Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters), -An unit of a French advertisement company Publicis Groupe SA (PA:), on Friday, lost a petition by Massachusetts’ attorney General to dismiss a suit claiming that it helped OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP fueling the U.S. epidemic.

Publicis Health had described Attorney General Maurahealey’s suit as an unproven attempt to sue an agency for its marketing of its product. Publicis Health called her claims conclusive and claimed she mischaracterized documents.

Brian Davis, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge, said Healey filed “non-speculative” claims under the state’s public nuisance statute and consumer protection statute. Healey could now move forward.

He cited allegations from Healey’s May complaint that said Publicis had “played a key role in the development of marketing strategies to increase opioid sales between 2010 and 2019.

Davis stated that these marketing campaigns were meant to encourage doctors to prescribe more OxyContin and give it longer-term for their patients.

Healey expressed her delight that Davis rejected Publicis’ attempts to deflect responsibility for their marketing campaigns.

Publicis claimed in a statement, that all of its work is “completely legal” and that it made no deceitful statements. Its lawyer, David Anders of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, argued that Purdue, not Publicis, dictated the content of its marketing.

He said, “No advertiser has been held responsible under these circumstances.”

A majority of state and local governments have filed more than 3300 lawsuits seeking to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the drug industry’s epidemic, which was blamed by the U.S. government for nearly 500,000 overdose deaths between 1999-2019.

In August, a bankruptcy judge approved Purdue’s settlement with the wealthy Sackler family members of their claims. The company is worth more than $10 million.

Consulting company McKinsey & Co separately agreed to pay $641 million to resolve claims by various states that it helped Purdue and other drugmakers design marketing plans and boost painkiller sales.