DES MOINES (AP) — Iowa is joining four other states in suing a drug company and its former president over actions related to the marketing of the drug OxyContin.
Attorney General Tom Miller announced Thursday that Iowa had filed a lawsuit in Polk County District Court against Purdue Pharma and Richard Sackler, the company’s former president and chairman.
The suit claims Purdue engaged in unfair, deceptive and unlawful practices in how it marketed OxyContin and that those actions helped cause a national opioid crisis.
Miller accused Purdue executives of being “recklessly indifferent to the impact of their actions, despite ever-mounting evidence that their deceptions were resulting in an epidemic of addiction and death.”
Iowa joined Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin in filing separate lawsuits Thursday . Another 39 states have already sued the company.
The suit seeks unspecified damages.
The company denied the allegations, saying in a statement it would defend itself against what it called “misleading attacks.”