OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP said that it has cut its sales force in half and will stop promoting opioids to doctors following widespread criticism of the ways that drugmakers market addictive painkillers.

The drugmaker said it will inform doctors on Monday that its sales representatives will no longer visit their offices to discuss its opioid products. It will now have about 200 sales representatives, Purdue said.

"We have restructured and significantly reduced our commercial operation and will no longer be promoting opioids to prescribers," the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said in a statement.

The maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin said it will stop marketing opioid drugs to doctors, a surprise reversal after lawsuits blaming the company for helping trigger the current drug abuse epidemic. Credit:AP

Doctors with opioid-related questions will be directed to its medical affairs department. Its sales representatives will now focus on Symproic, a drug for treating opioid-induced constipation, and other potential non-opioid products, Purdue said.