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Last week's $572 million win for the state of Oklahoma in the first trial against an opioid manufacturer over addiction and death from the strong painkillers may have struck a nerve in Texas.

On Wednesday, the state of Texas sued a batch of opioid makers, and separately, so did a group of 29 Texas-based hospitals.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed suit for the state, said in a statement that opioid manufacturers, wanting to turn a profit, misled the state and the medical profession about the dangers of opioids.

"Every day, Texans are coping with the unimaginable consequences of opioid addiction," he said. "In this case, Johnson & Johnson not only defrauded Texas taxpayers and diverted precious health care dollars from Texans in need, they contributed to the opioid crisis that has destroyed the lives of an untold number of Texas families."

The Sept. 3 original petition in Texas v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, filed in Travis County district court, is an enforcement action under the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act that seeks to recover taxpayer dollars "as a result of Janssen's fraudulent conduct." The state alleges that Janssen fraudulently marketed its Duragesic pain patch, which contains the opioid fentanyl. Doctors who were Texas Medicaid providers were targeted by misleading messages that concealed fentanyl's potential for abuse and addiction, misstated the drug's effectiveness and more, according to the pleading.

The defendants are Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Pharmaceutica, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen and Alza Corp.

No one from the media relations team of Johnson & Johnson, which is the parent company of all of the defendants, immediately returned an email seeking comment. Janssen spokesman Jake Sargent emailed a statement by the company that said Janssen responsibly promoted its opioid medicines and used FDA-approved labels that clearly explained their risks and benefits.

"We recognize the opioid crisis is a tremendously complex public health issue, and we have deep sympathy for everyone affected," the statement said. "We are working with partners to find ways to help those in need."

Meanwhile, the hospitals claimed in their lawsuit that they're on the front line of the opioid epidemic, which brought great financial burdens.

"Because they are the key dealing with this public health crisis, they should also receive any funds resulting from litigation and settlements by these defendants," said Burns Charest partner Darren Nicholson of Dallas, one of the lead attorneys for the hospital plaintiffs. "Texas hospitals will be dealing with this epidemic for decades."

The Sept. 3 petition in Dallas County Hospital District v. Purdue Pharma also targets opioid manufacturers' marketing programs allegedly "involving false and deceptive marketing of prescription opioids, which was designed to dramatically increase demand for and sale of opioids and opioid prescriptions." It claimed the marketing campaigns untruthfully claimed that addiction risk was low when opioids were used for chronic pain, and overstated the benefits, the petition said. Pharmacies and "pill mills" saw a potential for profit and they participated in the conspiracy to flood communities with opioids.

"The widespread use of opioids and corresponding increases in addiction and abuse have led to increased emergency room visits, emergency responses to overdoses, and emergency medical technicians' administration of Naloxone—the antidote to opioid overdose," said the petition.

Hospitals have incurred millions of dollars in damages to pay for uncompensated care, it said, making them bear the brunt of the opioid crisis financially. For example, the pleading claimed that in 2012, hospitals paid almost $15 billion for opioid-related inpatient care, with a substantial portion underinsured or unreimbursed.

There are 29 plaintiffs and more than named 50 defendants in the lawsuit, as well as 100 John Doe defendants.

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