Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill has filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma Inc., Purdue Pharma, L.P., and The Purdue Frederick Company. These three are collectively called Purdue Pharma.
The suit alleges Purdue Pharma misrepresented the risks and benefits of opioids and played a key role in the opioid crisis in Indiana.
The allegations include:
• minimizing or denying the risk of addiction;
• exaggerating the benefits of the use of opioids for treatment of chronic pain;
• denying or failing to disclose the increased dangers of opioids at higher doses;
• targeting elderly and opioid-naïve patients to create a new market of long-term customers;
• spreading the above misrepresentations to Indiana’s medical community and to consumers; and
• engaging in an elaborate deception by enlisting what appeared to be independent entities carrying neutral information that were actually paid, funded or otherwise controlled by Purdue to publicize statements known to be unsupported by facts or scientific research.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you can locate treatment providers in Indiana by calling 2-1-1 or 1-866-211-9966.
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(This story was originally published on Nov. 14, 2018)
