For 20 years, Purdue Pharma has kept OxyContin records sealed in a W.Va. courthouse. Now, there's a

[TexasTowelie]

For 20 years, Purdue Pharma has kept OxyContin records sealed in a W.Va. courthouse. Now, there’s a push to open them.


In three weeks, a West Virginia judge will take up a request to unseal court documents that include details about OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s deceptive sales practices.

The contents of the entire court file have remained secret for two decades.

Now, HBO, The Washington Post and a documentary film production company are asking Putnam County Circuit Judge Philip Stowers to unseal court records from a 2001 class-action lawsuit that accused Purdue Pharma of failing to supervise the use of the prescription painkiller OxyContin. The lawsuit was settled in 2007, but the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Near the start of the litigation, the two sides agreed to a “protective order” that would allow Purdue Pharma to keep the court records under wraps.

HBO, the Post and PK Films — represented by West Virginia University law professors Pat McGinley and Suzanne Weise, along with Charleston attorney Chris Smith — argued that “the public interest in disclosure of Purdue’s aggressive and unlawful opioid marketing practices substantially outweighs continuing secrecy.”

Read more: https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2021/01/12/for-20-years-purdue-pharma-has-kept-oxycontin-records-sealed-in-a-w-va-courthouse-now-theres-a-push-to-open-them/