OxyContin Maker Faces at Least a Dozen Lawsuits
August 2, 2001
Purdue Pharma LP is facing at least 13 lawsuits regarding its powerful painkiller OxyContin. The suits claim the company is responsible for a rash of overdoses and deaths associated with the drug. OxyContin is a morphine-like painkiller and is the Nation's leading prescription narcotic. Designed to ease the chronic pain of arthritis and cancer sufferers, OxyContin can be deadly in the wrong hands. Patients with legitimate prescriptions of the drug can become addicted, according to the lawsuits. In addition to legitimate uses, there is a flourishing black market for OxyContin. The painkiller can be ground up and snorted or injected and gives drug abusers a heroin-like high.
The State of West Virginia is suing Purdue Pharma, claiming that the drug manufacturer violated its state consumer law. Representatives of West Virginia's attorney general's office said the State's claim is focused on Purdue's representation to doctors that OxyContin was much less addictive than comparable painkillers. The State believes the sales tactic was misleading.
Purdue spokespeople question West Virginia's claims. The company argues that the chances of becoming addicted to OxyContin are minimal as long as the drug is taken as prescribed. In an effort to fight misuse, the company recently agreed to include stronger language on the drug's label, warning of OxyContin's addictive nature.
Critics blame Purdue Pharma for marketing OxyContin too aggressively. When launched in 1995, Purdue held seminars stressing the importance of aggressive treatment of pain. Purdue salespeople were "in your face," according to some doctors. To date, OxyContin is linked to hundreds of deaths nationwide.
According to legal experts, the primary issue in these lawsuits is whether the manufacturer notified consumers of the risks and potential for addiction associated with OxyContin.
OxyContin has been called the "hillbilly heroin," as it first became popular in rural areas of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Maine. Abuse has since spread throughout the country.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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