TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a “comprehensive” lawsuit Tuesday aimed at punishing several major drug manufacturers and distributors, contending they were responsible for “pain and destruction” and a surge in opioid overdose deaths.
Florida filed its lawsuit the same day that five other states sued pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, the maker of oxycontin, and accused the company of using deceptive marketing to boost drug sales that fueled opioid deaths.
But Florida’s lawsuit, filed in a state court in Pasco County, targets four other drug companies along with Purdue Pharma as well as companies that distribute drugs. It alleges that drug companies misrepresented the dangers of opioid drugs and that distributors were negligent in allowing large numbers of drugs to be sold to the public. An estimated 15 Floridians die each day due to opioids.
“This crisis is by far the worst I have ever seen,” said Bondi, who was a prosecutor before she was elected statewide in 2010. “It’s time the defendants paid for the pain and destruction they have caused.”
The lawsuit accuses the companies of racketeering and violating the state’s deceptive practices law. It also alleges that drug manufacturers used front groups and paid experts to tout the drugs as a use for chronic pain. Bondi did not put a dollar figure on what the state wants to recover but said it could be in the “billions.”
Purdue, based in Stamford, Connecticut, said it would “vigorously deny” the claims and defend itself.
