In 2001, when West Virginia noticed a rise in deaths due to oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin painkillers, it tried requiring prior authorization for the drug. But its manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, wrecked the plan by offering rebates to a pharmacy benefits manager.

STAT News reported on the scheme thanks to unsealed West Virginia court records. Purdue’s strategy to pay a benefits manager (in this case, it was Merck Medco) to prevent insurers from limiting OxyContin access was repeated in many other states, according to former Purdue employees interviewed by STAT.

“That was a national contract,” Bernadette Katsur, who negotiated contracts with pharmacy benefit managers for Purdue, said to STAT. “We would negotiate a certain rebate percentage for keeping it on a certain tier related to copay or whether it has prior authorization. We like to keep prior authorization off of any drug.”

Katsur defended the practice, saying prior authorization didn’t do much to eliminate inappropriate prescribing and deter physicians from prescribing a particular medication.

Read more about STAT’s investigation, including how the court records contradict Purdue’s claims it was trying to help the state fight opioid abuse, by clicking the link below: