KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 – Purdue Pharma has filed for bankruptcy as part of a deal to pay billion of dollars to multiple states in the United States and other plaintiffs who accused the company of facilitating the opioid crisis.
CNN reported that the Sackler family, which owns the company, had been involved in discussions for weeks to settle cases brought by more than 2,000 states, counties, municipalities and Native American governments against Purdue Pharma and other opioid companies.
The federal lawsuit is against eight members of the Sackler family — owners of the pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma — accusing them of creating the opioid addiction crisis through ownership of the company that manufactures the painkiller, OxyContin.
The lawsuit alleged the Sackler family made money via deceptive marketing in order to sell addictive and potentially deadly painkillers.
“This court-supervised process is intended to, among other things, facilitate an orderly and equitable resolution of all claims against Purdue, while preserving the value of Purdue’s assets for the benefit of those impacted by the opioid crisis,” the company said in a statement.
Following the conclusion of the bankruptcy filing, the company expects that it will have in excess of US$10 billion in funding to address the opioid crisis, which will include settlements with 24 state attorneys general, five US territories and attorneys in multi-district litigation.
Purdue is also looking to develop another company, called NewCo, which will formulate medicines to reverse overdoses and will keep developing an over-the-counter naloxone product at little to no cost to communities across the US.
Separately, a bankruptcy trustee will ultimately decide if the Sacklers can continue manufacturing OxyContin.
