New York Oxycontin Addiction Attorneys

Oxycontin, is a painkiller intended for use by terminal cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers. The drug is manufactured by Purdue Pharma LP and co-marketed by Abbott Laboratories. The drug is widely prescribed and sales exceeded $1 Billion dollars in the United States in 2000.

A plaintiffs group in Washington, D.C., has filed a $5.2 billion lawsuit against Purdue Pharma LP and Abbott Laboratories Inc. charging the drug companies with allegedly failing to warn patients that OxyContin is dangerously addictive. Allegations have surfaced that the drug has been linked to numerous deaths.

According to the lawsuit, defendants "made misrepresentations or failed to adequately and sufficiently warn individuals regarding the appropriate uses, risks and safety of OxyContin." It contends OxyContin's sales were the result of an "aggressive marketing strategy" to physicians, pharmacists and patients that, "misrepresented the appropriate uses of OxyContin and failed to adequately disclose and discuss the safety issues and possible adverse effects of OxyContin use."

Specifically, the suit quotes a May 2000 U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning letter to Purdue Pharma ordering the company to cease use of an advertisement for the drug that appeared in a medical journal. The suit quotes a section from the warning letter that suggests the advertisement inaccurately represents the drug as a first-line treatment for osteoarthritis. "As a result of drug company defendants' inappropriate marketing of OxyContin, the drug has been inappropriately prescribed and used, unnecessarily putting people at risk of addiction to OxyContin," the suit alleges.