Read the linked new yorker article at the bottom of this one to see how they played a direct critical role in getting doctors to perscribe them for minor pain.
Before OxyContin, there were any number of narcotic painkilling drugs from those that have to be injected to ones that can be swallowed as a tablet or capsule that are made by more reputable drug companies (and have been for decades). OxyContin didn't offer anything over these earlier drugs.
Not only doctors but many of the lay public already know this. Even if the spurious/nebulous argument that OxyContin's action lasted longer or whatever, that the sheer number of alternatives would tailor for almost any patient's requirement. The corollary being that OxyContin offered nothing new of any significance. Even existing narcotics can be compounded for an individual patient's needs.
The fact is that almost everyone knows this, especially doctors and pharmacists yet the medical profession let itself be bought off and FDA didn't even wink an eyelid to stop it. Where was the FDA's corporate memory? How did its 100+year history on this matter fly out the window as if it never existed?
Essentially, in the light of a few dollars on offer from Sackler's/Purdue these damn miserable medicos said fuck the Hippocratic Oath and let their patients rot.
The Sackler's and Purdue are ratbags, but also there's many a medico who should have his/her license to practice revoked.
Yeah, that's the bullshit they want you to believe. As I said, even if no older or more commonly available opiate were available that precisely matched OxyContin's duration/time release (which is a bit far fetched given the dozens others that were already available well before OxyContin was released), then any self-respecting corner-shop compounding pharmacist will blend a time release to suit any patient (or match one to Oxycontin's properties).
Blending up a time-release drug requires a knowledge of the normal properties of said drug, an ability to calculate the additional amount of drug after its duration has been extended with delaying agents and the knowledge of the properties of any third drug needed (like another different opioid) if found necessary to add one so as to tweak or fine-tune the process. Sounds complicated, but it's a snack to do for someone with a degree in pharmacy.