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 Attorneys general from states including Massachusetts, Texas,
Illinois and Pennsylvania announced the investigation two weeks
after Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sued five drug manufacturers
for misrepresenting the risks of opioids.
"We are looking into what role, if any, marketing and related
practices might have played in the increasing prescription and use
of these powerful and addictive drugs," District of Columbia
Attorney General Karl Racine, a Democrat, said in a statement.
It was unclear exactly how many states are involved in the probe,
though officials said a majority of attorneys general are part of
the coalition. Among those leading the probe is Tennessee Attorney
General Herbert Slatery, a Republican.
Officials did not specify which companies were under investigation.
Opioid drugs, including prescription painkillers and heroin, killed
more than 33,000 people in the United States in 2015, more than any
year on record, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
Separate lawsuits by attorneys general in Ohio and Mississippi, the
two states that have pursued opioid-related cases to date, have
targeted Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson<JNJ.N>, Endo
International Plc<ENDP.O>, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd <TEVA.TA>
and Allergan Plc<AGN.N>.
Teva in a statement said on Thursday it is "committed to the
appropriate promotion and use of opioids." Representatives for the
other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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The companies have denied wrongdoing, saying the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approved their products as safe and effective and
saying that they carried warning labels that disclosed their risks.
In announcing his office's lawsuit on May 31, Ohio Attorney General
DeWine said the drug companies helped unleash the crisis by spending
millions of dollars marketing and promoting such drugs as Purdue's
OxyContin.
The lawsuit said the drug companies disseminated misleading
statements about the risks and benefits of opioids as part of a
marketing scheme aimed at persuading doctors and patients that drugs
should be used for chronic rather than short-term pain.
Similar lawsuits have been filed by local governments, including two
California counties, the cities of Chicago, Illinois and Dayton,
Ohio, three Tennessee district attorneys, and nine New York
counties.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Los Angeles; editing by Diane Craft)
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