AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced his office has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, which manufactures prescription opioids, including OxyContin.

Paxton joins the attorneys general in five other states in the lawsuit against the Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company.

“My office is holding Purdue Pharma accountable for fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing prescription painkillers including OxyContin when it knew [its] drugs were potentially dangerous and that its use had a high likelihood of leading to addiction,” Paxton said during a press conference. “As Purdue got rich from sales of its opioids, Texans and others across the nation were swept up in a public health crisis that led to tens of thousands of deaths each year due to opioid overdoses.”

 

 

 

The lawsuit states the drug manufacturer violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It further states Purdue Pharma misrepresented or failed to disclose the risk of opioid addiction, misrepresented that there is no “ceiling dose” of its opioid drugs, made false, unsubstantiated representations about “pseudoaddiction,” and falsely reported that its abuse-deterrent formulation of OxyContin reduces the risks of OxyContin.

Regarding the lawsuit, Purdue Pharma released the following statement to Spectrum News Tuesday afternoon: 

“We are disappointed that after months of good faith negotiations working toward a meaningful resolution to help the state of Texas address the opioid crisis, the attorney general has unilaterally decided to pursue a costly and protracted litigation process. 

We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”