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RICHMOND – Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring on Wednesday filed a lawsuit accusing Purdue Pharma of creating the opioid crisis through a system of illicit profits.
Filed in a courthouse in the opioid-ravaged southwest Virginia, the lawsuit alleges that the company violated the Virginia Consumer Protection Act with "false claims about the safety, effectiveness and benefits of its opioids, including OxyContin ".
He also accuses the company of creating an illegal public nuisance. The lawsuit seeks unspecified pecuniary damages and an injunction to stop Purdue's lies and deception about his opioids.
"For decades, Purdue Pharma has ambaded a fortune and built an empire over suffering and lies," said Herring (D) at a news conference, a drug addict and a father who lost an adult son opioids.
"Lie on the dangers of his drugs … Lies about what the company knew," he said. "And lies on its central role in creating and leveraging the opioid crisis, which has become the most deadly drug epidemic in American history." An epidemic that is the direct result and predictable from Purdue's complex, large-scale and long-standing deception campaign. "
[[[[How misleading marketing has hooked America]
Purdue did not respond to a request for comment.
Nearly two dozen attorneys general across the country have filed similar complaints against the pharmacy giant, alleging that Purdue has violated consumer protection laws.
[Six more states sue opioid maker Purdue Pharma]
Herring filed his own complaint rather than joining ongoing cases because he alleges violations of the law in Virginia, said spokesman Michael Kelly. Differences in state laws would make a combined case difficult, Kelly said.
[As the opioid epidemic rages, the fight against addiction moves to an Ohio courtroom]
Over the past 10 years, nearly 8,000 Virginians have died from an opioid overdose, including approximately 5,000 prescription opioids, Herring said. Deaths related to prescription opioids in the state hit a record 504 in 2017.
The crisis is particularly pronounced in the rural Southwest of the state. Herring said that he chose to file the lawsuit in the Tazewell County Circuit Court because the fatal drug overdose rate in this county is more than four times the state average. . The Attorney General has not personally traveled to Tazewell – the courthouse is about a five-hour drive from the Herring's Capitol Square office – to deliver the lawsuit. One of his lawyers based in this part of the state did it.
The herring accuses Purdue of building an "opiate empire" over "lies and misrepresentations," claiming that the company has downplayed the addictive nature of its drugs and exaggerated their benefits.
Herring said the company was making a condition that she called "pseudo-diction" because it sought to allay fears about patients showing signs of addiction, such as claiming higher doses. Purdue argued that these patients were not really addicted and needed more opioids, not addiction treatment, Herring said.
The company has funded publications to advance this theory, Herring said.
"I want the lies to stop," Herring said. "I want the misrepresentation about these drugs and their risks to stop.I want the incentives to pump Virginia full of pills to stop.And I want grief and loss of life Stop. "
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