The state attorney general’s office is seeking approval from lawmakers and the Executive Council this week to hire outside help as it investigates the marketing practices of prescription drug companies.
The office launched an inquiry last summer to determine whether five drug companies – including Purdue Pharma, maker of the popular painkiller OxyContin – have deceptively minimized addictive risks associated with the long-term use of painkillers.
The attorney general’s office is proposing to spend $100,000 contracting with the firm Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll. The agreement would last one year, and funds come from the consumer protection escrow account, made up of money won during multi-state settlements.
The outside firm would help state prosecutors sift through records and interview witnesses, said Jim Boffetti, who heads the office’s consumer protection bureau.
“I need the assistance of outside counsel, who can work with me, under my direction, to help me focus on the evidence and facts to see if there is some kind of violation of law,” Boffetti said.
The investigation has been delayed for months, most recently over a court challenge.
The five companies at the center of the inquiry argued the attorney general’s office had violated state ethics and due process law by outsourcing work to a private out-of-state law firm.
A judge in March dismissed many of those objections, but did say the attorney general’s office erred by not seeking approval from state officials before signing a contract with the firm.
The office is now hoping to get that approval. The proposal comes before the Republican-led Executive Council on Wednesday and the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee on Friday.