The Malvern pharmaceutical giant with the nation’s prescription narcotic of choice will pay a $200,000 penalty and cut ties with doctors who may be helping patients abuse it.

The moves by Endo International stem from an agreement with the New York Attorney General and also alter how the company’s opioid painkiller Opana ER is marketed.

“Numerous New York healthcare providers who were heavily ‘detailed’ by Endo were subsequently convicted of illegal prescribing of prescription opioids,” AG Eric Schneiderman said in a Philly.com report.

Schneiderman’s office started investigating Endo and its highly addictive pill in 2011, a year before USA Today broke an investigative report about Opana ER’s role in the growing opioid abuse epidemic. Over the four years prior, opioid prescriptions soared 31 percent in New York City and overdose deaths in the state increased fivefold, according to the Philly.com article.

“Endo is deeply committed to patient health and safety,” Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Matthew Maletta said in the article. “We therefore support efforts to curb opioid prescription abuse and we believe that enhancing those efforts, including through anti-diversion programs, is an effective use of time and resources.”

Read more about the results of Endo’s agreement on Philly.com here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of Endo International here.