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The
lawsuit filed in Merrimack County Superior Court claimed that
Purdue Pharma significantly downplayed the risk of addiction
posed by OxyContin and engaged in marketing practices that
"opened the floodgates" to opioid use and abuse.
The lawsuit came after the state's top court in June overturned
a ruling that barred the enforcement of subpoenas against Purdue
and four other drugmakers because of the use of a private law
firm by the office of the attorney general.
The complaint said the Stamford, Connecticut-based company had
spent hundreds of millions of dollars since the 1990s on
misleading marketing that overstated the benefits of opioids for
treating chronic, rather than short-term, pain.
Purdue and three executives in 2007 pleaded guilty to federal
charges related to the misbranding of OxyContin, and agreed to
pay a total of $634.5 million to resolve a U.S. Justice
Department probe.
That year, the privately held company reached a $19.5 million
settlement with 26 states and the District of Columbia. It
agreed in 2015 to pay $24 million to resolve a lawsuit by
Kentucky.
The lawsuit by New Hampshire, which was not among those settled,
said Purdue has continued to benefit from its earlier misconduct
and has since 2011 expanded the market for opioids in the state.
"New Hampshire continues to experience a severe opioid
epidemic," Deputy Attorney General Ann Rice said in a statement.
"Last year alone nearly 500 overdose deaths occurred - almost
ten times more than in 2000."
In a statement, Purdue denied the allegations but said "we share
New Hampshire officials' concerns about the opioid crisis and we
are committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, opioids were involved in over 33,000 U.S. deaths in
2015, the latest year for which data is available, and estimates
show the death rate has continued rising.
The lawsuit followed similar cases against Purdue and other
drugmakers by Oklahoma, Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri and
several cities and counties in California, Illinois, Ohio,
Oregon, Tennessee and New York.
A group of state attorneys general announced an investigation in
June into the role played by pharmaceutical manufacturers in the
opioid epidemic.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chris Reese and
Richard Chang)
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