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Purdue Pharma and the State of Oklahoma have agreed to settle the dispute over the role of the drug maker in the deadly opioid crisis, a milestone in the legal effort to compel pharmaceutical companies to bear some of the costs epidemic, experts said.
The deal, which is expected to be announced at a press conference on Tuesday, will force Purdue and the family-owning company to shell out about $ 270 million. The majority of the funds will be used to fund a new research, education, addiction and pain treatment center at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa.
Oklahoma is free to pursue its lawsuit against two other defendants and their subsidiaries – Johnson & Johnson, the 37th US company, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israeli-based manufacturer that focuses primarily on generic drugs. The two companies, which have asked to be judged separately from Purdue, should be judged on May 28.
Lawyers in the case and a spokeswoman for Purdue declined to comment before the announcement on Tuesday.
[Oklahoma could provide first test of who will pay for the opioid crisis — and how much]
Oklahoma claims that Purdue, Johnson & Johnson and Teva have a share of responsibility for thousands of opioid deaths in the state, in addition to the costs of healthcare, law enforcement and treatment of the crisis. addiction in the state. Purdue and others are facing similar claims before several other courts, and the first major settlement in the deluge of lawsuits could help set the bar lower for the compensation claims sought by hundreds of people. 39 states, cities, counties and Native American tribes for the costs incurred to cope with the epidemic. .
About 1,600 of these cases are grouped together in a huge case – known as multi-party litigation – before a federal judge in Cleveland. This action targets companies that have manufactured, distributed and distributed narcotic painkillers across the country, and these cities, tribes and tribes are claiming damages in what some consider to be the most complex litigation in US history.
Thirty-six states have chosen to pursue separate prosecutions in their own judicial system, believing that they have a better chance of doing so.
Purdue's recent statement that it considers bankruptcy an option could influence strategy in these lawsuits; The Oklahoma settlement guarantees that he will receive at least compensation for his claims.
[Purdue Pharma CEO says bankruptcy is ‘an option’ as company faces opioid lawsuits]
Under the terms of the settlement, Purdue will contribute $ 102.5 million to the creation of the new addiction treatment center, and the Sackler family, which owns the company, will provide an additional $ 75 million over five years. said relatives of the agreement. Purdue will also provide $ 20 million worth of treatment drugs, provide $ 12 million to cities and towns, and cover approximately $ 60 million in salaries for private lawyers from two law firms that have represented Oklahoma in this case.
The addiction treatment center would be housed at Oklahoma State University's Center for Wellness and Recovery and would be overseen by an independent board.
Nearly 400,000 people in the United States died from an opioid overdose between 1999 and 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose record number is 47,600 in 2017 Purdue is widely blamed for helping to trigger the outbreak after introducing the potent OxyContin opioid to the market in 1996. The company reportedly persuaded doctors to prescribe – and over-prescribe – the drug for a long time. variety of ailments. In 2007, Purdue and three of its executives pleaded guilty to misconduct in marketing OxyContin and paid more than $ 600 million in fines.
The authorities claimed that Purdue had used deceptive marketing tactics and a considerable number of representatives to visit doctors on a number of occasions to sell them narcotics, assuring them that these drugs were rarely addictive. Many patients have become addicted to powerful painkillers and large amounts of this drug have been diverted to the black market.
According to government data, more than 2 million Americans currently suffer from a disorder of opioid use. The epidemic has evolved to include the illicit use of fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid that has triggered an outbreak of overdoses and deaths.
[The fentanyl failure: Obama administration did not take extraordinary measures to confront extraordinary crisis]
Three years ago, the CDC had estimated the cost of the opioid epidemic at $ 78.5 billion for the 2013 calendar year. In 2017, the Council of Economic Advisers of the House -Blanche had set the price much higher, at $ 504 billion for 2015.
A Oklahoma consultant's report to the courts estimated that easing the opioid crisis in Oklahoma would cost more than $ 8.7 billion over the next 20 years.
The Attorney General of Oklahoma, Mike Hunter, sued the three pharmaceutical companies in June 2017. Both parties take depositions and quarrel over issues related to the pre-trial stage of the trial for nearly two years . While other cases were lagging behind, Judge Thad H. Balkman of Oklahoma set the trial date to May 28, agreed to broadcast live the proceedings and dismissed the claims of the pharmaceutical company. to postpone the trial. This ensured that the Oklahoma case would be the first important test of whether corporations would be forced to pay for the crisis.
According to a lawsuit brought by the state of Massachusetts, members of the Sackler family received nearly $ 4.3 billion in payments from Purdue between 2008 and 2016. But this family-owned business suffered a lot from its image during of the last months. Three museums in Britain and the United States have refused donations from the long-time patron Sacklers in recent days.
And documents published in the Massachusetts lawsuit, filed by Attorney General of the State, Maura Healey, described some of the Sacklers as insatiably greedy and carefree about the human toll of their products.
"Millions of dollars were not enough. They wanted billions, "he argues. "They cared more money than patients, their employees or the truth."
Read more
Trial in Oklahoma Could Determine Who Will Pay for Opioid Crisis
CEO of Purdue Pharma says bankruptcy is an option in opioid lawsuits
Court action describes alleged Sacklers' greed, deception and misconduct
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