The lawsuit is one part of an effort by the attorney general and other government officials to combat opioid addiction, which has led to nearly 5,000 deaths in Virginia since 2007 from prescription medicines and about 4,000 additional deaths from heroin and fentanyl, Herring said at a news conference.
“For decades, Purdue Pharma amassed a fortune and built an empire on suffering and lies — lies about the dangers of its drugs, lies about what the company knew, and lies about its central role in creating and profiting from an opioid crisis which has become the deadliest drug epidemic in American history,” Herring said. “We’re asking the court to put an end to Purdue’s illegal and destructive tactics.”
