CONCORD, N.H. — The company that makes the painkiller OxyContin is the target of a New Hampshire Attorney General’s probe focused on whether the drugmaker downplays the risks of addiction.
Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma is refusing to comply with a subpoena for documents about its opioid sales and marketing of chronic pain pills in New Hampshire. Purdue says it won’t release the documents as long as prosecutors plans to share them with a law firm hired to aid in the investigation.
A judge ruled earlier this year that the attorney general’s office hadn’t sought the appropriate legislative approval to hire the outside firm. But the office filed new court papers demanding Purdue’s compliance last week after lawmakers approved the firm’s hiring.
Prescription painkillers are believed to be a leading cause of drug addiction.
