Vermont’s lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical giant and producer of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, is moving forward.
Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Helen Toor refused a request from the company based in Stamford, Connecticut, to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the state of Vermont.
The lawsuit brought in September alleges that the company had deceptively marketed the drug for years, leading to an opioid crisis gripping Vermont and the nation.
“As to the issue of causation, Purdue argues that there are too many other factors that contribute to a person becoming addicted to establish that Purdue is responsible for the widespread addiction in Vermont,” the judge wrote in a ruling this week.
“That may well present a challenge as to the proof at trial, but the only question before the court today is whether the complaint sufficiently alleges causation,” Toor added. “It does.”
Vermont is one of about two dozen states suing Purdue. The state’s lawsuit specifically claims that the company violated Vermont’s consumer protection and public nuisance laws concerning the company’s marketing and promotion of opioids.
The attorney general’s office, which is bringing the case, claims that Purdue Pharma “tainted the science around pain management with misinformation,” according to the lawsuit.
“Purdue Pharma convinced the medical community and the public to believe unsubstantiated statements about the safety and benefits of long-term opioid use,” Attorney General TJ Donovan said in a statement issued Thursday.
“There is not now, nor has there ever been, any scientific evidence to support the safety or efficacy of opioid use for longer than 12 weeks,” he added.
Deputy Attorney General Joshua Diamond said Thursday evening that no trial date has been set for the case. Instead, he said, the parties will confer on a schedule for the case going forward.
A spokesperson for Purdue Pharma also did immediately return a message Thursday seeking comment.
In denying the company’s motion to dismiss the case, Judge Toor gave Purdue Pharma 14 days to file a formal answer to the lawsuit.
Vermont’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Those damages are for, among other things, the cost to the state of Vermont in responding to the opiate crisis as well as to help pay for that response moving forward.
The state is also going after its share of Purdue Pharma’s “ill-gotten” gains. According to the lawsuit, Purdue has generated some $35 billion in sales since it launched OxyContin in 1995.
Judge Toor’s ruling comes a little more than two weeks after Reuters reported that Purdue Pharma was exploring bankruptcy to “address potentially significant liabilities from roughly 2,000 lawsuits alleging the drugmaker contributed to the deadly opioid crisis sweeping the United States.”
The medical news site STAT reported this month that if Purdue Pharma does file for bankruptcy, it would “freeze the lawsuit” and result in those claims moving to bankruptcy court.
Diamond declined to speculate on the effect Purdue’s bankruptcy might have on Vermont’s case.
“We haven’t actually seen a filing, but we’re committed to pursuing our claims against Purdue Pharma in any jurisdiction,” he said.
