Purdue Pharma LP acknowledged in a letter thatthe maker of the opioid painkiller Oxycontin is in “negotiations’’with state attorneys general over lawsuits accusing the company ofcreating a public-health crisis with its mishandling of the drug.

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Maria Barton, Purdue’sgeneral counsel, chastised Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine forpulling out of a multistate probe of the drugmaker by 41 of hisfellow attorneys general. He did so shortlyafter signing an agreement to preserve his state’s legal claims“while the investigation and negotiations were conducted,’’according to a copy of the Nov. 28 letter provided by Purdueofficials.

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Barton’s letter is the first time an opioid maker has disclosednegotiations with state attorneys general who are seeking abig tobacco-style multibillion-dollar payout tocover the costs of burgeoning drug epidemics in their states.

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Robert Josephson, a Purdue spokesman, declined to comment onwhether the Stamford, Connecticut-based drugmaker is in settlementtalks with the attorneys general. Bloomberg News reported on Nov.17 that the company’s lawyers had been floating proposals for aglobal settlement of all opioid claims against Purdue and otherdrugmakers including Johnson & Johnson, Endo international Plcand Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen,one of the leaders of the multistate probe, declined to comment onthe letter Thursday because he said he hadn’t read it.

Separately, Endo officials have accused DeWine of wronglyaccusing opioid makers of doing nothing to help address addictionproblems caused by their products and making “offensive’’ claimsthat pharma companies had laid waste to his state.

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“Your letter’s assertion that the pharmaceutical industry causedthis epidemic is – at best – a stunning oversimplification,’’Matthew Maletta, the company’s chief legal officer, wrote in a Nov.28 letter.

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Dan Tierney, a spokesman for DeWine, said Thursday Ohio’s toplegal official isn’t “commenting on any of the letters we’vereceived in response to the Attorney General’s demand letter.’’

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Purdue’s and Endo’s letters came in response to an Oct. 30missive DeWine sent to makers and distributors of opioidpainkillers demanding they begin settlement talks within 30 days.DeWine, a Republican who is running for governor, sent the letteras part of a plan to combat opioid abuse in his drug-ravagedstate.

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Drug overdoses

More than 60,000 people died in the U.S. from overdoses in 2016,and there was a five-fold increase in such deaths involvingsynthetic opioids -- from 3,105 in 2013 to about 20,000 in 2016,according to federal researchers.

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A study in the October 2016 issue of Medical Care Journal putthe economic cost of opioid overdose, abuse and dependence at $78.5billion. Health care accounts for about one-third of the cost,while lost productivity in nonfatal cases add another $20 billion,according to the journal published by Wolters Kluwer.

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The Centers for Disease Controland Prevention has reported that 145 Americans die dailyfrom opioid overdoses. The epidemic cost the American economy $504billion in 2015, which was the equivalent of 2.8 percent of grossdomestic product that year, according to a report this month by the Council ofEconomic Advisers.

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In Purdue’s letter, Barton thanked DeWine for inviting thecompany to help address addiction problems in Ohio. “As you know,we have been working on an expedited basis with more than 30 stateattorneys general as part of a bipartisan multistate process toresolve serious issues,’’ Barton said.

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Outside lawyers

Barton urged DeWine to rejoin the multistate investigation byhis fellow attorneys general so the state wouldn’t have to shareany recovery with outside plaintiff lawyers it hired to press itscase.

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“It is uncontroversial that the multistate process is the bestand fastest way for states to get resources to address thiscrisis,’’ Barton wrote.

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While the companies jousted with DeWine, they also asked a panelof federal judges in St. Louis Thursday to gather all opioid suitsin one federal court.

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Purdue, Johnson & Johnson and some lawyers for cities andcounties that have sued want the more than 60 lawsuits filed so farin federal courts across the country to be combined for informationexchanges and test trials. The consolidation is intended to savemoney by avoiding duplication.

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U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance of Louisiana, a member of thefive-judge panel, warned lawyers for states and local governmentsthat they’d face “serious’’ legal hurdles that could derail theirbid for a multibillion-dollar payout.

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“There are serious threshold issues when it comes to whetherthese governmental entities can sue for these damages,’’ Vance toldlawyers arguing the cases should be consolidated in federal courtsin West Virginia, Ohio or Illinois.

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“The nation is watching what we do with these cases,’’ Roland Tellis, a lawyerrepresenting governmental entities, told the panel. The judges didn’timmediately decide where the cases will be heard.

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The case is In Re: National Prescription Opioid Litigation, MDLNO. 2804, Before the U.S. Judicial Panel on MultidistrictLitigation (St. Louis).

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