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FILE – This February 19, 2013, a folder photo shows that OxyContin pills have staged a photo in a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vermont. The Attorney General of Oregon sued the pharmaceutical company that manufactured the OxyContin. to a state regulator to maximize profits. LessFILE – This February 19, 2013, an archive photo shows that OxyContin pills have staged a photo in a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vermont. The Attorney General of Oregon sued the pharmaceutical company that … more
Photo: Toby Talbot, AP
Photo: Toby Talbot, AP
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The Attorney General of Oregon sued Thursday the pharmaceutical company that makes OxyContin, claiming to have misrepresented the risks and benefits of the drug and to have lied to a regulator to maximize its profits.
A spokesman for Purdue Pharma, targeted by the Multnomah trial on Thursday, rejected 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 specifically considered and continues to approve," Josephson said in an email.
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 his ten-year-old promise to correct their behavior.The answer, unfortunately, is a" no! "
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 cause 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 that it would award a $ 3.42 million grant to advance the development of an over-the-counter, low-cost naloxone nasal spray, used to reverse the effects. from an overdose of opioids. The grant goes to Harm Reduction Therapeutics, an independent non-profit pharmaceutical company. Purdue said that he would not be paid any income or royalties.
The Rosenblum lawsuit said that Purdue had sent misleading publications to Oregon, trained its sales force to minimize the risk of addiction and death, and targeted the elderly and disabled for sales. opioids.
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 when it asked whether federal or state 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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