On Tuesday, South Carolina became the sixth state to sue OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. Reuters reports that South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s argument is that Purdue misrepresented the addiction risks of the drug to doctors and patients.
Wilson claimed Purdue has told doctors that patients who receive prescriptions for opioids generally will not become addicted and those who appeared to be were only "pseudoaddicted" and needed more of the drugs.
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Since a 2007 settlement with South Carolina, Purdue has continued to downplay the addictiveness of its opioid products and overstated the benefits compared to other pain management treatments, according to the lawsuit.
"While there is a time and place for patients to receive opioids, Purdue prevented doctors and patients from receiving complete and accurate information about opioids in order to make informed choices about their treatment options," Wilson said in a statement.
South Carolina joins Oklahoma, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri and New Hampshire on the list of states suing pharmaceutical companies involved in the opioid epidemic.