New Jersey has leveled a civil lawsuit against Purdue Pharma LP, alleging it used deceptive marketing to sell its highly addictive medications.

The OxyContin addiction lawsuit claims that Purdue targeted vulnerable markets with its addictive painkillers, and therefore played a substantial role in the current opioid crisis in New Jersey.

“When we point the finger of blame for the deadly epidemic that has killed thousands in New Jersey, Purdue is the bull’s eye of the target,” said New Jersey Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino in a statement to Law360.

The state is seeking monetary damages under the Consumer Fraud Act and the False Claims Act.

The new OxyContin addiction lawsuit was filed just six days after it was revealed that the U.S. Attorney’s office had opened a probe into the company’s OxyContin marketing practices.

According to the OxyContin addiction lawsuit, Purdue gave its sales force incentives to actively push OxyContin, even giving special treatment to doctors who prescribed the drug at the highest rate.

Sales representatives were reportedly supposed to emphasize the benefits of opioids and downplay their risks. If they were asked about the risks of addiction, these questions were allegedly supposed to be deflected to unofficial material that also promoted the benefits of these drugs.

Sales representatives were also allegedly trained to target opioids toward vulnerable populations like the elderly and those who were naïve to the addictive nature of opioid drugs. Sales reps reportedly had to reach a quota for these drugs per month.

This is not the first OxyContin addiction lawsuit that the state has filed in an attempt to crack down on the opioid crisis. New Jersey had previously hit Insys Therapeutics Inc. with a similar civil suit over its marketing for the opioid drug Subsys.

Background of the Opioid Epidemic

Opioid painkillers like OxyContin are often prescribed to treat pain. Their job is to reduce the number of pain signals that the body sends to the brain. Unfortunately, they can end up causing patients to feel a sort of addictive euphoria.

Opioid addiction isn’t necessarily something that happens from misuse of the drug—even just taking opioids at the direction of one’s doctor can quickly lead to addiction, and can ruin people’s lives and put them in danger of serious injuries.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prescription opioid deaths have quadrupled since just 1999, coinciding closely with the increase in sales during that time.

As the big pharma opioid epidemic grows ever more concerning, state attorneys general have begun looking at pharmaceutical companies themselves, in a similar manner to how the tobacco industry was targeted back in the 1990s.

Opioid abuse can lead to a number of injuries, the most obvious of which is opioid addiction. Other problems include serotonin syndrome, androgen deficiency, adrenal insufficiency, overdose, and even death.

Filing an Opioid Addiction Lawsuit

Opioid lawsuits like this OxyContin addiction lawsuit claim that drug companies downplayed the severity of the addictive risks of opioids, placing company profit over the safety of patients.

Lawsuits over the opioid epidemic have been filed against companies from all over the country, including in Ohio, New Hampshire, New York, Chicago, Oregon, and California. Dozens of different opioids are involved in these lawsuits.

If you or someone you love has suffered from an opioid addiction because of a painkiller prescribed by your doctor, you may be able to file a lawsuit. While a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by addiction, it can help to alleviate some of the accompanying financial burden.

In general, opioid addiction lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual opioid addictino lawsuit or opioid addiction class action lawsuit is best for you. Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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