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SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Attorney General on Thursday sued the pharmaceutical company that manufactured OxyContin, claiming it had misrepresented the risks and benefits of the drug and lied to a state regulator to maximize its benefits. profits.
A spokesman for Purdue Pharma, targeted by Thursday's trial in Multnomah Circuit Court, dismissed the allegations.
Spokesman Bob Josephson said the state was inappropriately substituting its judgment for expert judgment by the US Food and Drug Administration.
"The state claims that Purdue acted inappropriately by contacting prescribers about scientific and medical information that the FDA has specifically considered and continues to approve," Josephson said in an email.
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Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has accused Purdue of engaging in racketeering and deceptive activities over the last decade.
Oregon sued Purdue in 2007 for fraudulent marketing of OxyContin, but the Connecticut-based company continued to market the highly addictive pain pills to Oregon physicians and health care providers and to the Oregon Pharmacy Board.
"Although we can not bring lost lives back to opioid addiction, we can ask ourselves if Purdue has kept the promise made over the past decade to correct their behavior. The answer, unfortunately, is a "no!" Resounding, "she said.
The National Institutes of Health said in a 2005 report that OxyContin, a trade name for oxycodone hydrochloride, "has become popular as a street drug because of its ability to induce euphoria. similar to that of heroin ".
In 2016, 312 people died of opioid-related overdoses in Oregon, said the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
On September 5, Purdue Pharma announced a $ 3.42 million grant for the development of an over-the-counter, over-the-counter nasal spray to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. . The grant goes to Harm Reduction Therapeutics, an independent non-profit pharmaceutical company. Purdue said he would not receive any income or fees.
Rosenblum's lawsuit stated that Purdue had sent deceptive publications to Oregon, trained its sales force to minimize the risk of addiction and death, and targeted the elderly and disabled for opioid sales.
The complaint also states that as of 2008, when Purdue submitted registration renewal applications to the Oregon Pharmacy Board, the company responded in the negative to the question of whether federal or federal disciplinary measures had been taken. Purdue had just been sued by the Attorney General of Oregon and criminally charged by the federal government, according to the Oregon lawsuit.
Purdue and other drug companies are facing lawsuits across the country, claiming that they have helped trigger an opioid addiction and an overdose crisis.
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Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky
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