Canadian drug makers enriched themselves at the expense of vulnerable patients by illegally and deceptively promoting highly addictive opioids that have killed thousands in recent years, a proposed class action filed Wednesday asserts.

The untested statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court seeks more than $1.1 billion in various damages from almost two dozen companies, including some of the biggest pharmaceutical names in the country such as Apotex, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson and Johnson, and the Jean Coutu Group.

The suit, filed on behalf of patients who became addicted to prescribed opioids, also seeks a declaration that the companies were negligent in how they researched, developed and marketed opioids starting in the 1990s.

"The defendants knew that anyone who injected opioids would be at significant risk of becoming addicted," the claim asserts. "As such, the defendants breached statutory and common law duties to the plaintiff and class who became addicted to opioids for which the defendants owe damages."

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