Explosive allegations revealed in Massachusetts AG lawsuit.
Massachusetts is one of 36 states suing Purdue Pharma, maker of the addictive opioid pain medication OxyContin, for deceiving doctors and patients in the sale of the drug.
Yet the Massachusetts lawsuit is unique in that it is the first to sue not only Purdue Pharma, which is owned by the Sackler family, but also eight members of the Sackler family themselves who served on the Purdue Board or as company executives, including former Purdue President Richard Sackler.
The case made news late last week when Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders granted a motion filed by a consortium of major news outlets, including Reuters, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times, to reveal large portions of the 274-page amended complaint that had been heavily redacted. Judge Sanders rejected Purdue’s argument that she should wait to see how a special master in charge of discovery handles similar arguments being made in federal court in Ohio, where a multidistrict litigation against Purdue on behalf of several other states, counties, cities, and tribes is playing out.
The newly released portions of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s complaint contain many explosive allegations highlighting the degree to which the Sackler family defendants allegedly micromanaged the Purdue business, as well as the family’s rapacious greed and disregard for patient welfare. The following are some of the more notable allegations:
The Massachusetts case is in its early stages. Purdue has filed a motion challenging Massachusetts as an appropriate jurisdiction for this action, which has yet to be heard. We will continue to monitor the cases against Purdue in both Massachusetts state court and Ohio federal court as they develop.
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