safety Network curriculum provides students with information about three classes of prescription medicines (opioids, stimulants, and central nervous system depressants), including proper use and disposal, and includes interactive scenarios that help guide individual learning on potential situations involving misuse. The Prescription Drug Safety Network course is aligned with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Education Standards and state academic standards.

“The Network’s ongoing efforts to deliver engaging and evidence-based education is a critically important step in helping to support future generations to avoid prescription drug misuse,” said Craig Landau, MD, President and CEO, Purdue Pharma. “I am proud that, as an organization, we have been able to continually support this program, and the results from this year’s report confirm that we’re reaching students on these important topics.”

Prescription drug misuse and abuse among teens remains a pervasive problem. According to research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, adolescence and young adulthood is often the time when young people begin misusing drugs, and that drug use at an early age is an important predictor of a substance use disorder later in life. Additionally:

• 5,700+ US youth report misusing pain relievers for the first time in the past year¹.
• 1 in 4 students believe that ADHD medications can be used as a study aid to improve academics or test performance.²
• 2/3 of teens who misused prescription drugs in the past year report they acquired them from family or friends.³

The Prescription Drug Safety Network provides students with the knowledge and tools to make healthy, informed decisions when it comes to prescription medications. The curriculum uses an evidence-based approach to learning along with interactive, true-to-life scenarios that reinforce key learning objectives.

To learn more about the program, visit https://everfi.com/networks/prescription-drug-safety-network/.

About Purdue Pharma L.P.
Purdue Pharma and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market medications and consumer health products to meet the evolving needs of healthcare professionals, patients, consumers and caregivers. If consummated, Purdue’s plan of reorganization will deliver billions in value to communities across the country to fund programs specifically for abatement of the opioid crisis. The bankruptcy settlement would also deliver funds to private abatement trusts for the benefit of personal injury claimants.

Substantially all of Purdue’s assets would be transferred to a new post-emergence company with a public-minded mission. This new company would be governed by new independent board members, and would operate in a responsible and sustainable manner taking into account long-term public health interests relating to the opioid crisis. The company would continue serving patients and consumers who rely on its medicines and products, pursuing its pipeline, and introducing medicines that will help save and improve lives.

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¹ https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/rise-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse-impacting-teens
² https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/rise-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse-impacting-teens
³ https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/rise-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse-impacting-teens