Prescription opioid manufacturers and distributors are under legal siege. Nearly 2,000 lawsuits from states, municipalities, and hospitals allege that these companies are responsible for the opioid epidemic. Purdue Pharma, which makes Oxycontin, recently settled one such lawsuit for $270 million, but most will continue, with the first trial set for May 28.
These lawsuits rest on the proposition that opioid makers misled doctors, hospitals, and patients about the risk of addiction to prescription opioids, thereby generating a boom in opioid overdoses.
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