Drug companies ask judge to dismiss Ohio opioid lawsuit

Companies that make prescription opioids want a Ross County Common Pleas judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine that charged them with stoking Ohio's opioid epidemic by fraudulently marketing their products  (Source: “Drug companies want to dismiss Ohio's lawsuit over opioid epidemic,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 11, 2017).

Legal briefs filed by Purdue Pharma, which makes Oxycontin, say U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements for its products preempt Ohio law, and DeWine's lawsuit also failed to prove the company's actions caused the harm he cites.

"The State does not identify a single physician who prescribed one of Purdue's opioid medications to any patient when it was allegedly medically unnecessary, much less, a physician who did so because of Purdue's allegedly misleading marketing or promotional materials," the company's legal filings say.

DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the office is reviewing the drug companies' legal filings "and will file our response in due course." A hearing on the case is scheduled this month before Ross County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott W. Nusbaum. DeWine filed the case in Ross County because Southern Ohio was particularly hard hit by the opioid epidemic.