OxyContin Lawsuit Over Opioid Addictions, Overdoses Filed By South Carolina

South Carolina has joined a growing list of states who have filed lawsuits over opioid addictions and overdoses linked to Oxycontin, claiming that the addictive painkiller helped usher in the current opioid abuse crisis. 

The state’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, filed a complaint (PDF) against Purdue Pharma in the South Carolina Richland County Court of Common Pleas on August 15, accusing the pharmaceutical company of deceptive marketing of OxyContin and other opioids.

The marketing tactics allegedly helped create the opioid epidemic in South Carolina, as well as other states nationwide, according to the lawsuit.

OxyContin is a form of the narcotic oxycodone that is designed to release the painkilling medication into the bloodstream gradually over a 12-hour period. Approved by the FDA in 1996, drug abusers quickly discovered that the pill could be crushed and snorted or inhaled for an instant high. Often referred to on the street as “Hillbilly Heroin” or “Killers,” the drug has been linked to hundreds of drug overdoses and deaths.

The pill is one of the best-selling prescription pain medications in the United States, with more than $2 billion in annual sales. However, the widespread use of it and other opioids have led to what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have classified as a nationwide opioid abuse epidemic, Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a national emergency.

“South Carolina is not immune to the headlines we see daily about the toll of opioids on individual patients, families, and communities,” Wilson said in a press release. “It has created a public health epidemic and imposed a significant burden on law enforcement and social services in our state.”

Critics say Purdue knew that OxyContin was not effective as a long-acting, 12-hour opioid painkiller, yet continued to aggressively market and promote the drug. As a result, critics indicate that patients ended up using higher and higher doses of the powerful painkiller, increasing the risk of addiction, abuse and overduse. Some suggest that the marketing of OxyContin played a major role in the doubling of drug overdose deaths from 2003 to 2013.

Purdue has denied the allegations, and resisted calls to change dosing recommendations for the opioid painkiller.

The lawsuit by South Carolina claims that Purdue overstated the benefits of OxyContin, mischaracterized its addictive properties, encouraged doctors to prescribe it at ever-higher doses, overstated the usefulness of abuse-deterrent designs and failed to report suspicious prescribing.

The complaint presents charges of deceptive and unfair acts and practices, unfair competition, public nuisance and unjust enrichment, as well as violations of earlier consent judgments; referring to a 2007 settlement between the state and the drug manufacturer over similar issues.

Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio and Oklahoma have all filed similar Oxycontin addiction lawsuits seeking damages from Purdue.