The state of Connecticut filed a lawsuit against Stamford-based Purdue Pharma in Superior Court in Hartford yesterday.
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said the lawsuit is seeking billions of dollars in damages and restitution from Purdue Pharma for its role in the opioid crisis.
Jepsen alleges that the company’s board and executives made huge financial gains by misleading doctors and patients about how addictive their prescription opioid medications were.
“They said that the risk of addiction was not great. And we believe that was not the case. So what they encouraged was more prescriptions.”
Jepsen said Connecticut continues to take a lead role in multi-state negotiations with a group of opioid manufacturers and distributors, including Purdue Pharma, in the hopes of getting an out-of-court settlement.
Earlier this week a federal judge in Ohio cleared the way for municipalities nationwide to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors.
