AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced May 15 that his office has filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma for allegedly fueling Texas' and the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Paxton’s office filed the consumer protection lawsuit in Travis County District Court and alleged that Purdue Pharma violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA).
According to allegations, Purdue Pharma misrepresented the risk of possible addiction to opioids, falsely represented that doctors could increase dosages indefinitely without risks, falsely represented to doctors that common signs of addiction in patients actually mean the patients need higher dosages, and falsely represented that the company’s “abuse-deterrent” formulation of OxyContin reduces the risk of addiction.
“My office is holding Purdue Pharma accountable for fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing prescription painkillers including OxyContin when it knew their drugs were potentially dangerous and that its use had a high likelihood of leading to addiction,” Paxton said in a statement. “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.”