When Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, a potent opioid painkiller, began promoting its drug to doctors, the company did everything from distributing free pills to making jingles.
Salesmen were given big bonuses for selling more drugs and doctors were flown to conferences to learn how to talk about the benefits of the treatment.
A growing number of US states, however, have blamed the aggressive marketing strategies of Purdue and its competitors for fuelling an epidemic of addiction that has been called “the worst drug crisis in American history”.
Experts say a series of lawsuits that have been brought against drugmakers could result in settlements similar to cases against tobacco companies in the 1990s.
The state of Ohio has filed a lawsuit against five pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of lying about addictiveness. It alleges that the drugmakers Purdue, Teva, Johnson & Johnson, Endo and Allergan misled doctors about the risks of long-term use for their products, fuelling addiction.
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Legal action has also been pursued in the states of New York, Mississippi, California and Chicago.
In 2015 Kentucky reached a separate $24 million settlement with Purdue over its OxyContin marketing.
In 2007 it was fined $634.5 million for the way it advertised the drug. The effectiveness of opioid advertising has made it the most prescribed class of drugs in the US, with more than 200 million prescriptions in one year.
Purdue said that it shared concern about the “opioid crisis” and was working to find solutions. Johnson & Johnson denied wrongdoing.