FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Attorney General Jack Conway is heralding
a decision by a federal court judge in New York to send a lawsuit
involving the powerful painkiller OxyContin back to Kentucky.
U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein ruled this week that a
lawsuit he filed in 2007 against Purdue Pharma, the company that
makes OxyContin, should be heard in Pike County Circuit Court.
Purdue Pharma had pushed successfully to move the case to the
Southern District of New York not long after the suit was filed.
Conway alleges that Purdue Pharma misled health care providers,
consumers and government officials regarding the risk of addiction
associated with OxyContin.
Conway is seeking reimbursement of money spent on law
enforcement, drug treatment programs and Medicaid prescriptions.
Purdue Pharma spokesman James Heins had no immediate comment.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
