OxyContin maker Purdue admits role in opioid crisis after pleading guilty to criminal charges

Purdue Pharma, maker of the drug OxyContin, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to three criminal charges related to its role in the opioid epidemic. The plea is a formal admission of the company's role in the health crisis.

The company acknowledged that it impeded the US Drug Enforcement Administration's efforts to fight the crisis and that it had failed to maintain an effective program for preventing prescription drugs from being siphoned off and sold on the black market.

The company also admitted to paying doctors through a speaking program in exchange for them writing more prescriptions for painkillers.