



The states of California, Maine and Hawaii on Monday joined dozens of others in suing the pharmaceutical giant Purdue over the role the company’s prescription painkiller, OxyContin, has played in the deadly opioids crisis.

The states accuse Purdue of putting “profits over people”. They allege Purdue falsely promoted OxyContin by downplaying the risk of addiction while the drug emerged as one of the most widely abused opioids in the US.

In addition to the three states, the District of Columbia also sued Purdue on Monday.

The new plaintiffs are just the latest in a long list of states that have taken legal action against Purdue. The addition of California, the US’s most populous state, is a significant development.

In addition to its action against Purdue, Maine also sued Richard Sackler, his brother, Jonathan, and two of their cousins, Mortimer David Alfons Sackler and Kathe Sackler. All four have served on the board at Purdue and are descended from the two late brothers, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, who controlled Purdue when it launched OxyContin in 1995.

California sued Purdue and Richard Sackler, a former president of Purdue Pharma and one of a core group of multi-billionaires in the Sackler family that wholly owns the company.

“The opioid crisis is devastating our communities and killing our loved ones,” California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, said on Monday. “Purdue Pharma and Dr [Richard] Sackler started the fire and then poured gasoline on the opioid crisis with practices that were irresponsible, unconscionable and unlawful.”

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The lawsuit alleges that Purdue falsely marketed its powerful narcotic as a safe and effective treatment for chronic pain despite contradictory evidence.

“Purdue’s deliberate and deceptive marketing and sale of these drugs sacrificed the wellbeing of Californians for billions of dollars in profits and fueled an unprecedented national public health crisis,” Becerra added. “We will continue to hold accountable those who put profits over people.”

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At least 45 states have now filed civil lawsuits against Purdue, and more than 1,500 city and county governments are suing the company in a collective case being argued in a federal court in Ohio. Some other pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as distributors and high street pharmacy chains, are also being sued. The defendants are fighting the claims.

Purdue Pharma denies any wrongdoing, as do the Sackler family members named in recent cases – Richard, Jonathan, Kathe, Beverly, Theresa, David and Mortimer DA Sackler and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who have found their philanthropy increasingly shunned.

Representatives of the Sacklers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, Purdue said: “Purdue Pharma vigorously denies the allegations contained in litigation against the company and will continue to defend itself against these misleading attacks. These sensationalized claims are part of a continuing effort to try these cases in the court of public opinion rather than the justice system, as plaintiffs are unable to connect the conduct alleged to the harm described.”

It said a recent court decision dismissing a civil case brought by North Dakota against the company was “a significant legal victory”.

Representatives of some of the plaintiffs and some of the defendants have been involved in behind-the-scenes talks for at least 18 months about a global settlement of all the cases.

“I think there will be a resolution this year. I’m hopeful there will be,” the attorney Mike Moore told the Guardian on Monday, though he admitted of the negotiation: “It’s a mess.”

Moore is a former attorney general for the state of Mississippi and a leading lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs. He helped secure the historic $246bn so-called big tobacco settlement against cigarette companies in 1997 and the $20bn settlement against BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Drug overdoses kill more than 72,000 people in the US a year, with about 49,000 of those caused by opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl.

Any deal over responsibility of the crisis would help pay for a catastrophe that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate costs the US more than $78bn a year.

Among the most vital immediate needs, Moore said, were a nationwide anti-opioids education program for the public and medical professionals, widespread free availability of overdose-antidote drugs and a huge roll-out of rehabilitation services for the 2.5 million people with opioid dependency problems.



