Six states filed lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, on Tuesday.
Attorneys general from Texas, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and North Dakota accuse the company of engaging in deceptive marketing practices and helping to fuel the national opioid epidemic.
Florida also filed lawsuits against eight other companies involved in opioid production or distribution.
Purdue denied the the allegations and said the company's drugs only accounted for 2 percent of opioid prescriptions.
According to the CDC, over 42,000 people died from an opioid overdose in 2016, the last year for which data is available. Forty percent of those deaths involve a prescription opioid.
At least 16 other states and Puerto Rico have filed lawsuits against Purdue. New York, California and Massachusetts are reportedly planning to file similar lawsuits soon.
