Products Liability Law Reporter

Publicis Health, LLC, a large health care advertising company, allegedly provided advertising and marketing consulting services to opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma L.P. Purdue allegedly paid Publicis millions of dollars over the course of a decade. Publicis allegedly worked with Purdue to promote OxyContin, Butrans, and Hysingla and helped develop marketing campaigns, creating many of the materials Purdue’s sales representatives used when they met with prescribers, including an OxyContin Savings Card. Publicis also worked with McKinsey and Company to develop Purdue’s Evolve to Excellence program, which flooded the most prolific prescribers of OxyContin with additional sales representative calls and messaging.

Washington state filed a complaint for a permanent injunction, damages, and other relief, alleging Publicis violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act, Wash. Rev. Code §19.86, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce. The complaint also alleged the defendant violated the state’s public nuisance statute.

The state asserted that Publicis Health created materials to help Purdue convince health care providers to prescribe opioids in higher doses and for longer durations, increasing the likelihood of addiction. Additionally, Publicis and Purdue officials also allegedly provided physicians with equipment to record conversations between prescribers and patients about opioids. The two companies allegedly would use these recordings to determine how to overcome patient concerns about using opioids, the state argued.

The parties agreed to entry of a final consent judgment in which Publicis agreed to pay approximately $7.9 million.

Citation: State v. Publicis Health, LLC, Undisclosed Dkt. No. (Wash. Super. Ct. King Cnty. Feb. 2024).

State counsel: Bob Ferguson, Seattle.