Purdue Seeks to Dismiss Massachusetts Lawsuit

Purdue Pharma is seeking to dismiss a Massachusetts lawsuit filed by that state’s attorney general that has been highly critical of the company’s marketing of its opioid pain treatment OxyContin and has also placed blame on the company for 670 opioid-related deaths in the state since 2009. On Friday, Connecticut-based Purdue filed a motion to dismiss the state’s complaint, which also pointed to how important the success of OxyContin was to the company’s bottom line. The multi-page motion raises into question some of the accusations made by the attorney general’s office. Additionally, the company called the allegations made by the state “a misleading narrative by grossly mischaracterizing Purdue internal business documents and emails.” In the motion, a copy of which was sent to BioSpace, the company pointed to several examples it called misleading and filled with hyperbole. The company said there are many false claims made within the state’s complaint, such as that Purdue Pharma created the opioid epidemic and that the company made choices that caused much of the opioid epidemic in the state. Purdue said the state’s complaint is “replete with sensational and inflammatory allegations” and failed to meet its burden to “allege legally viable claims.”