Utah officials ramped up their legal attack on Purdue Pharma, a leading manufacturer of opioids, filing a new court action Wednesday over allegations that the company exaggerated the benefits and hid the risks of its prescription drugs, including OxyContin.
The Beehive State is now among a growing number of states that have filed court claims that Purdue violated state consumer protection laws by downplaying addiction risks and touting the benefits of opioid use instead.
“While Purdue’s executives got rich,” Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a statement, “Utah was plunged into a national public health crisis.”
The Utah attorney general’s office and several individual Utah counties have filed civil lawsuits against the company, but Wednesday’s court filing was different.