The state of Connecticut is suing Stamford drugmaker Purdue Pharma, accusing one of the world’s largest purveyors of prescription opioids of pursuing profits in misleading doctors and patients about the safety and effectiveness of the ubiquitous painkiller.
Outgoing state Attorney General George Jepsen announced Thursday the civil lawsuit being filed in Hartford Superior Court also names several unidentified current and former members of Purdue Pharma’s management team and its board of directors.
The city of Waterbury and as many as two dozen more Connecticut communities also are suing Purdue Pharma, accusing the drugmaker of similar lapses as the state.
Purdue Pharma, in response late Thursday, continued to insist that it has done nothing wrong and is being unfairly targeted.
The suit alleges, Jepsen said, four counts of violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and seeks unspecified damages, civil penalties, forfeiture of ill-gotten profits and restitution as well as permanent injunctive and other relief.
According to Jepsen, from 2013 to 2016, Connecticut experienced a fourfold increase in deaths from prescription opioid overdoses, putting the estimated state’s economic cost from the in 2016 $10.3 billion.
Connecticut saw 1,038 people die of accidental drug overdoses in 2017, most from opioid-related overdoses, he said. The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, he said, projects another 1,030 will die of opioid overdoses in 2018.
Jepsen alleges that Purdue, best known for its premier opioid brand OxyContin, “peddled a series of falsehoods” to push patients toward its opioids, reaping massive profits from sales while opioid addiction skyrocketed to the crisis level that is currently impacting Connecticut and states across the country.
Jepsen, whose term officially ends Dec. 31, heads a multi-state coalition of state attorneys general who are investigating opioid manufacturers and distributors.
“For a number of months, Connecticut and our multistate partners have been engaged in intensive negotiations with opioid manufacturers and distributors in the hope of resolving potential legal claims in a way that would avoid protracted litigation and would bring opioid treatment resources to those who are desperately in need,” Jepsen said. “I expect those negotiations to continue, and I remain hopeful they will bring a resolution that helps to address this ongoing crisis.”
However, Purdue Pharma, Jepsen added, “has not demonstrated to me that it is serious about addressing the states’ very real allegations of misconduct and coming to a meaningful settlement.”
He said Purdue’s behavior “was endorsed and promoted by the highest leadership of the company and that it was in violation of Connecticut law.”
In a statement late Thursday, Purdue Pharma pledged to continue working with Connecticut and other states “toward bringing meaningful solutions to address this public health challenge” but also insisted it did nothing wrong.
“We vigorously deny the state’s allegations,” an emailed Purdue Pharma statement said. “The state claims Purdue acted improperly by communicating with prescribers about scientific and medical information that [the U.S. Food and Drug Administration] has expressly considered and continues to approve. We believe it is inappropriate for the state to substitute its judgment for the judgment of the regulatory, scientific and medical experts at FDA.”
