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Utah AG files lawsuit in Carbon County against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes announced today that the state filed a civil lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, maker of widely abused painkiller OxiContin.
The lawsuit was filed in Carbon County. It accuses the drugmaker of violating the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act.
According to a press release issued by Gov. Gary Herbert’s office today, Carbon County was chosen as the place to file the lawsuit because, like many rural communities across the United States, it has been “disproportionately impacted by the scourge of opioid addiction and death by overdose, and Carbon County is among the most vulnerable and hardest hit in America.”
The lawsuit seeks penalties from the company for allegedly illegal practices as well as for injunctive relief “to prevent further harm.”
The lawsuit alleges Purdue failed to disclose the risk of opioid addition from consumers using its products. It also alleges Purdue falsely claimed to doctors that patients could increase their doses of its painkillers without adverse effects. And the lawsuit also alleges that Purdue made false and unsubstantiated claims that if patients showed signs of addiction those signs actually meant the patients required higher doses of their painkillers.
“Purdue Pharma manufactured one of the deadliest combinations in the history of our nation—OxyContin and lies,” Reyes said. “That lethal cocktail has led to a national public health crisis of epic proportions. In 2016, alone, more people died from opioid-related deaths than from breast cancer. These fatalities accounted for 66 percent of our 63,000 drug overdose deaths, more than all Americans lost in the Vietnam War.”

The governor blamed Purdue’s deceptive trade practices for causing mass heartache across Utah.

“Today, Utah takes a big step forward in holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for the devastation caused in Utah through their deceptive marketing of opioids,” Herbert said. “The lawsuit explains how Purdue Pharma misled physicians to overprescribe and patients to over-use opioids by minimizing the risk of addiction. Their campaign of misinformation has contributed to thousands of deaths and untold heartache in Utah and across the county.”

In Utah, non-fatal opioid costs to the state are around $524 million annually, the press release cited research from the American Enterprise Institute. From 2013 to 2015, Utah ranked 7th highest in the nation for drug overdose deaths, the press release states.
 
Reyes said he and a bipartisan group of more than 40 other state attorneys general have been investigating drugmakers and their marketing and sales practices. Purdue already faces lawsuits from a dozen states.
 
Carbon County is already considering joining four other Utah counties in suing the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers to recover damages caused by the area’s growing painkiller abuse epidemic.
 
County commissioners opened bids from five law firms during the last regular commission meeting and are expected to decide which firm to contract with shortly.
 
It’s unclear whether the state’s lawsuit would interfere at all with the county’s efforts. 
 
The county’s civil attorney, Christian Bryner, was unavailable Thursday for comment.
 
Grand, Summit, Salt Lake and Tooele counties have already filed civil lawsuits seeking damages from major pharmaceutical companies.
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