KY Gets Chance to Pursue Oxycontin Case

After years of struggling to combat the abuse of Oxycontin, Kentucky officials are getting a chance to pursue the drug's maker in a state court lawsuit.

The Kentucky Attorney General's Office won a court ruling pushing a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma back to Pike County.

Kentucky sued Purdue Pharma in 2007 seeking reimbursement of money spent on law enforcement, drug treatment programs and Medicaid prescriptions.

Kentucky officials accused Purdue Pharma of falsely promoting Oxycontin, the brand name for oxycodone, to health care providers as less addictive and less likely to cause withdrawal than other pain medications.

Purdue Pharma moved the case to federal court.

On Wednesday, Judge Stefan R. Underhill of the New York-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals found that the case belonged in state court.